Man denied parole in killing of 17-year-old Conway High School student in 1991, solicitor says
CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) – The South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services board denied parole Wednesday for a Conway man convicted of killing a Conway teenager in 1991.
Johnnie Kenneth “Ken” Register, 50, of Conway, sought parole for his convictions of murder, kidnapping, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in the killing of Crystal Faye Todd, a student at Conway High School.
Register was sentenced to life in prison for her murder and kidnapping and the parole board rejected Register’s request for release.
Register was the first person in South Carolina to be convicted on DNA evidence.
Solicitor Richardson, members of the victim’s family, as well as the lead investigator at the time who is now retired all spoke to the parole board virtually requesting Register to not be released.
More than 20 members of Todd’s family also attended the hearing, the release said.
“Johnnie Kenneth Register was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for the 1991 slaying of Crystal Faye Todd,” Richardson said. “The case devastated our community and reached national audiences for its brutality. Unfortunately, in the ‘90s, life didn’t really mean life. People who were sentence to life in prison met in the ‘90s must serve 30 years and then come up for parole every other year. I will continue to support the Todd family at every parole hearing to keep this man in prison.”
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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here.
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