In the early morning hours of July 22, 2024, an Aiken County Sheriff's deputy on routine patrol happened upon a vehicle parked on the side of the road near Senn Street and Vaucluse Road. This discovery led to a grim finding in a nearby wooded area, down an embankment was the body of a man. Medical responders arrived shortly after and pronounced the man deceased at approximately 6:19 a.m. The man was identified as Billy J. Reedy Jr., a 46-year-old white male who resided in Aiken.
A preliminary examination revealed that he had sustained at least one gunshot wound.
Originally from Gallatin, Tennessee, Billy Reedy had moved to Aiken two decades prior. He was an employee at the Mark Anthony Brewing Company in Columbia and was known as an avid fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Friends and family were shocked by the sudden and violent nature of his death. Just a month before his death, he and his fiancée, Donna Boatwright, had taken engagement photos and were living together.
The investigation into Reedy's death was a joint effort between the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and the Coroner’s Office. The investigation quickly focused on his fiancée. On the afternoon of the same day his body was found, 41-year-old Donna Boatwright was arrested during a traffic stop in Saluda County. The Saluda County Sheriff's Office took her into custody without incident. Boatwright was transported to the Aiken County Detention Center, where she was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. An autopsy for Reedy was scheduled to determine the exact cause of death, as the community tried to make sense of the tragic events.
