Hastings Arthur Wise and the 1997 R.E. Phelon Factory Murders
Background
Hastings Arthur Wise was a former factory employee who murdered four of his former co-workers and wounded three other people during a carefully planned workplace shooting in Aiken, South Carolina. The attack occurred on September 15, 1997, inside the R.E. Phelon Company, a manufacturing plant that produced ignition and engine components for lawn equipment.
Wise was born on February 16, 1954, in North Augusta, South Carolina. Earlier in his life, he had served time in prison for crimes that included bank robbery and receiving stolen property. After his release, he earned technical training and eventually obtained employment with R.E. Phelon. He worked at the company as a machine operator for more than four years and reportedly maintained a stable life for many years before the shooting.
Wise was dismissed from the factory in July 1997, approximately eleven weeks before the murders. His termination followed a workplace confrontation involving a supervisor. Wise believed that he had been treated unfairly by management and had also been denied opportunities for advancement within the company. According to testimony presented during his trial, he believed that racial discrimination had prevented him from receiving jobs and promotions that were instead awarded to white employees.
After being fired, Wise reportedly made statements indicating that he intended to return. Investigators later concluded that the shooting was not an impulsive act. He obtained ammunition, carried multiple loaded magazines and selected people whom he blamed for his dismissal or his failure to obtain better positions within the plant.
The September 15, 1997 Attack
On the morning of September 15, 1997, Wise arrived at the R.E. Phelon factory for what was supposed to be a meeting to collect a box containing personal belongings he had left behind after his termination. Security guard Stanley Vance was expecting him at the employee entrance.
Instead of simply retrieving his property, Wise produced a semiautomatic handgun and shot Vance in the chest. Vance fell seriously wounded but survived. Wise then disabled telephone lines at the guard station, preventing workers from immediately using the station’s telephone to summon help. He reportedly told the wounded guard that he had things to do before proceeding into the main factory.
Wise first went to the company’s personnel office. There he encountered 56-year-old Charles Griffeth, the personnel director involved in Wise’s termination. Wise shot Griffeth twice in the back, killing him. Griffeth appears to have been one of Wise’s primary intended targets because Wise directly blamed him for the loss of his job.
Wise then moved through the plant toward the tool-and-die department. Employees heard gunfire as he walked through the building carrying the pistol and additional ammunition. In the tool-and-die area, he opened fire on several workers, killing 30-year-old David Wayne Moore and 31-year-old Ernest Leonard Filyaw. Both men reportedly worked in an area where Wise had wanted to obtain a position.
Two additional employees, Jerry Corley and John Mucha, were wounded during the shooting but survived. Wise continued moving through the factory, reloading his weapon as he searched for additional targets. Investigators later recovered four empty ammunition magazines, several loaded magazines and more than 100 additional rounds of ammunition.
Wise’s final murder victim was 27-year-old Esther Sheryl Wood, who worked in quality control. Wise had reportedly wanted a position similar to the one held by Wood and believed that he had been unfairly denied that opportunity. He shot Wood in the back and leg before firing a fatal shot into her head. Prosecutors later characterized the final shot as an execution-style killing.
Victims
- Charles Griffeth, 56 — Killed on September 15, 1997, inside the personnel office at the R.E. Phelon Company in Aiken, South Carolina. Griffeth was the personnel director involved in Wise’s termination.
- David Wayne Moore, 30 — Killed on September 15, 1997, in the tool-and-die area of the R.E. Phelon factory in Aiken. Moore was reportedly engaged to be married at the time of his death.
- Ernest Leonard Filyaw, 31 — Killed on September 15, 1997, in the tool-and-die area of the factory. Filyaw was also reportedly engaged to be married.
- Esther Sheryl Wood, 27 — Killed on September 15, 1997, inside the R.E. Phelon plant. Wood worked in quality control and was shot several times.
Wounded Survivors
- Stanley Vance — A security guard who was shot in the chest near the factory entrance. He survived his injuries.
- Jerry Corley — A factory employee wounded during the shooting inside the plant. He survived.
- John Mucha — A factory employee wounded during the attack. He also survived.
Capture Inside the Factory
After killing four people and wounding three others, Wise made his way to an upper level of the factory. Rather than attempting to escape, he swallowed insecticide in an apparent suicide attempt and lay down inside the building.
Police officers entered the plant and searched for him while employees were evacuated from the surrounding area. Wise was discovered alive but semiconscious. He was taken into custody and transported for medical treatment. The presence of multiple magazines and a large quantity of ammunition suggested that the number of casualties could have been substantially higher.
Investigation and Motive
Investigators determined that Wise’s primary motive was revenge against people he associated with his firing and his unsuccessful efforts to obtain promotions. Charles Griffeth was directly connected to his termination, while Moore and Filyaw worked in the tool-and-die department where Wise had wanted to work. Wood held a quality-control position that Wise had reportedly sought.
Evidence presented in court indicated that Wise spent considerable time preparing for the attack. A psychiatrist who examined him reported that Wise had driven more than 9,000 miles during the two weeks preceding the murders. He traveled across the country and visited locations that he apparently wanted to see before carrying out the shooting, including the San Diego Zoo.
Wise maintained that he had experienced racial mistreatment throughout his life and believed that white employees had repeatedly received opportunities denied to him. Prosecutors did not dispute that he held these beliefs but argued that they did not excuse his calculated decision to murder four unarmed co-workers.
Trial and Conviction
Wise was formally indicted in August 1998. Because of the extensive publicity surrounding the factory murders in Aiken County, his trial was moved to Beaufort County. The case was also delayed by changes involving the trial judge and members of the defense team.
During the trial, prosecutors reconstructed Wise’s movements through the factory and demonstrated how each victim was connected to one of his workplace grievances. Survivors described the gunfire, Wise’s movements through the building and the terror experienced by employees attempting to hide or escape.
After a trial lasting approximately two weeks, the defense rested without calling any witnesses. The jury deliberated for roughly five hours before finding Wise guilty of four counts of murder, three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, second-degree burglary and multiple weapons offenses.
During the penalty phase, Wise instructed his lawyers not to present testimony from friends, relatives or other character witnesses who were prepared to speak on his behalf. He acknowledged committing the crimes and stated that he did not want to ask the court for mercy.
The jury sentenced Wise to death for each of the four murders. He also received a combined sentence of 60 years for the shootings of Stanley Vance, Jerry Corley and John Mucha. Additional concurrent sentences were imposed for burglary and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Appeals and Decision to Accept Execution
Wise entered the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections on February 2, 2001. His murder convictions and death sentences were automatically reviewed by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The court upheld the convictions and sentences in 2004.
His court-appointed attorneys attempted to continue challenging the sentence, including seeking review from the United States Supreme Court. Wise objected to further appeals and informed the courts that he wanted the execution to proceed. Because condemned prisoners must be mentally competent to abandon their legal appeals, hearings were conducted to determine whether he understood the consequences of his decision.
The courts concluded that Wise was competent and was knowingly waiving his remaining appeals. In legal and correctional terminology, he became a death-row volunteer, meaning that he chose not to continue legal efforts that might have delayed or prevented his execution.
Execution
Hastings Arthur Wise was executed by lethal injection on November 4, 2005, at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina. He was 51 years old. Wise declined to make a final statement and was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.
His execution occurred more than eight years after the murders at the R.E. Phelon factory. He was the thirty-fourth person executed in South Carolina after the state resumed capital punishment under modern death-penalty laws.
Aftermath
The R.E. Phelon shooting became one of South Carolina’s most notorious cases of workplace violence. The attack devastated the families of the four people who were killed and left surviving employees with physical injuries and long-term psychological trauma.
Survivors and relatives of the victims later pursued civil claims involving the factory and its security company. Stanley Vance argued that company officials had failed to adequately warn him about Wise’s previous workplace disturbances. Several lawsuits were eventually resolved through undisclosed settlements.
The murders demonstrated how a workplace grievance, when combined with deliberate planning and access to a firearm, could escalate into a mass killing. Wise did not attack strangers at random. He entered his former workplace with specific grievances, substantial ammunition and an apparent intention to punish employees whom he believed were responsible for his dismissal or professional disappointments. Four people lost their lives, three others were wounded and an entire workforce was permanently affected by the violence of September 15, 1997.
