Mother 'shoots dead two sons, stepmother AND her ex-husband - then tries to frame it as murder-suicide to get life insurance'

South Carolina mother Susan Hendricks, 48, arrested

'W anted to collect life insurance policies on victims'

Told police youngest son was using drugs and suicidal



A mother shot and killed her two sons, her ex-husband and her stepmother - then tried to make it look like her son was the killer, police said.

Susan Hendricks, 48, of Pickens County, South Carolina, allegedly wanted to collect life insurance policies on all of the victims.

She was in one of two homes where the shootings took place and told police her youngest son had been using drugs and was suicidal.

'Cover up': Susan Hendricks shot and killed her two sons, her ex-husband and her stepmother then tried to make it look like her son was the killer, police said

Officers found a gun by his body, and Hendricks said he left her a note on the kitchen table. But investigators said on Tuesday it was all staged.

Matthew Hendricks, 23, was found dead in bed. Her stepmother Linda Ann Burns, 64, was found dead inside another bedroom in her home.

‘Her statements were inconsistent with the scientific and forensic evidence' Walt Wilkins

Greenville County Solicitor

Next door authorities found her ex-husband Mark Hendricks, 52, and her other son, Marshall Wayne Hendricks, 20. Both were shot in the chest.

The homes are about five miles outside Liberty, in an area of mixed farms and suburban residences in the state's west.

‘Her statements were inconsistent with the scientific and forensic evidence,’ Greenville County Solicitor Walt Wilkins said.

Scene: Pickens County Sheriff David Stone defended his decision to only arrest Hendricks nine days after the killings

Prosecutors would not say how much insurance she had on the victims, but it was a large amount. This isn't the first deadly shooting at her home.



Doyle ‘Brian’ Teague, 36, was shot to death in April 2006 after entering the house uninvited and threatening someone inside, the coroner's office said.

‘In a case of this magnitude, but where there appears to be no significant risk to the public and the suspect can be readily monitored, prudence dictates that sufficient forensic tests be done prior to an arrest being made' David Stone

Pickens County Sheriff



Investigators ruled at the time she acted in self-defence.

Pickens County Sheriff David Stone defended his decision to only arrest Hendricks nine days after the killings.

'In a case of this magnitude, but where there appears to be no significant risk to the public and the suspect can be readily monitored, prudence dictates that sufficient forensic tests be done prior to an arrest being made,' he said.

