'Such a tragedy': U.S. soldier indicted in murders of grandfather, great-grandmother

A U.S. Army soldier stationed in Germany was indicted in the murders of his grandfather and his great-grandmother, whose bodies were found in their South Carolina home on Father’s Day last year, authorities said Monday.

The soldier, Gene Alexzander Scott, 24, whose rank was not disclosed, was taken into custody by military police last week and transferred to the Chester County jail, where earlier he was awaiting a bond hearing, the local sheriff’s office said in a statement.

A grand jury indicted Scott on two counts of murder and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

It isn’t clear whether Scott has an attorney. Court records didn’t list one.

Gene Rogers, 61, and Billie Rogers, 78, were found shot to death in their home in Richburg, about 50 miles north of Columbia, on June 21, 2020, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff Max Dorsey said they were most likely killed the day before.

In an incident report obtained by NBC News, a deputy wrote that Scott flagged down a passerby and said that someone had killed his grandparents. After the person called 911, deputies found Scott at the end of the driveway, “kneeling on the ground crying and very distraught,” the incident report says.

Dorsey said Gene Rogers partly raised his grandson in the home where his and his mother’s bodies were found. Dorsey described a possible motive in the killings as financial. He declined to provide additional details.

Online obituaries described Billie Rogers as the former service manager of an automotive shop in Charleston and Gene Rogers as an employee of the distributor Airgas.

“This was such a tragedy,” a woman who identified herself as Gene Rogers’ niece wrote on Facebook. She added: “Gene loved that child unconditionally.”

Before he joined the Army in January, Scott was in the Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he was an ammo technician, Dorsey said.

After infantry training in Georgia, Scott was stationed in Vilseck, Germany, Dorsey said.

source: nbcnews.com