DNA results confirm identity

Peppered with gunshot wounds and stripped of his badge and uniform, state constable Robert Bailey was dumped in a hastily dug grave in woods some 60 miles from where he answered his final call.

DNA results confirmed Monday that a body found in a shallow grave near Orangeburg was indeed that of the 67-year-old constable. Authorities delivered the news to Bailey's family, providing them with the grim answer that had eluded them since he disappeared May 14 in Lincolnville.

Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said an autopsy showed that Bailey died from gunshot wounds. "I believe that he died instantly," she said.

Bailey's funeral is planned for noon Thursday in Summerville.

The Ladson man is the first state constable killed in the line of duty in more than two decades. The last was constable Valdon Osborn Keith, 46, who was shot to death while chasing armed robbery suspects in Greenville County in November 1985.

Also Monday, Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon released additional details surrounding Bailey's killing, which he described as "a brutal crime."

Bailey went missing while patrolling Lincolnville as an unpaid volunteer. He had just cleared a traffic stop when he pulled over another car, a 1989 black Chevrolet Caprice, on Greenwood Street, Cannon said.

Inside the car were Walter Fayall III, a 24-year-old fugitive, and his girlfriend, Asia Prioleau, 22, Cannon said. Bailey stopped the couple just outside the one-story home where they lived. They had been staying there while Fayall was on the run from a federal weapons charge, authorities said.

A scuffle ensued and several shots were fired, Cannon said. When help arrived, Bailey and his attackers were gone. His constable's cap, two pistols, several shell casings and a large amounts of Bailey's blood were found in the street and the yard of Fayall's home. Bailey's cruiser later was found torched about five miles away in Sangaree.

Arrest affidavits indicate that Bailey was placed in the trunk of the Caprice after the shooting and driven away.

Cannon said Fayall later made some arrangements with associates Jerome Washington, 25, and Brian Smalls, 27. Just off Interstate 26 in Bowman, Bailey was loaded into a stolen Chevy Monte Carlo that Washington had been using, he said.

Washington was arrested Wednesday in Williamsburg County after he was caught torching the Monte Carlo, which had a police baton inside, authorities said. Bailey's body, however, was nowhere to be found.

With the aid of cadaver dogs, searchers found on Saturday a freshly dug grave at the base of a cell phone tower in Cameron, a rural town in Orangeburg County. Bailey's body was inside. He had been stripped to his underwear and buried, authorities said.

Bailey's gunbelt and badge were found in a wad of burned rags in Harleyville, about 35 miles away. His uniform has yet to be located, Cannon said.

The Rev. Bill Vines, pastor of Summerville Family Worship Center, said Bailey's family was grateful to authorities and searchers for finding the constable and returning his body to them.

Investigators are in the process of securing warrants for Fayall on murder and other charges, Cannon said. They also are seeking to charge Washington as an accessory to murder. Both men are currently being detained on unrelated charges, he said.

Prioleau is already charged with murder and as an accessory. Smalls is charged as an accessory and Washington's girlfriend, Asia O'Neill, 19, is charged with obstruction of justice.

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com. Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postandcourier.com.