Prosecutors say DNA links NC man to Fort Mill double murder involving wife’s boyfriend

Andrew Dys
·4 min read

Paul Eugene Bumgardner killed his estranged wife’s boyfriend then turned his gun to the man’s elderly mother in a stunning 2022 double murder in one of Fort Mill’s most affluent neighborhoods, prosecutors said Tuesday as the trial got underway.

Barry Reynolds, 40, and Betty Reynolds, 71, were shot to death in September 2022 inside their Saddle Ridge Road home off Pleasant Road south of the North Carolina state line.

Bumgardner, 46, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, burglary, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. But his DNA matches evidence from a hat and mask at the crime scene, prosecutors said in the York County trial where Bumgardner could face life in prison if convicted.

From Gastonia, N.C., Bumgardner used GPS to track his wife’s movements to the boyfriend’s house and looked up where the victims lived, prosecutors said.

His lawyer told the Moss Justice Center jury: “GPS tracking doesn’t equal guilt. DNA doesn’t equal guilt.”

The case revolves around the extramarital relationship between Barry Reynolds and Tonia Dellinger, who was still married to Bumgardner at the time. Barry Reynolds is the biological father of one of Tonia Dellinger’s children, testimony showed Tuesday. The pair rekindled their relationship just weeks before the killings.

Bumgardner moved out of the home he previously shared with Dellinger before the Reynolds’ were shot to death.

The killings: Mother and son dead

The first witness to the aftermath of the homicide was sheriff’s deputy Lucas Frame, shown here.
The first witness to the aftermath of the homicide was sheriff’s deputy Lucas Frame, shown here.

York County deputy Lucas Frame testified first, saying officers found Barry and Betty Reynolds shot to death on Sept. 27, 2022. Deputies went to the house because Dellinger called 911 after being on the phone with Barry Reynolds when he answered a knock at the door, Frame said.

Barry Reynolds died in the foyer by the front door after being shot in the face and other places, 16th Circuit Senior Assistant Solicitor Hannah Woods said in opening statements. Betty Reynolds died on the floor next to a recliner couch and a piano after being shot in the head, neck and shoulder, Woods said. Her broken glasses lay shattered next to her body.

York County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Bumgardner about 10 days after the crime. Authorities said they found a GPS tracker on his wife’s car and an app on his phone that he used to track the device. Woods also said DNA at the crime scene matched Bumgardner’s DNA profile.

Woods said Bumgardner looked up the news coverage of the brutal slayings on his phone and deleted his online search history.

“It all points to one person — Paul Bumgardner,” Woods told the jury.

Defense says not guilty

Bumgardner’s lawyer, York County Senior Public Defender Devon Nielson, said Bumgardner’s and Dellinger’s marriage was falling apart in 2022 after 27 years together. So, when Bumgardner saw the news coverage, he knew the finger would be pointed at him, Nielson said.

“(Bumgardner) had every reason to be mad at Barry Reynolds for 14 years ... all of a sudden you see a story on the news and you know the name. Why? You know based on your family situation and family relationships you know you will be a suspect,” Nielson said. “You know you didn’t do it. You don’t know who did, but you know it isn’t you.”

Bumgardner had raised Barry Reynolds’ son as his own even though he was not the birth father, Nielson said.

Dellinger has Reynolds’ child

Tonia Dellinger testifies in court Tuesday about the double homicide of her boyfriend and his mother.
Tonia Dellinger testifies in court Tuesday about the double homicide of her boyfriend and his mother.

Dellinger testified Tuesday she, Barry Reynolds and Bumgardner all worked together at a North Carolina business in 2009 when she fell into a romantic relationship with Barry Reynolds and got pregnant. Dellinger told the court she was still married to Bumgardner at the time she was pregnant with Dellinger’s child, but went back to marriage with Bumgardner afterward.

There was no contact between Barry Reynolds and Dellinger from 2009 until weeks before the killings when they re-connected on Facebook, she testified. She spent the night at the Reynolds’ Fort Mill home at least three times before the killings. Dellinger told the court she and Barry Reynolds planned to get married.

Bumgardner found out weeks before the killings that she and Barry Reynolds were again a couple, Dellinger testified.

Night of Fort Mill double murder

Judge William McKinnon listens during court Tuesday during a double murder trial.
Judge William McKinnon listens during court Tuesday during a double murder trial.

The night of the killings, Dellinger called 911 from her North Carolina home about 30 minutes after she heard Barry Reynolds, confront someone at the door while they were talking on the phone.

“He goes to answer the front door and I hear someone say ‘I have a package for Barry,’ then I hear ‘What are you doing man?’ then I heard a scuffle and (Reynolds) screamed my name,” Dellinger testified.

But under cross-examination, Dellinger said she could not identify the voice of the purported attacker as her husband’s voice.

Dellinger testified Bumgardner took guns and a homemade silencer from their North Carolina family home before he moved out weeks before the killings.

The wife and and the deputy were the first two witnesses during the trial. The court also heard later Tuesday from forensics officers and other witnesses. The trial in front of Judge Bill McKinnon is expected to last several days.