Richard Daniel Starrett

Case record: Richard Daniel Starrett

Background

Richard Daniel Starrett was 29 when he was sentenced. He worked at Savannah River Site and preyed on young women when his wife and child flew to California.

Investigators said he kidnapped victims, took them to his home in Martinez, and held them captive for a few days while sexually assaulting them. Investigators also said he met victims through newspaper classified ads.

He blamed his behavior on pornography. Investigators confiscated from his Martinez home more than 1,000 books and magazines depicting nudity, horror, sexual violence and posters depicting bondage.

The offence

Jean Taylor McCrea, 15, had been kidnapped in 1989 and was believed to have been killed in Richard Daniel Starrett’s Martinez home. Investigators said her body was dumped in a creek in Newberry County, S.C.

Investigators reported that Starrett told investigators he killed only one person, Jean Taylor McCrea, 15, because he was “falling in love with her.” Afterward, Starrett wrapped her body in a green blanket and trash bags before dumping her into a creek bed near her home in Irmo.

Starrett also faced other kidnappings and sexual assaults. Investigators said his trail of rapes led from Charleston, S.C., to Atlanta, and that the pattern began “with just a rape or an assault” and “just grows from there.”

Investigators said Starrett had already been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for kidnapping Shari Dawn Teets, 17, of Lexington, S.C., and kidnapping a 12-year-old Irmo girl in June 1988.

Investigators said Starrett had received a previous sentence of life plus 20 years in prison when he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to kidnapping and sodomizing a Columbia girl in December 1987.

Investigators also said Starrett faced charges in Charleston, S.C., in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 22-year-old woman.

Investigation

Maj. Adams, who was now in charge of management services for the sheriff's department, said he had been the county’s lead investigator in 1989.

Maj. Adams said:

We were just lucky that Shari was able to get away as soon as she did.

Maj. Adams also said:

They start off with just a rape or an assault, and it just grows from there,

Maj. Adams compared the killers to drug addicts who start with marijuana but move to more powerful drugs to sustain the high.

Maj. Adams further said he believed Starrett planned to kill others.

Investigators said they led police to Miss McCrea’s body after Starrett was captured in Texas following a manhunt.

Arrest

Starrett was arrested in Texas in February 1989 after Shari Dawn Teets escaped.

Investigators said Starrett was captured in Texas after a manhunt.

Trial

Kidnapping and sexual assault of Shari Dawn Teets

Starrett kidnapped Shari Dawn Teets, 17, in February 1989.

Four days later, on a chilly Friday night, Teets escaped to a house across from Starrett’s rented West Lynne Drive home.

Maj. Adams said Starrett was drinking and passed out that night, and Teets got away. Maj. Adams said Teets saw the location while looking out a window and decided to flee:

If I'm going to get away, now is my chance.

Sentencing

On February 5, 1990, Starrett was sentenced to five life sentences in prison without parole.

Appeals

No appeal details were included in the provided information.

Outcome

Starrett was serving life in prison in South Carolina with no possibility of parole.

In addition to the South Carolina sentences, the information provided also stated:

• Five life terms in South Carolina in 1991
• Five life terms in Georgia in 1993

Aftermath

Maj. Adams said Starrett’s trail of rapes led from Charleston, S.C., to Atlanta and described the escalation of assaults.

The information provided stated that Starrett met victims through newspaper classified ads and that investigators confiscated more than 1,000 books and magazines from his Martinez home depicting nudity, horror, sexual violence and posters depicting bondage.