Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 50-The Unsolved Murders Along Shaw Creek
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Nestled in the woods of Aiken County, South Carolina, Shaw Creek holds dark secrets beneath its serene surface. Between 1987 and 1993, the remains of four Black women were discovered along these waterways, their bodies stripped of clothing, possessions, and ultimately, their identities. This is the haunting story of a forgotten serial killer who has never faced justice.
The pattern began when hunters stumbled upon skeletal remains in November 1987. The woman had been deliberately positioned—face down, arms outstretched, legs crossed. She stood tall at 5'8" to 5'10" and had distinctive facial features indicating possible Caribbean heritage. Her hair tested positive for cocaine, but decades later, she remains known only as the "1987 Aiken Jane Doe."
As more bodies emerged from the wilderness—Jacqueline "Jackie" Council, a mother of four; an unidentified woman whose remains were burned to destroy evidence; and Ristine Durden, found 15 miles from the others but under strikingly similar circumstances—a chilling pattern emerged. The killer targeted Black women in their mid-20s to early 30s, methodically removing anything that could identify them before leaving them in isolated areas along Shaw Creek.
We examine multiple suspects, including Joseph Patrick Washington, who terrorized similar victims in nearby Augusta before dying in prison in 1999; John Wayne Boyer, the "Long Haul Trucker Killer"; and several other violent offenders with ties to the area. Yet the case remains frustratingly unsolved, the killer potentially still walking free.
The Shaw Creek murders raise disturbing questions about how certain victims—particularly women of color with possible connections to drugs or sex work—become forgotten in our criminal justice system. Two women still have no names, their humanity erased first by their killer and then by time. Join us as we give voice to these women and the relentless search for a predator who believed he could strip his victims of their identities forever.
Have information about these cases? Contact the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. Share this episode and help us ensure these women are not forgotten.
The Grim Discovery at Shaw Creek
Speaker 1Today we're heading to a quiet corner of South Carolina where the serene landscape of Shaw Creek holds a dark secret the chilling possibility of a serial killer whose victims remain largely forgotten. This is Hold my Sweet Tea. So Good morning y'all. I'm Holly.
Speaker 2And I'm Pearl and I have something really exciting to say. Ooh, I like it. This is episode 50. 50., 50.
Speaker 1Our golden anniversary, our golden episode-iversity Is that where we live in.
Speaker 2We live in yeah that Episode-iversary Episode-iversary.
Speaker 1So somebody buy us something gold. I like jewelry, gold bars.
Speaker 2No, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1That's awesome, though we my gosh.
Speaker 2That's awesome, though we made it to 50 episodes Yep, so I thought that was important to bring up.
Speaker 1That's almost as old as I am Like old nifty, 50. Nifty 50.
Speaker 2But to think that we just started in February, right, and we have 50 dang episodes.
Speaker 1We're trucking it Even through this horrific, ungodly summer.
Speaker 2We're holding it together, holding it together, we have like a glass of sweet tea that's been super glued.
Speaker 1Yes, we're like damn it, we're not giving up now, Don't stop me. Now we're not having a good time, we're not giving up now. We're not having a good time, but we are on the podcast. Yes, absolutely so, I guess. Do we have any other events we want to talk about?
Speaker 2Not, really Okay.
Speaker 1Well, I guess we'll jump right into this one today and then we will banter a little after. So if y'all want to stick around, it's really funny at at the end. I don't know if anybody listens to the whole thing.
Speaker 1But right, they've just listened that's where we get a little delulu. So we're talking about the shaw creek killer. On a crisp monday morning, november 16th 1987, two hunters are making their way through the woods in Aiken County, south Carolina. It's kind of in that little corner by North Georgia and where North Carolina comes down near like Athens, that's where Aiken County is. While walking along, near Shaw Creek, they stumble upon something that shattered the morning's peace Skeletal remains. The remains were lying face down, legs crossed, arms outstretched, barely covered by the soil. No clothing, no belongings, just bones. Whoa Right, that's something to stumble upon on a crisp fall morning.
Speaker 2Especially something that's like obviously been positioned staged?
Speaker 1Yes, what is happening? So police arrived about a half hour after they called and noted something unsettling. The remains looked almost like you said posed Roots growing over the finger bones suggesting they'd been there for quite some time, perhaps one to five years. There were no insects indicating decomposition like had happened a year or more prior. A search of the scene with a metal detector yielded only one clue A brass shotgun shell casing found beneath the body. It was an older type, lacking the modern plastic or paper wadding. I'm like how did it get underneath the body? Shot through?
Speaker 2the heart.
Speaker 1Maybe I don't know. And not your brain.
Speaker 2Right, exactly.
Speaker 1I'm like that's a little weird. But yeah, I mean it could have been executioner style and they just like fell arms out and the legs just naturally crossed when they fell.
Speaker 2My thoughts are I mean if they died via gunshot wound, even if it like, like, yeah, I mean the casing underneath.
Speaker 1I'm like mmm. They shot in the back, through the stomach maybe, or something Possibly so. Aiken County Coroner Sue Townsend began to piece together a profile of this victim, later known as the 1987 Aiken Jane Doe. She was likely of predominantly Black heritage, possibly with European, indian or Caribbean influence, indicated by her high cheekbones. She stood between 5 foot 8, 5 foot 10 inches tall pretty tall, and around 150 to 160 pounds. Her bones told the story of a life she lived. She had a healed fracture on the left side of her nose and a healed injury to her right knee. She was missing at least five teeth, including her lower right first molar, which had been removed early in life, and she had a very pronounced overbite. Most crucially for investigators, her hair tested positive for cocaine. Oh so she'd been there all that time. But her hair test.
Speaker 2yeah, Her hair's still holding on to them drugs.
Speaker 1Right, it's like oof.
Speaker 2Yeah, this is why them people get scared of those hair tests. Yep, they'd be asking you, they'd be trying to shave their head bald. Y'all. Drug test, yeah, is it hair or pee? Right?
Speaker 1Let me go shave my hair Like to the root, pluck it out. So this narrowed the search, unfortunately, to a tragic pool of missing sex workers and drug addicts from South Carolina and northern Georgia. Initially, police considered the possibility of her being a missing migrant farmer, though that lead eventually faded. In July of 1989, a facial reconstruction offered the public their first glimpse of this unknown woman nearly two years after her discovery. Despite these efforts, her identity remained a mystery for over three decades. Around the same time this first Jane Doe was found, another story was unfolding.
Jackie Council: A Mother Who Vanished
Speaker 1Jacqueline Marie Council, known to friends and family as Jackie, was born October 21, 1956. By the fall of 1986, she had just celebrated her 30th birthday and was a mother of four children. On November 10th 1986, jackie dropped off her five-year-old son at school, said goodbye, told him she loved him and she was never seen again. Her family reported her missing that evening, embarking on years of agonizing uncertainty. So fast forward to March 22nd 1991, nearly five years after Jackie Council vanished and four years after the discovery of the first Jane Doe, loggers were cutting pine trees off South Carolina Highway 191 in the same area, near Shaw Creek. Just after 1030 that Friday morning, skeletal remains were reported to the Aiken County Sheriff's Department. I'm like there's a lot of skeletal remains in this area, right.
Speaker 2Right. I was about to say it's like a garden of bones, yeah, a little dumping ground over there.
Speaker 1Like the first victim, this body was found nude. Coroner Sue Townsend confirmed these remains had also been there for years. Yeah, this area must have been like very desolate, where people just didn't go very often it wasn't visited by very many, obviously. Right.
Speaker 2Visited by very many, obviously.
Speaker 1Right. So details surrounding this 1991 Aiken Jane Doe, including the cause of death, were scarce due to the deteriorated state of the remains. Then, less than two years later, on January 25, 1993, another body was found in the same general vicinity, close to the Aiken and Edgefield County border. This third victim presented a stark difference than the other two. Her remains had been burned post-mortem. Oh wow yeah, removing soft tissue like hair and eyes, making identification incredibly difficult Because they had got hair and a little bit of DNA off the other ones. So this one they set fire to. Authorities theorized she had been killed, possibly decomposed elsewhere, and then moved and burned. So again, the coroner Sue Townsend estimated she had been there for two to five years and the cause of death was a wound to the back of the neck, likely a stab wound. Ooh, this was 1993 Aiken Jane Doe.
Speaker 2Were these other two bones sets also posed, or did they not say?
Speaker 1The first two were were. This one was just laid out and burned. Yeah, okay, so this was 1993 Aiken Jane Doe. She was also nude, no clothing or belongings. They couldn't find any trace of anything around her, just her body burned. She was estimated to be between 25 and 32, 5 foot 4 to 5 foot 7, with a slight to medium built, right-handed in protruding teeth like this is kind of a weird coincidence, like yeah, what's with the yeah?
Speaker 1the overbites. That's yeah, yeah, hmm, maybe he had a type. In May of 1993, a search of the area yielded more bone fragments but no further clues like shell casings. So they kind of did a search of the area because they're like, okay, this is the third body in this amount of years found in this area, so let's kind of do a little search and see what else we can find. So they did a 3D facial reconstruction of the 1991 victim and this was released later that year.
Speaker 1In 1994, police received a tip linking the growing number of local deaths to a man named Frank Potts. He was a migrant worker with a disturbing criminal history. Potts was known to travel extensively for seasonal work. He had served time for child molestation and after his release he he kidnapped a game warden in Alabama. Oh my gosh, yeah. When police searched his property they found the body of another migrant worker. Potts was eventually convicted of a second child molestation charge and murder, receiving life sentences. However, despite initial speculation, the timeline ultimately ruled out Potts as the likely killer of the Shaw Creek victims. So they're like, okay, back to the drawing board. He was imprisoned during the period when the first two victims were likely abducted and murdered, making his involvement highly improbable for those cases.
Speaker 1Years after, a different theory emerged In 2011,. After the arrest of John Wayne Boyer, known as the Long Haul Territory Killer for murders in Tennessee and North Carolina, the Aiken County sheriffs publicly considered the possibility that shaw creek victims might also be linked to him. Boyer, who lived in augusta, georgia, the metropolitan area like I said, it was really close to augusta, in that area. For most of his life he lived there confessed to killing two women, both of whom were sex workers, and found in various locations, often near interstates, like in truck parking lots. We know what those are. Um, while the quote unquote long haul trucker theory seem plausible, given the proximity of the bodies to I-20, which was a major interstate because it runs all the way up and down the coast area there Boyer's, there were like crucial differences to what he did.
Speaker 2And then these bodies the victims they know were his.
Speaker 1Right. So Boyer's victims were primarily slightly built white women. So all of the ones that they have found, they determined that they were of, you know, african descent, or Caribbean, or Gotcha.
Speaker 2Okay.
Multiple Bodies, Same Killer Pattern
Speaker 1The Shaw Creek victims, however, were all, like I said, black women with varying builds, consistently found nude along waterways in Aiken County, close to Boyer's home. Though these inconsistencies make it unlikely that Boyer is the killer responsible for the Straw Creek murders. In 1997, though, they did have a major breakthrough A forensic pathologist at the University of South Carolina used then edge technology to superimpose a photo of Jackie Council over the skull of the body found in March of 1991. The conclusion the remains belonged to Jacqueline Marie Council. Further DNA testing in November of 1999, comparing the remains to jackie's son, definitively confirmed her identity. So they they identified that one.
Speaker 1On november 16th of 1999, authorities met with jackie's family, who had held on to hope for over 13 years that maybe she was out there somewhere. The remains found nine years prior, prior, near Shaw Creek and Highway 191, were indeed Jackie. The coroner stated clearly we have somebody who has dumped multiple bodies in Shaw's Creek. This is the first step to find out who did that. This is the first step to find out who did that. Investigator robert johnson added the common denominator was that there was nothing found with them no remains of clothing, no personal items normally carried, you know, by a woman in a purse no.
Speaker 2Chapstick in the pocket no because they didn't have no pockets Right, nothing. He made sure that they were nakey.
Speaker 1Completely nude, nothing, no jewelry, nothing. It's crazy. So this commonly points to the chilling possibility of another victim linked to this killer, though not officially connected. In police records. This would be Ristine Durden, born February 6, 1960,. Ristine was last seen on March 13, 1989, in Avera, georgia, a small town about 45 minutes from Augusta. Three years later her body was found in a rural Aiken County area approximately 15 miles from the other three victims, also nude and near a body of water. A facial reconstruction published in the Augusta Chronicle led to her identification and through dental records they did identify her.
Speaker 1So that was four bodies. Two were identified, two jane does while not officially linked because it wasn't in that same little area. The similarities in victim profiling and the method and location gives you the idea that maybe this is yeah you couldn't just ignore like this is really close to what it is. But you know, maybe the killer's like okay, they've said that they found this body, this body, let me put this one over here Right. Because he didn't want to get caught out there, or something.
Speaker 2Or who knows, it could be the other way around, Like when was the first one again? The first one was uh 1987 so if this one was like a 1986 or maybe he did her first and then moved to the truth. Yeah, it could have happened that way, absolutely you never know and honestly we, as hard as we try, we're never going to understand the thinkings and workings of a serial killer.
Joseph Washington: Prime Suspect
Speaker 1Right. But one of the most compelling persons of interest in this case was Joseph Patrick Washington Washington Washington lived and worked in Augusta, georgia, in the same area where the Millbrook twins, another pair of missing persons cases, resided. Though small in stature, he was described as stocky and strong. In 1993, washington was arrested in connection with a series of violent rapes in augusta. His victims were young black women, often kidnapped at gunpoint, taken to a second location, sexually assaulted, and then he shot them in the stomach and left them for dead well but he didn't strip them of their clothes and their personal items.
Speaker 1So it's similar, but yes, but it sounds like they live.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, no no, all of them Okay. I was like yeah, but they said left them for dead.
Speaker 1Yeah, he left them for dead. Some of them were without clothing or belongings, and they were were close to the Shaw Creek Lake victims and everything. Washington, though, was eventually convicted on over 25 charges of rape, assault, sodomy, kidnapping and robbery Like what a piece of garbage. While he was a prime suspect in two other murders, his health deteriorated, likely due to the fact that he had AIDS at the time, and he died in prison in 1999 before he could stand trial for those homicides.
Speaker 2I was going to say, if he went to trial, was he going to use that as his excuse, Like he's angry because he got?
Speaker 1AIDS, but then he's out here spreading it around right.
Speaker 2Taking it out on everybody else.
Speaker 1Yeah, nobody put you in that position, you put yourself in that position. Yeah, yeah, georgia Bureau of Investigation still holds DNA from Washington's vehicle and home. While not officially linked to the Shaw Creek murders, the striking similarities in victim profile, modus operandi and graphic proximity make him a compelling person of interest. But my question is did law enforcement ever test his DNA against these cold cases? Because there's nothing that shows that his DNA was ever tested with these other women.
Speaker 2But my thing is is like I get that they have like DNA of the women, but do they have anything to test?
Speaker 1it against Right? I mean they have Washington's DNA like the? No, I know they have his, but did they find anything on them to test it against Right? I mean they have Washington's.
Speaker 2DNA like the? No, I know they have his, but did they find anything on them to test it?
Speaker 1against. I mean they had the one woman's hair but like the other, one was burned and that's all just gonna.
Speaker 2I mean her hair showing her DNA.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean they could do, I don't know jackie's son and see if there's any you know well, no, because it that's true yeah, I'm just saying there's no evidence that he retrieved them, okay, yeah like there's not anything to test it against I see what you're saying, okay
Speaker 1so I'm going yeah, I, I would assume they didn't test anything, because they just don't have anything to test yeah, so the south fork of a disto river feeds into shaw creek, winding through 32 miles of forest holding secrets as dark as the creek itself. So that's 32 miles of like property and land. That, I guess, is a good dumping ground for a killer, because ain't nothing ain't nothing out there, yeah, but the creek over the years.
Speaker 1Other potential suspects have been looked at, including Richard Daniel Starrett and Ronaldo Rivera not Geraldo, I was like Geraldo, but both violent offenders with ties to the Augusta area and Henry Louis Wallace, the Taco Bell killer from Barnwell, south Carolina. Okay, I did not look into what the Taco Bell killer did, but it sounds very interesting. Yeah, I was like the Taco Bell killer did, but it sounds very interesting. Yeah, I was like the Taco Bell killer, yo quiero murder.
Speaker 2I don't know the Spanish word for that, sorry.
The Case Remains Cold
Speaker 1Morte Death. But like Frank Potts and John Boyer, their methods or victim profiles often don't align perfectly with the Shaw Creek murders. The frustrating reality is that the killer, or killers, is likely still out there, never having faced justice. So this is what we know of everything. So the 1987 Aiken Jane Doe was killed between 82 and 86. Jackie Council went missing in November of 86. Christine Durden disappeared in March of 89. The 93 Aiken Jane Doe was killed between 88 and 91. So these victims were all black women in their mid to late 20s, bordering on 30.
Speaker 2All in the late well mid 80s to early 90s.
Speaker 1The cocaine found in the hair of the 1987 Jane Doe and the burning of the 1993 Jane Doe's body suggest a possible motive or attempt to conceal evidence. I'm like I guess I don't see what concealing in the cocaine one was. Yeah.
Speaker 2I don't know.
Speaker 1Maybe he just liked the way he put her and everything he thought he had stripped her clean or something, and they wouldn't find anything. And everything he thought he had stripped or cleaned or something and they wouldn't find anything. Despite the passage of nearly three decades since the most recent update and the challenges of illegible archive documents, the case files hint at numerous attempts by investigators to match the Aiken Jane Doe's to missing persons. The case of Jackie Council, ristine Durden and the Aiken Jane Does remains unresolved. So if you have any information, no matter how small, you remember something from back in the 80s, 90s or you've seen something, contact Aiken County Sheriff's Office. These women you know, especially the two Jane Does, they deserve to be heard their story and they deserve to be found.
Speaker 2Yeah, they deserve to have their names back.
Speaker 1Yes, because nobody wants to be a Jane Doe or a John Doe or a Doe Doe.
Speaker 2I'm so sleepy, doe, I know.
Speaker 1Your eyes look a little red today.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm on the struggle bus today, yeah lots and lots of uh work this week and we have eight left 12 days before we have a day off, if we yeah maybe if, if we have a day off, we have a day off, yeah, yeah, but we're, we're getting there.
Speaker 1Don't be like us, don't work so hard find something easier to do or find your own own niche. Yeah, our problem is the money for the niche.
Speaker 2Yeah, this is not my wheelhouse sleep sleep is in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 1Sleep is in your wheelhouse. I got woke up by a cat laying on my back and my dog having a panic attack because it started thundering. Yeah, she's 14, I know she has horrible, horrible panic attacks when it starts thundering, or or even fireworks.
Speaker 2She doesn't even live in my house. And that starts I go. Oh, poor Lily.
Speaker 1I know she starts panting and shaking. I'm like, oh, poor, poor, poor thing.
Speaker 2So someone who isn't poor? Well, at least I hope she's not. Yeah, our theme music is by patty salzetta she's probably laughing right now she's like y'all crazy yeah, we always got something silly to say right before we bring her up Right, gotta, bring up the pate yes. And then you know, always, forever, I will remind you to please share our links to our social medias and links to actual episodes. Sorry, that was my really loud iced coffee With your friends, your family and anyone who drinks iced coffee.
Speaker 1Yes, because you can buy us a coffee. Just go to buy me a coffee and search hold my sweet tea podcast.
Speaker 2We're there yeah, you can also go buy some merch so you can wear some t-shirts around the world and be like hey, check it out.
Speaker 1I mean you are a walking billboard exactly that, but that is a way of sharing us yeah, then you don't even have to click on anything. All you got to do is get dressed and we will put the links in the show notes, but you can also go to printifycom. Hold my sweet tea podcast. Yeah, go it. We got some cool shirts on there.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's even some that aren't even podcast related. If you just want something silly.
Speaker 1Yeah, there's a lot of like true crime, funny murdery stuff. Not that murder is funny, but like funny stuff, slash murdery stuff yeah.
Episode 50 Celebration and Sign-Off
Speaker 2And just funny stuff in general, but yeah, so share away guys.
Speaker 1Share, share, share, and then you can also email us at steeped at holdmysweetteacom.
Speaker 1And Hold my Sweet Tea, as always, is a Drunken Bee production, and you guys remember to stay safe out there. If you're walking by a river and you find bones, call the po-po. It's not a mannequin. It's not a mannequin, although, although I did send Pearl a video the other day, it was in Fresno, california. It was a blow-up doll and the police thought it was a body in a river. So it could be a mannequin. I was wrong, or a blow-up doll. I stand corrected, but it's probably not. But just because we are dipping doesn't mean you can't keep sipping Bye.
Speaker 2Thank you Bye.