FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – A mother wants answers after her son was killed by a man who was out on bond for murder.
Gloria Becoat had just come home from church on Oct. 1, 2017 when she got the call.
“It was the hardest day of my life, and I thought the hardest day was burying my husband and my dad, but the hardest day was burying the child that I carried nine months,” she said with tears in her eyes. “It’s like there was a hole just go through my heart, and you could take the hole, you could take your fist, and go through my whole body. I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t feel nothing. I just wanted to get to my baby.”
Becoat had learned her 23-year-old son, Ellie, had been shot to death.
“I never thought I’d have to go look for my child, and see my child the way I saw my child,” she said. “When his last words were ‘Momma I love you, and I’ll be right back’ and I had to go look for my baby the way that I had to find my baby, and he never came back.”
The 23-year-old served in the United States Navy Reserve for four years. His mother said he decided to pursue his passion for art, and was going to sign up for classes at Florence-Darlington Technical College.
“When I can come home, and see his drawings, and to look outside and look at the sunshine, and look to the sky, because my help comes from above,” Ms. Becoat said.
The 23-year-old’s suspected killer was 22-year-old Zafir Abdul Bethea.
Bethea was out on a $125,000 bond for the 2015 murder of Terrell Smith.
Bethea was issued home detention and ankle monitoring, and had four conditions of his bond:
- Electronic Monitoring with home detention
- May attend church, work, attorney appointments, and doctor appointments
- Must reside with mother
- Shall not have any contact directly or indirectly with the victim’s family
Florence County officials said Bethea disarmed his ankle monitoring device the morning Becoat was killed.
Bethea was caught by the U-S Marshals Fugitive Task Force, and the F-B-I in Pennsylvania four days after he was accused of Becoat’s murder in Pamplico.
“My main concern right now, is that justice gets served for my child, and I feel that to a certain point, the system has let many people down with this ankle bracelet,” Ms. Becoat said. “If you knew that this monster was on this monitor, who was supposed to check it? Who was supposed to check on him? How did he get by the system just like that? So quick?”
Ms. Becoat said she wants to know who was responsible for monitoring Bethea.
“I want answers, and if it takes from going to the judge all the way down to the bondsman, I want answers,” she told News13. “There are so many questions. There are so many questions. I may get the answer, or I may not, but I know one thing, God will give me my answer, and I’m going to get my answer.”
State Representative, Tommy Pope, recently sponsored a bill with Greg Delleney that would assist current home detention programs.
“What it’s given is another tool for municipalities or counties that are housing pre-trial detainees an option that kind of balances between keeping them incarcerated, and letting them out on bond,” Pope said.
News13 reached out to officials in every county in the Pee Dee, and found that not one county had a formal home detention program. This includes Florence, Darlington, Marion, Marlboro, and Dillon Counties.
Horry County’s home detention program has been in place since 2001, but faced issued when a man out on bond for attempted murder, was charged with killing two other people while on electronic monitoring.
Pope’s bill would standardize the rules for electronic monitoring across South Carolina.
“I think this would help provide opportunities, but it’s still going to have to be monitored,” said Pope. “If it’s a private monitoring company, they have a responsibility, I would assume would be related in the contract that you would see with Florence County,” he continued. “So I think that’s important, but at the same token when we hear the horror story of somebody monitored that maybe commits a subsequent crime, there are equally a large number of horror stories where someone is bonded out, and subsequently commits a crime.”
Some of the rules the bill lists are requiring quick access to the location data, and forcing all private monitoring companies to follow the same guidelines.
“There was always the balance on pre-trial detainees, of who should be released, versus who should not,” Pope explained. “When you look at people getting a bond, the issues the court looks at are danger to the community and risk of flight. Well, if you think about it, at least from a risk of flight and danger, location-wise the monitoring would help that,” he continued. “Electronic monitoring would help because they have to stay in certain locations. They can create forbidden zones like don’t go near the victims or things of that nature. That’s ordered a lot in bonds now, but it’s one thing to tell you to do it, and it’s another thing to be able to have a means of enforcing it.”
The State Representative said the bill would be beneficial for taxpayers.
“The goal is for those who can’t afford it, community-wise,” he said. “Say your county can’t afford it, and I’d submit they can because it beats the heck out of detaining all these folks and paying for that, but those that can’t, it allows the private sector to come in, and it puts many of the costs on the defendant,” he continued. “Obviously if they’re indigent than that’s another issue we tackle, but if they’re able to pay a bond or attorney, then they can choose to pay for this monitoring as opposed to remaining in jail.”
News13 was in a Florence County courtroom during a separate bond hearing in 2017, when a judge refused to issue electronic monitoring.
“I understand that you did request electronic monitoring,” the judge said. “To be honest with you, the state would love to do that, but at this point, we don’t have clarification on who actually does the monitoring on the electronic monitoring. So in the past that has not been a success for the bond setting for Florence County.”
Pope said the bill did not get the traction it needed this year, but will resubmit it to the judiciary committee next year.
“At this stage, we’re at the end of a two year session in the legislature,” said Pope. “It was a House bill, and it has not come out of the House. Of course, it has to go completely through the House and completely through the Senate, and so with the time remaining, it just really has not had enough traction,” he explained. “It’s not necessarily a reflection on that particular bill.”
Pope said the extra time will give him the opportunity to strengthen the bill, and possibly address issues seen in counties like Florence.
“I think when the judiciary committee forms next year, we’ll kind of tests the waters, and see if there’s an interest in pursuing this again, and kind of with our local sheriff’s and things like that of that nature,” said Pope. “If they’re interested in moving forward then we will resubmit it next year, and give it another shot.”
Ms. Becoat said she wants harsher rules on third-party monitoring.
“I may not understand all the terms of the law. I may not understand all the terms of the courthouse, or the court system or who does this or who does that, but I’m willing to learn it, and I’m willing to follow my heart, and have a voice,” she said.
The grieving mother said she doesn’t want anyone to go through what she had to deal with when she lost her son.
“These other people got the chance to see their parents, and tell their parents that they love them,” she said as she cried. “I have to go to the graveyard, and visit my son, and know he’s not coming back with me.”
Ms. Becoat said she looks to her faith, and thinks of happy memories with Ellie, to motivate her each and every day.
“Sometimes I envision my son just walking with a paint brush,” she said. “Just sculpting his art. Just spreading it everywhere.”
