Greenville, SC (The Greenville News) - Laurie Patton told Darrin Terrell Eskew she loved him as he choked her at a Greenville County motel.
It's ironic that the 39-year-old teacher would die at the hands of one of her former students.
Patton truly felt people would be kind to you as long as you were kind to them, her sister, Mandy Evans, said in court.
Judge Letitia Verdin on Wednesday sentenced 23-year-old Eskew to 31 years in prison in connection with Patton's gruesome death at a Quality Inn and Suites. He pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the charge of murder as Patton's friends and family watched the plea hearing.
"This is a misfortune of the result of a bad choice with no take backs," Evans said. "It's a loss of great magnitude for our family. Physically, we are forced to move on. Emotionally, we are perpetually stuck on March 3, 2014."
Patton was a special education teacher who taught emotionally handicapped students at Berea Middle School, according to Greenville County Schools. Eskew and Patton were in a relationship, although she was married with children, the Solicitor's Office said.
Eskew said in court he was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. Jake Erwin, Eskew's public defender, said his client was "affected by a mental defect such that he lacked the capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."
Patton rented a room at the Quality Inn on S. Pleasantburg Road in March 2014, and a front-desk clerk encountered Patton and Eskew in the lobby the night before her death. The employee informed Patton she incurred additional charges because of a violation of the smoking ban and a burn hole in the bed sheets, Assistant Solicitor Allen Fretwell said at the plea hearing. Patton appeared upset at Eskew, and they left the lobby, Fretwell said.
Eskew returned to the lobby and paid for a room in his own name, the Solicitor's Office said.
Guests later reported hearing an argument between a male and female about 12:30 a.m. and loud bangs coming from her room between 5:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. A security guard went to inquire about the noise and saw Eskew leaving. Eskew told an investigator he knocked a smoke alarm off the wall in the room, wrapped Patton's head and feet in a sheet, and set the sheet on fire, Fretwell said.
Investigators Patton's "badly charred," body after the fire was put out, Fretwell said.
Eskew left the motel in Patton's SUV and went to a grocery store on Woodruff Road to get something to eat, Fretwell said. Eskew also went to Patton's house to look for money, but noticed her family was there. He then headed to Atlanta and was found in Banks County, Georgia, driving her SUV in an erratic manor.
Eskew admitted to becoming extremely angry with Patton while in her room. He said he strangled Patton as she screamed for help and then set her on fire because she wouldn't die, the Solicitor's Office said. The medical examiner found evidence of strangulation and determined Patton was killed by "homicidal violence" prior to the fire, Fretwell said.
"The defendant denied hearing any voices at the time he killed Laurie, but he said he flew into a rage since she knew not to come back to the room," Fretwell said in court.
Eskew was competent to stand trial, according to a report from the Department of Mental Health in December 2014. He has been in jail since his arrest and received credit for 793 days served, the Solicitor's Office said. He faced 30 years to life on the murder charge.
The state and defense negotiated the sentence, dismissing charges of arson and grand larceny.
Evans described her sister as an amazing person who bought Christmas gifts and coats for students and groceries for families who needed them.
"She was a 103-pound ball of energy, acceptance, dependability, love, comfort, worry, humor and consistency," Evans said in a prepared statement she read to the court.
Patton insisted on giving people the benefit of the doubt and believed everybody had some good in them, Evans said. Patton was the most responsible person, Evans said, and always tried to make the best choices in fear of repercussions if she didn't.
"The brutality and irony of how Laurie's life ended is absolutely terrifying," Evans said.
