She was beaten, bound and her home torched. Jury says Beaufort Co. neighbor guilty of murder

A Burton woman was found guilty Thursday of killing a disabled neighbor in December 2016, a shocking crime in which the neighbor was beaten, wrapped in blankets and bound with duct tape before her house was set on fire.

A Beaufort County jury convicted Courtney Brock, 25, of murder, one of three believed to have participated in the death of Teresa Seigler, a 56-year-old grandmother who lived down the street from Brock in Bon Aire Estates.

Brock, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison, is the second to be convicted in the murder case. One other is awaiting trial.

“Teresa had chronic pain and a number of prescriptions,” said Hunter Swanson of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case. “Beyond these drugs, about the only other thing she had to her name was a generous heart. Even though she had her own troubles and was of modest means, she was known for helping out neighbors who were struggling to pay bills or buy groceries.”

Brock is one of the people Seigler helped.

Seigler’s body was found covered in gasoline when firefighters responded to the fire at her Falls Road house.

The fire was immediately deemed suspicious, but it took months for the public to learn details about the suspects and other violent acts connected to the murder.

Experts said Seigler’s body sustained blunt force trauma to the head, a broken rib and multiple contusions and bruising.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about 2.5 hours before delivering the verdict. Members asked to see text messages and phone records, along with refill dates for Seigler’s pill bottles.

Before sentencing Brock, Third Judicial Circuit Judge Kristi F. Curtis said, “I feel for the Seigler family, and I appreciate that you have been here all week. ... I am very sorry for the circumstances. Miss Brock, I’m sorry for your circumstances as well.”

As Brock’s grandmother had recently died, her family, who had been in the courtroom for a majority of the trial, was not present for the sentencing.

She remained visibly unaffected by the reading of her prison term. She stood, was handcuffed and led from the courtroom showing no emotion.

In April, a co-defendant, Brian Walls, 38, of Burton, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for Seigler’s murder. Another co-defendant, John Priester, described as homeless by police, also faces murder charges for the crime.

Two juveniles are charged with setting the fire but were not charged in the murder.

Seigler’s daughter, Hannah, said her mother was not vindictive. “If she was here right now, she would want to say she forgave them,” she said Wednesday. “I don’t hate them. They have to answer to God. They have to turn their lives around and change for God.”

The case

Brock told the jury she liked Seigler and that the two had become friends after Seigler let the young mother once stay with her for a short period.

At the time of the murder, Brock was living near Seigler.

Brock said the two would visit over dinner and also talked while smoking marijuana. Although Brock maintained that she was not involved in Seigler’s murder, Swanson, the prosecutor, argued that forensic evidence proved Brock’s guilt.

A thumb print was found on duct tape binding Seigler’s arms, experts testified.

Brock’s personal items, such as a Victoria’s Secret makeup bag and clothes, were found in a backpack with wadded-up duct tape along with Seigler’s pill bottles and her ATM card, witnesses testified. Brock’s DNA was on the items, and the backpack was found in the passenger seat of a vehicle Brock was in when police found her.

Brock said she doesn’t know how her items ended up in the bag.

Swanson told the jury Brock and Walls, her co-defendant, were an “all methed up” and “paranoid” Bonnie and Clyde on the run when police found them near the North Carolina border a day after the fire.

Matthew Walker, Brock’s public defender, argued that Brock wasn’t an equal participant in the murder but was with Walls, drugged and reckless, out of circumstance.

“She grew up around him,” Walker said. “She has known him her entire life. When you have been around something your entire life — maybe you are used to it?”

Brock had testified that she would be homeless if Walls hadn’t allowed her to stay at homes he rented out.

“Fate put her in the orbit of Brian Walls,” Walker said.

Duct tape

Walker argued that the only evidence that placed Brock at the scene was a thumb print on the duct tape.

He said there were other ways the print could have been placed on the duct tape.

Brock said she often used duct tape to fix holes in the floor and on the walls of two homes managed by Walls. She said she would unroll the tape the length of the house and cut swaths out of it.

The week of Seigler’s murder, Brock said she was working with duct tape when her mother stopped by. She rolled the duct tape back up and left to eat dinner. The duct tape was gone when she returned to the house later that night, she said.

The prosecutor called her explanation confusing.

Swanson asked Brock to demonstrate for the jury how she used the duct tape.

“Who uses duct tape in that manner?” Swanson asked the jury in her closing arguments. “If it was even close to the truth, wouldn’t you find multiple prints from Courtney?”

Family grief

It has been nearly three years since the murder of her mother, and some days are harder than others, Hannah Seigler said.

“I try to have a smile on my face,” she said. “But there are some days I just can’t. There are days I can’t stop crying.”

Seven grandchildren are growing up without their grandmother, Hannah Seigler said.

“My daughter is 12,” she said. “She had a good relationship with my mom. There are days she breaks down.”

The Seigler family is still waiting for the trials of Priester and the juveniles.

Crime and drug binge

Swanson said the murder happened while Brock and Walls were on a days-long drug binge that included multiple crimes.

The night before the fire, police say Wells raped Daryan Payne, then 19, at the Howard Johnson hotel in Beaufort. Payne has previously told her story to the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette and agreed to be identified.

Wells is also charged with kidnapping and forcing her to withdraw money from an ATM before stealing her car.

Brock testified Wednesday that Payne had picked them up that night and then disappeared. Brock told the jury that Wells said Payne was allowing him to use the car.

Wells drove the car the following day to Charleston, back to Beaufort and then to Chesterfield, where police arrested Brock on misdemeanor drug charges.

The rape and related charges against Wells are pending.

This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 4:40 PM.