Teen Charged With Killing Family

Joyce Allen, left, Garland Blackman, Robbie Funk, and Melissa Funk react after the discovery of four bodies in Easley.

AP photo

EASLEY, S.C. — A teenager who had recently moved back home after breaking up with his live-in girlfriend is accused of gunning down and killing four family members, stunning friends and neighbors.
Nathaniel Dickson, 18, was arrested Saturday night at a home in Belton about 20 miles from where the bodies of his father, stepmother, stepsister and younger brother were found, authorities said.
Those who knew Dickson grappled with how the quiet teen who loved video games and sports now was charged with four counts of murder.
“I can’t put my finger on what happened,” said Melissa Funk, whose 16-year-old son, Robbie, was good friends with both the suspect and the youngest victim. “It’s not what I’ve known him to be.”
Authorities would not discuss a possible motive.
“I’m going to have this case tried in the courtroom, not out on the streets,” Sheriff David Crenshaw said Sunday.
Dickson’s father was found shot early Saturday in the yard of his one-story house in a wooded neighborhood just outside of Easley.
Samuel Andrew Dickson Jr., 46, died as paramedics arrived. Officers then went inside and found the bodies of his wife, Martiza Hurtado Dickson, 46; Melissa Giliam Salazar, 19; and Taylor Dickson, 14. All had been shot to death.