Alleged attacker in Beaufort stabbing, fire has allegedly done this before

The 25-year-old Beaufort area man charged in connection with a stabbing and arson in Beaufort on Wednesday was also out on bond after being charged with felony domestic violence in July, according to online public records.

Beauton Byrd was charged with attempted murder and second degree arson in connection with the Battery Creek Road incident, according to a Beaufort Police Department news release Thursday. Byrd is listed as being homeless in online Beaufort County Detention Center records. He was arrested Thursday morning and remains in jail awaiting a bond hearing.

Byrd was charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature after allegedly beating and stabbing a woman in July, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

He was also convicted of three violent misdemeanor offenses in 2016 – one domestic violence offense and two assault and battery offenses, according to online Beaufort County court records. He was sentenced to 90 days for the first and 30 days each for the others.

The Beaufort woman who appeared to have been brutally attacked before escaping the house fire Wednesday is in stable condition at a Charleston hospital, the homeowner said.

The injured woman called and left a message Wednesday for Sherry Hyland, who owns the home that burned on Battery Creek Road, Hyland said. A member of the medical staff at Medical University of South Carolina called Hyland later with a message from the woman.

“She wanted me to know she was there and being taken care of,” Hyland said. “And she asked if I could help find her dog.”

The woman crawled from a broken window as the house caught fire and told a man who came to her aid she had been stabbed multiple times.

The small black dog named ran off during the commotion. The dog’s name is Scrappy and has been spotted in the Royal Oaks and Mossy Oaks areas of Beaufort.

Hyland’s two Great Danes escaped the fire.

Police and firefighters responded to a domestic violence call Wednesday afternoon at Battery Creek Road near Jane Way. A nearby flagman said he pulled the woman from a broken window in the front of the house as it caught fire, and that she had been stabbed multiple times and appeared to have been beaten.

Byrd was found in the home and taken to the hospital in handcuffs.

Police and SLED are investigating.

Hyland said investigators finished at her home Wednesday evening. She walked through in the dark and said she was shocked at the scope of the damage.

All the doors and three of the windows were broken as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. Heirloom furniture and Hyland’s college diploma are among the items soaked in water.

The ceiling and much of the inside of the house is coated black.

“I haven’t seen it in daylight,” Hyland said. “I don’t know if I want to see it in daylight.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Alleged attacker in Beaufort stabbing, fire has allegedly done this before."