In the winter of 1999, a tragic series of events unfolded in Easley, South Carolina, culminating in the death of 33-year-old Sandra Jo 'Sandi' Roberts Ott, a registered nurse. On the night of December 23rd, Sandi sent an emergency page to her ex-husband, Timothy Ott, before rushing from her own apartment to his home. This would be the last time she was seen alive.
At Timothy's residence, Dallen Forrest Bounds, a 28-year-old man who had been in a brief relationship with Sandi, broke in
through a window. Inside, he shot and killed Sandi. While this was happening, Timothy managed to escape to a neighbor's house to seek help. However, Bounds pursued him and fatally shot him as well. The former couple's five-year-old son was asleep in his bedroom throughout the horrific ordeal and was physically unharmed.
Following the murders, Bounds fled, initiating a 12-hour manhunt that involved him taking hostages in another Easley home. As law enforcement closed in on his location, Bounds took his own life.
Subsequent investigations posthumously connected Bounds to other violent crimes in the Greenville area. He was identified as the prime suspect in the murders of Jonathan Lemuel Lara, a RadioShack employee, on June 26, 1999, and Karen Moore Hayden, a florist, on December 22, 1999, the day before he killed Sandi and Timothy Ott. An anonymous tip after the Easley murders and later forensic evidence confirmed Bounds' responsibility for all four homicides. An accomplice in the Lara murder, Casandra Laster, was later convicted of accessory after the fact.
