Camp Swamp Road Ep. 2: A Game of Telephone

0:00A word of warning. This series contains descriptions of violence and strong language, including unbleep curse words. Please be advised.

0:12Previously on Camp Swamp Road.

0:39on. And no one will tell us? He shot at us. We're good. You're good. Don't worry about it. Things happen. I don't understand this one.

0:59It's the day after the shooting. The lead investigator assigned to the Scott Spivey case is Detective Alan Jones.

1:09This is for the audio recording.

1:16For the phone call with Mr. Byron and Deborah Spivey, the parents of the seat and Scott Spivey. Detective Jones records himself on his body cam. In the video, he looks tired. He had stayed up late. At 2.10 a.m., Jones had filed his initial report, which said that the shooting on Camp Swamp Road appeared to be justified. It's now around two in the afternoon, and Jones is reaching out to the Spivey family for the first time. Scott Spivey's mother answers the phone. Hello? Is this Ms. Deborah Spivey? Yes. Ms. Spivey, I'm Alan Jones. I'm the detective of Rory County Police. Yes, sir. Hold on just a moment.

2:01If you'd hold on just a moment. Okay. It's the detective. You want to go back there so you can hear? Hold on, it's going to get my door. It's your own speaker. Okay.

2:16Where is Jennifer? Deborah calls for her daughter, Jennifer Foley. We're sitting in the back bedroom. We can take all the chairs back there, and we're sitting around, and he's on speakerphone, and we're all sitting in the room. There's probably 10 of us back there. Since the early morning, family members have been trickling into the Spivey house. aunts, uncles, cousins, waiting to hear more about what had happened to Scott. Well, I still have a couple of, I guess, unanswered questions here and there. And actually, I was hoping maybe talking with you guys may clear some of that up for me. Okay, we hope we can.

2:57It started off immediately with Scott going through a life crisis. Just to try to understand. Scott, did he have any kind of medical issues or anything of that nature? No, not that I'm aware of, no. Was Scott doing drugs? Was Scott this? Was Scott that? And I'm like, hum the brakes and tell us what happened first. Has Scott ever had any kind of issues with any drug abuse issues or anything of that nature?

3:39No, not really. As a teenager, pot and all. Like, we got no clue what's happened. And when those questions started coming in, we were like, this is not normal questioning. This is, Scott's the criminal. We need to record this. Jennifer's husband takes out his phone and he starts recording. I will say this much. Scott, by his nature, will not start something. Now, he may not back down from it, but he is not one to start something. Detective Jones tells the family that they have witnesses who saw Scott Spivey waving his gun on Highway 9. Scott pointed a gun at other people. Wrong. Other people pointing it directly at him or out the wind at the man behind him?

4:44There you go. Yes, ma 'am. He pointed that we have two other witnesses in two other different vehicles. Let's say he pointed a gun at them. That just does not sound like him at all. I could see him, if he was frightened, pointing the gun out and down behind him, I just, I don't see it. I just do not.

5:13This is not how the Spavis expected this call to go. They thought Detective Jones might say he was sorry for their loss. He didn't. They thought he was starting an investigation into who killed Scott. He wasn't. And these cross wires would only continue. It wouldn't be until months later that the Spavis would figure out why.

5:39I'm Valerie Borlein, and this is Camp Swamp Road, a series from The Journal.

5:50Coming up, episode two, a game of telephone.

6:15Scott Spivey was killed on his way home. If he'd kept going on Camp Swamp Road, he would have made it to his trailer. Spivey lived just across the state line in North Carolina. A few months ago, I made that same drive with my producer, Rachel Humphreys. We're coming up. We're getting ready to cross underneath Highway 9, actually, the main thoroughfare just north of the line. And hold on. Now I'm looking at the GPS. Highway 9's going across. The shooting took place in South Carolina. Had it happened across the state line, things might have been different. North Carolina has a stand-your-ground law.

6:55But multiple lawyers and legislators there told me they would not have considered this a standard ground case. And driving around, I realized how close Spivey was to that state line. About two miles. It's very hard to know when you've crossed it. Are we still on the North Carolina side of the line? I think. It's so porous, it's so hard to tell.

7:19Scott Spivey's trailer sits next to his parents' house, where he and Jennifer grew up. As we pull in, I notice an old barn that's collapsed in on itself. The family has been farming in this area for over 100 years.

7:34The Spivey house is small, red brick, one story, set back from the road on a freshly mowed lawn.

7:46As we walk through the front door, Scott Spivey's mom, Deborah, and his sister, Jennifer, are there to greet us. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How are y 'all? Thank you for letting us come back.

7:59It's been almost two years since Scott Spivey died, but there are traces of him everywhere. In the living room, there's a huge portrait of him over the mantel. The first thing I noticed is his piercing blue eyes. One Family Keepsake is a video that Scott Spivey made for his father, Byron Dale Spivey. It was recorded a couple months before he was killed.

8:39Scott Spivey worked as an insurance adjuster. He would travel around the country in the wake of natural disasters to assess the damage done to people's houses. He moved home the year before he died, just before his 32nd birthday. He wanted to be close to his family, especially Jennifer. What was y 'all's relationship like when you were little? He did anything I asked him to do. Dressing up, playing dress up, playing anything. I mean, he'd be like, come have a tea party. And he'd be like, okay. I mean, I could get him to do anything I wanted. Like a lot of kids who grew up out in the country, Jennifer and Scott Spivey were each other's first playmates.

9:20They were siblings, but they were also friends. They went to church and youth group together. And in high school, when Jennifer made homecoming court, she asked her brother to be her escort. Who else would I want to walk me out there on the football field than my little brother? You know, who's my biggest cheerleader other than my little brother? So I'm going to let him, you know, be there for me.

9:46Scott Spivey's mom, Debra, has a calming air about her. She's a retired special education teacher. Debra was the last member of the family to see her son alive. Tell me about September 9th. How did the day start for you? It was a normal Saturday. I'm doing things around the house that you would do. I walked outside to get something out of the car, and he was leaving, and I waved at him. and he waved and smiled. I wish I had gone over and banged on the window and knowing what I know and just pulled him out and not let him go anywhere.

10:25On the night of the shooting, Deborah was driving back from dinner with her husband when she got the call from Jennifer. Have you heard from Scott? Do you know what's going on with Scott? And my heart just about skipped a beat in my throat. Began to feel like it was closing up. It was dark when Debra arrived at Camp Swamp Road. All the cops would tell her family was that Scott Spivey had been road raging and was dead. It's something that you can't believe that would happen because we've never experienced anything remotely close to that in a family or an extended family. So it's just difficult to even explain.

11:12It's like the bottom of your whole being, your soul. Everything just kind of drops out. Because here you are, you are a wife, a mom of two kids. And now you have one. And you don't know what to do with what used to be.

11:33Horry County Police said that Scott Spivey had played a major role in his own death. He'd been drinking before he got behind the wheel. And for Jennifer, it was hard to hear that he'd allegedly pointed a gun at drivers on Highway 9. She and her brother both owned guns. But Jennifer didn't know how to reconcile what the police told her with how they'd been raised. So my dad's a veteran. We grew up respecting firearms. They were in our home. Is it something that we went and had Sunday shootout, like shoots in the backyard? No. They were used for hunting, and that was the only purpose. After Vietnam, my dad said, I don't— Honestly, other people took Scott hunting because my dad was like, I— My dad was the same after Vietnam.

12:19Yeah. Not even—like, Daddy loved squirrel hunting when he was a boy, but not after he came back. It just—it took something out of him. Guns are used for one purpose. It's to protect yourself at home, or it is to go hunting to provide food for your table. Scott has tons of hunting rifles and things like that. He owned one... One handgun. One handgun. Scott Spivey was killed just before 6 p.m. on a Saturday. By Sunday morning, photos of his last moments are being texted around in group chats among people in the community. Friends start forwarding the photos to the family. One shows Scott Spivey in his black truck, holding a gun out the window.

13:14The Spiveys meet to talk about the photos. Jennifer records it. Well, you see the pictures that we sent to you? And I'm sorry, who took that picture? That's the shooters. That's the shooters. They took those pictures. The family is shocked to discover that the source of the photos is one of Scott Spivey's killers. Who posted those pictures? This is the shooter sharing it. The shooter sharing it with who? No, it's not on social media. These are things that he's sending his friends. People keep sending Jennifer photos. She's hearing rumors that an image is being shared of a brother's dead body. and Jennifer also hears that the person sharing the photos is Weldon Boyd but his involvement in a brother's death wasn't confirmed until three days after the shooting on Facebook.

14:02Boyd posted quote the events that unfolded were truly tragic and have left a lasting impact on me. He then addressed the Spiveys directly saying quote my thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope you find the strength and peace you need during this incredibly difficult time. Boyd thanked the witnesses and his supporters. He ended the post by thanking Ori Police for their professionalism and empathy.

14:32All of this, Boyd thanking the police, the photos being texted around, they raised a question for Jennifer. Did the police ever take the shooter's phones as evidence? I do have one question for you. And I'm not trying to, please don't take this the wrong way. Four days after the shooting, Jennifer and her mom called Detective Jones to ask about Bradley Williams and Weldon Boyd's phones. Why?

15:02We can't get Scott's phone back because it's evidence, and I understand that. But the two individuals that were let go with their phones, and they walked out. Yeah, that's right. And they were texting people at midnight that night. And they took pictures and they have shared those pictures of the scene with individuals since then. Why were their phones not taken as evidence-off? And why haven't they been taken? They have evidential pictures on them. The more answer to that, ma 'am, is no being cooperative. As a matter of fact, there's a department set up for them to come in and bring us their phones so they can be down with.

15:41How long before that? Why was that done immediately before they had chances to destroy the phone itself? In that call, Detective Jones mentioned that Boyd and Williams were going to hand over their phones that day. But that didn't actually happen for another two months.

16:06South Carolina's stand-your-ground law was protecting Weldon Boyd and Bradley Williams, and it was preventing the Spivey family from accessing information. In stand-your-ground cases, the killer is considered the victim, making the dead person the offender. In these cases, the dead person's loved ones aren't granted the usual victim's rights, like briefings from investigators and access to police files. Essentially, for the loved ones left behind, the investigation is a black box. The Spiveys don't know what's going on because they aren't entitled to know what's going on. But they did get some information from the autopsy on Scott Spivey's body.

16:47Spivey was shot twice. He was killed by a bullet to the back. After the autopsy, the family scheduled the funeral for Saturday, September 16th, a week after the shooting. The Spiveys had wanted an open casket, but the body was too damaged. Not just from the bullets and the autopsy, but from the way the police handled Spivey's remains. The right side of his body was so bruised, and that was the side that was the viewing side in the casket. We just, we had to have a closed casket. And Scott was such a handsome man.

17:28On the night of the shooting, the Horry County Police Department towed Scott Spivey's body in his own truck. from Camp Swamp Road to the police impound lot, 25 miles. It was like he was not treated as a human being, as something inanimate. Yes, it was a dead body, but it was the body of my son. You would expect more compassion, more reverence for a body. than he received. To me, it almost bordered on desecration. Horry County police said they towed Scott Spivey's body in his truck because heavy rain was in the forecast, which might have compromised evidence.

18:26It's been more than a week since the shooting. And what Jennifer is hearing is more rumors from other people than information from the police. Jennifer says that when she got a hold of the initial police report, it didn't contain much detail. Jennifer calls Detective Jones again.

19:05because I'm sure you guys have gotten a lot of bad information, but that's part of my job. I get all that bad information, too, that I have to sort through and figure out what of it makes sense and what of it is just bad information and complete and utter hearsay. Yes, sir. I mean, it's like a game of telephone. Eventually, the Spivey's game of telephone with Detective Jones does get somewhere. Even though they're not entitled to much, Jones invites the family to come to the police station so that they can hear a key piece of evidence. 911, OKCV, MRC. Hey, I've got a guy pointing a gun at me driving.

19:44We're armed as well. He keeps throwing the gun in our faces. This is the first time the Spiveys hear Weldon Boyd's 911 call. But instead of clarifying things, it makes them question the shooter's claims of self-defense. The Spiveys thought Stand Your Ground was an extension of the Castle Doctrine. A centuries-old legal principle that allows a person to use lethal force against an attacker in their own home. The way we understand Stand Your Ground is like if I'm at a stop sign, if I'm at a red light, if I'm somewhere that I have, I'm in my car, minding my business, and someone intrudes on my space.

20:21If you're in your home and an intruder comes in, you can take the force that you need to in order to keep your home safe. I get that. Listen, this dude shoots at me. We're going to put him down. I mean, this dude's insane. Are you following him or is he following you? He's been following us. Now we're behind him. But if I get into my car, which is an extension of my home, I can chase them down until they turn around and say, what the heck? He's stopping. He's stopping. Hey, we're about to have a fucking shootout, dude. This dude's got a gun. He's got a fucking gun. And then I can shoot and kill them and say, I'm in fear for my life as long as I don't get out of my vehicle.

21:04There's a flaw there. There's a huge flaw there. And then when you start putting these pieces together, like, something's just not.