Georgetown man sentenced to life in prison for double murder of elderly relatives

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCBD) – A Georgetown man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the double murder of his elderly relatives.

31-year-old Ryan O’Neil Woodruff was convicted on two counts of murder for the deaths of Roger Woodruff and Debra Goins in 2021. Honorable Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Culbertson handed Woodruff two life sentences for the murders that occurred on May 21, 2021.

Georgetown County deputies responded to the Graham Road home after receiving a welfare check request. Once at the house, Goins and Woodruff were found “with multiple blunt force trauma wounds to their heads.”

Ryan was living with the couple at the time of the murder. Investigators said he bludgeoned his girlfriend, Alecia Renee Childers, shortly after the murders, but she survived.

“We appreciate all the work done in this case by agents with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division – SLED and deputies with the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office,” Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said.

While out on bond for the double murder, Ryan allegedly shot and killed 19-year-old Ty’Quez De’Metrius Walker, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office.