Port Royal police charged Jonah Bookmiller, 21, of Beaufort with murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to Beaufort County Detention Center booking records.
Hours earlier on Friday, the Port Royal Police Department announced Bookmiller was wanted in the death of a 31-year-old Beaufort woman and injury of a male victim at the Abberly Pointe Apartments on Sunday, Nov. 1.
At 11:55 p.m. Sunday, Bookmiller “knocked on the victim’s door” and, once the male victim answered, he “attacked the victims and stabbed them several times,” according to a release from the department.
Heather Simmons, 31, of Beaufort was found dead in the Port Royal apartment around midnight, according to Beaufort County Chief Deputy Coroner David Ott.
The male victim was hospitalized with serious injuries but is now stable, the release said.
Bookmiller was in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center as of Saturday morning, jail records show.
When we publish mugshots
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:
In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety
In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims
Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that don’t meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 12:41 PM.
Jake Shore is a senior writer covering breaking news for The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. He reports on criminal justice, police, and the courts system in Beaufort and Jasper Counties. Jake originally comes from sunny California and attended school at Fordham University in New York City. In 2020, Jake won a first place award for beat reporting on the police from the South Carolina Press Association.
Lucas Smolcic Larson joined The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette as a projects reporter in 2019, after graduating from Brown University. His work has won Rhode Island and South Carolina Press Association awards for education and investigative reporting. He previously worked as an intern at The Washington Post and the Investigative Reporting Workshop in Washington D.C. Lucas hails from central Pennsylvania and speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
