In the late summer of 2015, a sense of unease began to settle among the colleagues of Charles Kusko Jr. when the 48-year-old man failed to appear for work. This concern prompted a request for a welfare check at his Columbia, South Carolina home. On September 8, 2015, police entered his residence to make a grim discovery. Kusko was found deceased, having been shot in his upper body.
The Richland County Coroner's office swiftly ruled his death a homicide, marking the beginning of a nearly two-year investigation into the tragic end of a man remembered by his daughters as a fun-loving and supportive father.
For many months, the case grew cold, leaving Kusko's family grappling with unanswered questions and the pain of their loss. His daughters, Laurin Barnes and Kaitlin Huffstetler, tirelessly worked to keep his memory alive and offered a substantial reward for any information that would lead to an arrest. The breakthrough in the investigation finally came in June 2017 with the arrests of two men: Charles' own nephew, 30-year-old Charles Brandon Barham, and a 33-year-old acquaintance, Floyd Owen. The arrests brought a shocking sense of betrayal to the forefront of the case.
Subsequent investigations and court proceedings unraveled the events of that fateful night. It was revealed that Barham had driven Owen to his uncle's home with the intention of committing a robbery. Barham acted as a lookout while Owen, armed with a gun provided by Barham, broke into the house. Inside, a heated argument erupted between Owen and Kusko, which tragically culminated in Owen shooting his acquaintance. Owen later confessed to the crime, detailing how he and Barham had been consuming alcohol and drugs before deciding to rob and murder Kusko. He admitted to shooting Kusko twice in the back of the head as he lay sleeping.
The legal process brought a measure of justice for Charles Kusko Jr. Floyd Owen pleaded guilty to murder, first-degree burglary, conspiracy, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime on August 20, 2019. Nearly four years to the day of the murder, on August 30, 2019, a Richland County jury found Charles Brandon Barham guilty on the same charges. The convictions brought a close to a long and painful chapter for Kusko's family, who remembered him as a man always willing to help others, including the very nephew who orchestrated his death.
