Conway double murder suspect admits to killings, claims he was ‘desperate,’ affidavit says

CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Court documents reveal Brandon Michael Council, the North Carolina man believed to have killed two innocent women in Conway, admitted to the murders.

The affidavit in support of criminal complaint related to Council’s arrest says on Aug 15, six days prior to the CresCom robbery and murders, surveillance footage from the Conway Express Inn captured a white 1999 Chrysler Town and Country minivan with two men and a woman unloading luggage and carrying it into room 110 of the hotel.

FBI agents say one of the men in that minivan was “a black male with long dreadlocks resembling Council.”

Officials were able to run the license plate of the minivan, which came back to Melissa Taylor Fogg, 51, of Wilson, NC. Police spoke with Fogg Aug. 21, the day Council purportedly murdered two employees inside the Conway bank.

During the interview, Fogg told police that she and another person, Daryl Artis, dropped Council off at the Conway Express Inn on Aug. 15. Before Fogg and Artis left the motel, they saw Council stomp on his cell phone, attempting to destroy it. The alleged killer then removed the battery and the SIM card from the damaged phone.

Motel surveillance video shows Council leaving room 110 “on foot dressed in a distinctive blue striped polo style shirt and blue jean pants.” Council was then captured on surveillance video entering CresCom bank, located at 1230 16^th Ave. in Conway. Council is captured on the CresCom video at 1:13 p.m. wearing the same clothing also shown in the motel surveillance video.

Bank video shows Council approach a teller and speaks with her briefly. “Council then pulls a firearm, points it at the teller and shoots her multiple times,” court documents state. “Council then jumps over the teller counter. Council is also captured locating a second female employee of the bank who was hiding underneath a desk. Upon finding her, the video captured Council shooting the employee multiple times as she attempts to hide under the desk.”

Court documents show that Council was caught on video driving away in a white 2013 Chrysler 200 belonging to one of the victims of the robbery. The other victim drove a Honda, whose vehicle key fob was missing when police arrived at the scene. Documents confirm “multiple bank credit cards belonging to each of the victims” were also missing.

“Bank audits showed a loss amount of $15,294,” documents state.

Just seven minutes after Council is seen on bank surveillance video, he returns to the Conway Express Inn in the victim’s car. The presumed killer leaves the driver side door open, grabs luggage from room 110, throws it in the trunk of the car and drives away, the affidavit describes.

On Wednesday, Council was spotted by “surveillance units” driving a white Mercedes Benz leaving a motel parking lot in Greenville, NC. Officers responded to Council’s location, and the accused murderer tried to run. Council was taken into custody after a short chase, documents report. Council was searched after being captured and was “found to be in possession of his NC identification card and key fobs for Chrysler and Honda vehicles.”

Council waived his rights and agreed to talk with police.

Council confessed to the CresCom bank robbery, court documents state. “Council further admitted to shooting both bank employees during the course of the robbery. Council told agents that he was desperate, he needed money and that he knew he was going to shoot someone.”

FBI agents document in the affidavit that Council said he “knew that he was going to hurt somebody that day.” He admitted to police that he watched a movie called Get Rich or Die Trying. Then, the man accused of killing two women during a bank robbery, told police “he did not deserve to live.”

Council is also a suspect in a bank robbery in Wilson, NC. Council was identified as the prime suspect in the robbery of the BB&T bank located on South Tarboro Street in Wilson, NC on Aug. 11.

“A review of Council’s criminal record shows that on March 16, 2011, Council was convicted in North Carolina for ‘habitual felon’ and ‘larceny great than $1,000.’” The accused killer’s probation for the 2011 charges ended 11 days prior to the BB&T bank robbery.

Just 10 days later, Council killed two CresCom bank employees in Conway and stole $15,240, documents claim. Council will be in federal court in Greenville, NC Thursday at 2 p.m.