Richard Valenti

Background

Richard Raymond Valenti was identified as a suspect from Navy photos. Investigators connected assaults and disappearances involving multiple teenage girls in the Folly Beach area and nearby locations in South Carolina.

In a taped statement, Valenti described approaching girls on the beach with a gun, ordering them to comply, taking them to a vacant house, having them partially disrobe, tying their hands and feet, making them undress and pose in various positions, placing nooses around their necks, and kicking a chair out so they struggled until they died. A Department of Corrections ID Number of 00071878 was associated with Valenti.

The offence

Mary Earline Bunch, 16, was reported missing after being last seen by friends and was later found buried on Folly Beach in April 1974. Her hands and feet were bound with rope.

Two teenage girls were also missing from the area near Folly Beach, Charlestown, South Carolina: Sherri Jan Clark, 15, and Alexis Ann Latimer, 14. Their last known whereabouts was near a beach house belonging to the parents of Alexis, where the girls had been cleaning it. Later, two girls’ remains were found unearthed on April 17, 1974, in a grave a short distance from where Mary Earline Bunch’s body was discovered.

A tied girl was found in a shopping centre and a man threatened her with a gun as he compelled her to submit to being tied to a tree. Another teenage girl then went missing after being last seen.

At trial, the Charleston County Medical Examiner testified that the two teen-age girls found buried on Folly Beach died by hanging.

Investigation

Police were involved in investigations after multiple disappearances and assaults. The decomposed body of Mary Earline Bunch was found buried on Folly Beach in April 1974. She had been missing since Feb. 20, 1974.

A rope used to tie Mary Earline Bunch was described as similar to rope used in the abduction of three 16-year-old girls from Summerville. The girls’ accounts to police included being forced under a vacant house; being gagged; and being tied with clothes line, with one girl managing to slip out of her gag. A passing police officer heard her yelling.

Two graves containing the remains of Alexis Ann Latimer, 13, and Sheri Jan Clark, 14 were found unearthed on April 17, 1974, a short distance from where Mary Earline Bunch was discovered.

Navy authorities told police of an assault previously reported to them after Mary Earline Bunch’s body was found.

When a sketch of the wanted man was published, someone contacted police after noticing his pet dog acting strangely at one place on the beach. Police then began digging and uncovered Mary Earline Bunch’s body.

During the investigation, Valenti was located by identification from Navy photos and interviewed by investigators. He later reportedly assisted in uncovering bodies of the other two missing teenagers.

Arrest

A suspect named Richard Raymond Valenti was identified from Navy photos. Valenti was interviewed by investigators and charged with several counts of assault and three of murder. He was later indicted on multiple counts.

Trial

Valenti was indicted on three counts of murder for the deaths of the three girls at Folly Beach. He was also indicted on one count of assault and battery with intent to kill and one charge of assault and battery with intent to ravish.

Valenti was also charged on four counts of assault with intent to kill stemming from the abduction of the three Summerville girls and one similar incident in which a girl was found tied up behind the James Island shopping center.

On June 2, 1974, Valenti was found guilty of murder in the hanging deaths of the two James Island girls and was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, to be served consecutively. The prosecutor asked for the death penalty for Valenti, which was denied by the judge because of the unconstitutionality of the state's capital punishment law at the time.

During the trial, the Charleston County Medical Examiner testified that the two teen-age girls found buried on Folly Beach died by hanging.

In a taped statement, Valenti described how he approached the girls on the beach with a gun and told them if they did not comply with his orders he would shoot them. He then took them to a vacant house where in an outside shower stall he had them partially disrobe and tied their hands and feet. Valenti said he made the girls undress and pose in various positions, and then had them stand on a chair while he placed nooses round their neck and tied the rope to water pipes above their heads. Valenti then kicked the chair out from under them and watched them struggle till they died.

Sentencing

On June 2, 1974, Valenti was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, to be served consecutively.

Appeals

Valenti was never tried for the four counts of assault with intent to kill stemming from the abduction of the three Summerville girls and the girl from James Island.

Outcome

Valenti remained in prison following his conviction and consecutive life sentences. He was described as coming up for parole every two years, and his next projected paroled date was Jan. 2, 2008.

An appeal requested the good people of South Carolina ask the Parole Board to deny parole to Valenti and for him to serve the prison sentence received: two consecutive life sentences.

Other details

Valenti was described as a sailor at a nearby Naval base and was 32 at the time described in the account. A doctor told the court that Valenti had "a serious mental disorder which is the desire to control women in bondage."

During the trial, Valenti's wife testified that her husband had a fetishist interest in ropes and that she once discovered him naked on the bathroom floor, fondling a length of rope while he masturbated. Police described Valenti telling them he felt strong sexual urges when he had reduced females to a state helplessness.

Valenti reportedly bound and gagged a girl who later escaped by loosening her gag. Another account described a young woman escaping the attentions of a would-be rapist in the same area and not reporting it to the State police, only to Naval officers.

The rope used was described as being identical or similar in appearance across multiple incidents, and police believed there might have been some connection between the various assaults and disappearances.