Trial begins for man accused of murdering grandparents for inheritance

Tina Terry
·2 min read

A trial has begun for a local veteran accused of murdering his grandfather and great-grandmother in 2020.

Prosecutors said Gene Alexzander “Alex” Scott is accused of shooting them in a scheme to get his inheritance.

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It all happened on Father’s Day in 2020. Deputies were called to a mobile home on Doe Street in Richburg, where they found the bodies of Gene Rogers and Billy Ruth Rogers. Both had been shot.

On Tuesday, the jury heard from several witnesses and got to watch video of the interaction between the suspect and the first officer who arrived on scene that day. Prosecutors that body camera video Tuesday afternoon, saying Scott put on a performance when the cops got there.

“There’s blood all over, it’s like somebody executed them,” Scott said in the video. “I can’t get it out of my head. I can’t get it out of my head.”

In the video, you can hear a seemingly emotional Scott telling a Chester County sheriff’s deputy that his grandparents had been killed. On the stand, that deputy told jurors that Scott’s behavior seemed odd.

“It was as though he was putting on a show. He would turn it on and off,” Deputy Claude Cowell said. ”He also kept asking to leave.”

Scott told deputies he went to visit his grandfather for Father’s Day and found the bodies. But in court, prosecutors claimed it was a premeditated murder motivated by greed.

“He was going to kill his grandfather so he could get the money from the life insurance policy and from the remainder of his retirement account that he knew he was a beneficiary of,” solicitor Candice Lively said.

Lively told the jury that Scott had just gotten out of the military in January 2020. She said Scott’s grandfather had already given him more than $80,000 earlier in the year, but she said Scott wanted more.

“He had some grand idea that he was going to start a business, a tactical business, security business, buy a bunch of guns,” Lively said.

During opening arguments, the defense urged the jury to keep an open mind and suggested the prosecution’s case is “paper-thin.”

The victim’s family was also in court Tuesday. They didn’t want to talk on camera, but they’ve said they’re hoping for justice.

The judge said testimony in this case could go into next week.

(WATCH PREVIOUS: Bond denied for soldier in deadly SC shootings of grandfather, great-grandmother)