Kershaw County Woman Convicted of Murder in Roadside Shooting
October 22, 2024
On Tuesday, Oct. 15, a Kershaw County jury convicted Stacey McClintock Catoe of murder following a trial related to the shooting death of 55-year-old Brenda Coates. The Honorable Robert E. Hood sentenced Catoe to 35 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The jury heard compelling evidence regarding the events of June 17, 2018, when the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a shooting that occurred at the intersection of U.S. Highway 521 and Catoe Road in Westville, South Carolina. Law enforcement responded to a 911 call received at 9:33 p.m. and found Coates with a single gunshot wound to the neck.
Testimony revealed that a passenger in Coates’ car asked her to pull over to retrieve something from the back of the vehicle. The passenger stated that Catoe then pulled up alongside Coates with her passenger window down and fired a single shot before fleeing the scene.
Sheriff’s deputies later located Catoe at a family member’s home, where she attempted to conceal her car near a wooded area. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement found a .380 pistol along with a fired cartridge casing. Testing by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) confirmed that the projectile recovered from Coates’ vehicle was fired from the .380 pistol found in Catoe’s car.
Further investigation revealed that the defendant had been sending threats to Coates in the weeks leading up to the shooting, as determined by phone analysis.
First Assistant Solicitor Dale Scott and Assistant Solicitor Michael Bradbury prosecuted the case for the Fifth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office.