What we know about the Hilton Head murder-suicide
The story of a murder-suicide spanning Hilton Head Island and Bluffton began outside a small dinner party.
Hilton Head resident David Duffey, 62, was walking Catherine Warrington, 50, of Bluffton, out of a home in the North Forest Beach area around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, according to Jim Little, a longtime friend of Duffey.
Both were fatally shot in a surge of sudden gunfire that shocked the usually quiet beachfront neighborhood. Their bodies were found in the driveway, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Using local law enforcement’s new automatic license plate reading cameras, Bluffton police and county deputies tracked the presumed shooter, 52-year-old Dustin Linsley, to his apartment in Old Town Bluffton. SWAT units surrounded the blue building.
After several hours of negotiations with the suspect over the phone — in the midst of which a 56-year-old woman inside the apartment was able to leave unharmed — police found Linsley dead inside the Promenade Street home from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 4:40 a.m. Friday.
Victim filed domestic violence complaint
Linsley was an ex-boyfriend of Warrington. The woman had described him as threatening and “increasingly possessive” just two weeks earlier, when she filed a police report accusing him of domestic violence.
Linsley had followed Warrington to South Carolina after they lived together in Manasquan, New Jersey, a beach town in the central part of the state. Their social media profiles indicate both worked at the same company, the Boston-headquartered Fidelity Investments.
The couple broke up after “multiple” domestic violence situations, Warrington told the Bluffton Police Department two weeks before the fatal shooting. As part of the same police report, Warrington claimed Linsley had showed up unannounced at her home near Old Town Bluffton the night of Jan. 30, made several threats, “chased” her around the kitchen island and pointed a gun at her and her cat.
After also interviewing Linsley on Feb. 3, a Bluffton officer noted he “(does) not believe probable cause exists” to arrest Linsley for domestic violence.
Deputies on Monday continued to investigate the circumstances behind the murder-suicide, which they said appeared to be a “domestic-related incident.” Sheriff’s office spokesperson Lt. Daniel Allen said police were also awaiting the results of forensic analysis.
Gunshots rang out late at night
A surge of about six gunshots rang out on Lark Street around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, neighbors said, followed by a woman’s screams. Then, there were more gunshots.
Serrana Moreno, a 47-year-old Hardeeville resident who regularly babysits for a family on the street, was one of several people to call 911 after the gunfire.
“It was very scary,” Moreno said. “My heart went like crazy.”
She and other neighbors said they were shocked such a grisly act of violence could happen in the beachfront neighborhood, whose streets are usually quiet and uneventful. Most houses in the area are registered as short-term rentals, but many homeowners live at their properties during the colder months.
Neighbor Trisha Firth said she didn’t hear the gunshots around 11:30 p.m., but shortly after, she heard a car “flying down” North Forest Beach Drive, which she presumed to be the suspect fleeing the scene.
Police surround a Bluffton apartment
As Linsley sped away to his home on the mainland, one Bluffton policeman began putting together the pieces of the crime.
Hearing from county deputies that a pickup truck was seen speeding away from Lark Street, the officer used the new Flock camera system to spot a truck registered to Linsley that was heading north near Pope Avenue, according to an incident report.
The officer noticed Linsley was named in the domestic violence complaint filed two weeks ago by Warrington, whose vehicle was said to be at the scene of the shooting.
“Based on the timing of Linsley’s vehicle leaving and the previous domestic call, I informed (Beaufort County deputies) that this was a possible suspect vehicle,” the officer wrote in his report.
The county’s arsenal of license plate-reading cameras captured Linsley’s truck again about a block away from his registered address on Promenade Street, the report says. About five minutes later, the officer arrived to find the suspect’s truck parked on the street behind his apartment.
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Bluffton police established a perimeter around the apartment, located above the popular Sippin Cow Cafe & Grill, before being relieved by the county’s SWAT team, according to the incident report.
The identity of the 56-year-old woman who escaped the apartment unharmed during police’s multi-hour negotiations with Linsley was unknown as of Monday.
The victims
Duffey, who was 62, had hosted a small dinner party the night of the shooting.
The Hilton Head resident loved to entertain and was famous for his paella. Friends described him as a “gentle soul” who was easy to talk to.
“The world has lost an amazing light,” friend Debi West said.
Warrington, a North Carolina native, was described as a “kind soul” by friends.
The 50-year-old had a successful career in the financial services industry and was passionate about mentoring younger women in their careers, friends said.
Friends and family members told The Packet the tragedy is still fresh and that they need to focus on laying Warrington to rest before telling her story. An obituary for Warrington has not been published yet as of Feb. 26.
Li Khan contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
