‘Such a lovely person’: Hilton Head murder victim described as kind-spirited
One week ago, Bluffton resident Catherine “Cassie” Warrington was fatally shot by an ex-boyfriend after a dinner party on Hilton Head. Days later, little is known about the woman at the center of the murder-suicide.
Laurie Deatherage, who went to high school with Warrington in North Carolina, told The Packet the news is still “so raw,” and that friends and family members are still processing the tragedy.
Close friends and family members of Warrington contacted by The Island Packet either did not respond or declined to be interviewed. An obituary for Warrington has not been published yet, according to searches online.
Based on publicly available information and brief conversations with two people who knew Warrington, here’s what we know about the “lovely person” who was shot and killed.
She was a ‘Saint Mary’s Girl’
Warrington grew up in Tarboro, North Carolina, a town of roughly 10,000 people about an hour east of Raleigh.
Her mother, Catherine Leggett Warrington, graduated in 1969 from Saint Mary’s School, which was, at the time, an all-girl junior college in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Growing up, Warrington used to sneak into her mother’s jewelry box and try on her mother’s class ring, according to an alumna profile published by Saint Mary’s School.
Her mother told her, “One day, you’re going to meet your best friends at Saint Mary’s and you will have a ring of your own,” the article says.
Years later, Warrington was accepted into Saint Mary’s and became a fourth-generation enrollee. She graduated from Saint Mary’s high school in 1993 and from its college in 1995. The private Episcopal school was founded in 1842, and is now an all-girls private boarding school with just over 300 students in 9th through 12th grades.
“We were all sisters in one way or another,” said Deatherage, who graduated from St. Mary’s in the same class as Warrington.
At St. Mary’s, Warrington was known as a “generous, nurturing, kind soul,” the type of person who would take care of you if you were sick, Deatherage said.
“I loved Cassie,” the alumna said. “She was a wonderful person.”
Warrington’s mother passed away in 2013 after a lengthy battle with cancer, according to an online obituary.
In the article, uploaded to St. Mary’s website in 2019, Warrington credits the school with teaching her to be “strong,” “fearless,” and “to try and then try again.”
“In life, there are always new beginnings,” Warrington said in the article. “You must learn to survive, to trust, to speak up and have a voice.”
She touched many lives
Not every real estate agents remembers their past clients, but Katherine Liskoff, Warrington’s real estate agent in Manasquan, New Jersey, recalled Warrington instantly when contacted by a reporter.
“She was such a lovely person,” Liskoff remarked.
The news of Warrington’s death shocked Liskoff, who hadn’t heard about the Hilton Head shooting.
Liskoff, who has since retired, met Warrington when she was looking to move to Manasquan, an idyllic beach town about 60 miles south of Jersey City, where Warrington previously lived.
Warrington struck her as a smart, personable and giving woman who was involved with many charities. The North Carolina native was “always smiling” and spoke with a slight Southern lilt, which Liskoff found “charming.”
What stood out to her the most was the time Warrington offered to help Liskoff’s daughter search for jobs when she graduated from college.
“Cassie was very big on mentoring young women in their careers,” Liskoff said. “I thought that was wonderful.”
What we know about the shooting
The details of the murder-suicide are still coming to light, but here’s what is known so far based on police records and interviews with friends of the deceased.
At around 11:30 p.m. Dave Duffey, 62, of Hilton Head and Warrington, 50, of Bluffton were shot outside a short-term rental home in North Forest Beach.
That evening, Duffey was hosting a few friends for dinner, including Warrington and a couple from Boston. Duffey, known as “Duff” amongst friends, loved to entertain and was famous for his paella.
Neighbors called 911 after they heard gunshots, followed by a woman screaming, followed by more gunshots.
The suspected gunman fled before police arrived, but police used automatic license-plate-reading cameras to track down his vehicle at his home on 36 Promenade Street in Old Town Bluffton.
He was later identified as Dustin Linsley, 52. Less than a month prior, Linsley, an ex-boyfriend of Warrington’s, allegedly showed up unannounced at Warrington’s home and pointed a handgun at her, according to a domestic violence report filed by Warrington three days later.
Correction 2/26 5:50 PM: An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to Deatherage as being from New Jersey. This was a typo; Deatherage and Warrington went to school together at Saint Mary’s School in North Carolina.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 1:17 PM.
