Here’s the latest on the Corner Lake kidnapping and how it happened

OLAR, SC − Flashing lights and echoing sirens, Barnwell County Sheriff’s deputies respond at high speed to a report of a possible violent crime.

It is April 3, just after noon. There are reports that shots have been fired. On a Wednesday, when most residents are at work or having a quiet lunch, road patrols rush toward a call in Olar, a rural community of just over 200 residents that straddles Barnwell and Bamberg counties in southern South Carolina.

BCSO reports show units arrived at 12:25 p.m., but no one was on scene – neither suspect nor victim. Just five minutes later, the patrols were on the move again when the detectives entered.

It would prove to be a deceptively quiet start to what would soon become a multi-county kidnapping investigation, with a trio of arrests across county and state lines.

Police investigators believe a vehicle was traveling on SC Highway 3 in Hampton County, also known as Browning Gate Road, sometime after 1 p.m. It is broad daylight, but the occupants are on a dark journey.

The vehicle then drives toward Possum Corner Road and Corner Lake Landing in Jasper County. Police believe there were as many as four people in the vehicle, but one was not a willing passenger.

Before the end of the day, the Barnwell County Sheriff would sign three kidnapping warrants.

Sirens break the rural silence

Corner Lake Road runs downhill from the Grays area of rural Jasper County inland to the ebony waters of the 40-mile Coosawhatchie River. The houses are few, most hidden by oaks and pines, and the farms become increasingly sparse closer to the wetlands as the winding road winds like a Coosawhatchie copperhead on its way to the Corner Lake public boat launch.

Campaign signs line the road with the words ‘Malphrus for Sheriff’, ‘Warren for Sheriff’, but there are no sheriffs here at first to rescue the female victim who lies injured, hands tied in front of her with plastic zip ties. Rambunctious young people sometimes come here at night to party and chat with friends, but there is no one there in daylight to help the woman who lies unconscious on a lawn near the landing, surrounded by forests, water and wild bamboo.

There is no help until a random fisherman driving a “side-by-side” ATV arrives around 2:50 p.m., police say. He sees the victim, but is wary and does not get too close when he calls 911. Police have never publicly identified the fisherman.

Multiple emergency vehicles break the silence, screeching past scurrying wildlife and barking dogs, while police, fire and ambulance vehicles howl past homes and wooded fields toward Corner Lake.

The initial, panicked call to Jasper County 911 at approximately 2:57 p.m. incorrectly reported a white male unresponsive near the river, but responding officers quickly determined it was a white female. Unofficial news and social media posts circulated about the woman’s condition, but police would only say the victim was seriously injured.

Jasper County EMS transported the woman to Hampton Regional Medical Center, released Susanne Peeples, director of the HC Emergency Management Division, and was then flown by helicopter to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office quickly requested assistance from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office, the 14th Judicial Circuit and the SC Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

The next day at 10:35 a.m., the Jasper Sheriff posted a community statement on his Facebook page stating that officers had “worked tirelessly into the late evening hours” to identify the victim, with no success. The statement asked the community to “keep the victim and her family in your prayers” during the ongoing investigation.

The community feared the worst. Concerned responses filled local social media pages. Would this poor woman survive? Who did this to her, and why?

On April 5, the JCSO posted a statement at 4:38 p.m. saying they were still working “diligently” on the case, but no further details were available.

However, local and national police knew more than they let on; they kept their maps, clues, and suspects close as they worked the case.

Questions arise from community concerns

With such a bizarre case in a quiet corner of Jasper County, questions and even the wildest speculation quickly grew on social media. The shocking news spread at gathering places in the community. With so little information released by authorities, the mysterious case raised safety concerns in that remote corner of the Lowcountry.

Lynn Rex Crosby, who lives about 10 miles from the boat landing, said that while she and her neighbors had no immediate safety concerns, her relatives who lived on Corner Lake Road were a little more alarmed.

“…They were just amazed that something like this could happen so close to them,” Crosby told The Greenville News. ‘They were also hopeful that the police would now patrol that road and the landing site more often, because many people have chosen the landing site as a ‘party spot’. I believe JCSO has told residents (since then) that they will be in the area more often in the future.”

SLED takes the lead

Adrienne Burgen Ginn, 31, of Hickory Hill Road, Varnville, was arrested in her home April 6 by the South Carolina Highway Patrol and charged with driving under suspension – a second offense. Her first DUS charge was in 2014, but she has since been charged with several serious driving violations.

She was booked into the Hampton County Detention Center, the jail log would later show, and soon received a personal recognizance bond. However, the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office placed the inmate into custody and held her in the county jail.

Her arrest was not immediately announced, but Ginn was now wanted for something much more sinister than a traffic violation.

Secrets revealed

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office announced April 8 that it had a few cards up its sleeve.

Although the JCSO had been telling the public and media for nearly a week that the victim had not been identified, the JCSO released a statement saying the victim “was identified early in the investigation” but that the information was not being made public “for reasons that could have jeopardized the case.”

The release added that the Corner Lake incident had led investigators to multiple counties, so the JSCO brought in SLED, which was heavily involved in assisting early on, to take the lead on the case.

The JCSO then chimed in some more, hinting at the possibility of multiple known suspects, adding, “The Sheriff’s Office will continue to work side-by-side with SLED until all individuals responsible for this crime are in custody.”

SLED released a similar statement the same day, announcing a Crimestoppers tip line and asking the public for video evidence of vehicles traveling on major roadways in Hampton and Jasper counties on April 3 between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Police were hunting for suspects – and evidence to build their criminal case.

More arrests out of state, but SLED remains quiet

U.S. Marshals were searching for wanted fugitives.

Kaila Terria Bostick, 34, of Estill, in southern Hampton County, and Jamaal Terrell Riley, 30, of Barnwell, were arrested April 11 in Knox County, Indiana, by the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force. SLED would reveal later.

But when U.S. Marshals planned to extradite Bostick and Riley back to the Palmetto State, South Carolina police did not immediately announce the arrests but continued to make quiet progress in the case for several more days.

Three suspects charged, details of the victim emerge

While police worked the case for 15 days and captured suspects, they released little information about the victim and no information about the connection to Barnwell County.

With three suspects in custody, SLED announced on April 17 that Ginn, Bostick and Riley were indicted on kidnapping warrants out of Barnwell County in connection with the Corner Lake incident.

According to police and court records, all three suspects have histories of criminal arrests and convictions, with Riley’s being the most extensive. Riley has a criminal history that includes assault, burglary, armed robbery, gun crimes and kidnapping, and he has served state prison time in the S.C. Department of Corrections.

On April 23, the BCSO released a heavily redacted two-page incident report that identified the suspects and identified the victim only as a 28-year-old Barnwell woman. Few other details were revealed.

On April 24, JCSO Deputy Chief Jeff Crosby told The Greenville News that the victim had left the hospital and was recovering, but her identity remains confidential.

Ginn remains in the HC Detention Center while Bostick and Riley await extradition.

Although SLED has identified the suspects, it has not released any information about the motive and circumstances behind the crime. The bizarre case, which drew statewide news coverage, remains “active and ongoing” with no real public answers about what happened and why.

As state and local police work quietly to build their case, local communities continue to wait, wonder and worry.