BERKELEY COUNTY -- In the span of 40 days, Jeremy Lynelle Hewlett repeatedly violated protection orders by stalking and threatening his ex-girlfriend, served a Florida jail stint, evaded pending criminal charges and had a run-in with North Charleston police, authorities say.
Then he allegedly shot and killed Angel Capers in her Summerville home.
Questions remain about why local law enforcement agencies failed to arrest Hewlett, 40, in the days, weeks and months before Capers was killed on Aug. 4.
Capers, 38, died at the scene. Hewlett was arrested, accused of breaking into Capers' Cane Bay-area home before walking upstairs and shooting her multiple times, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Capers had done what she thought best by informing both law enforcement and court officials that she was in fear for her life and her children's safety long before she was killed, according to court records.
Hewlett was already well known to authorities. Warrants for five criminal charges in separate incidents involving Capers had been active against him and one was ready as early as July 18. But those warrants weren't served on Hewlett until his arrest on the murder charge, records show.
The saga has led to internal reviews by both law enforcement agencies and domestic violence advocacy groups to examine how the justice system might have failed Capers and what could have been done differently.
Despite Hewlett's reported violation of Capers' order of protection multiple times, the U.S. Marshals Service was only notified to begin an investigation to track down Hewlett on the day Capers died, said John Hale, assistant chief inspector with the agency.
"We were not sitting on these cases; we hadn't received them," Hale told The Post and Courier.
40 days and over 1,000 miles
Hewlett's first criminal charge in the Palmetto State dates to 2005, when he was 20. He had allegedly trespassed onto the St. John's High School campus on Johns Island, violating a restraining order against him that was granted to a 16-year-old girl, according to an incident report.
In 2009, Hewlett was convicted of first-offense criminal domestic violence against a woman who was pregnant with his child. He'd shown up at her home unannounced. When asked to leave, he smashed her car windshield as she attempted to flee, records show.
Hewlett failed to appear for a court date in 2011 and warrants were drafted for his arrest, according to a State Law Enforcement Division criminal history report.
He also has a pending 2023 charge in Summerville municipal court for an outstanding non-criminal fugitive from justice warrant, records show.
His criminal record in the Palmetto State stopped there, until June 25.
At around 9 a.m. that day, Capers and a minor victim reported that Hewlett had attempted to solicit the child for explicit photos.
Before a warrant was prepared, Hewlett was arrested on charges out of Walton County, Fla., said Jeremy Baker, chief deputy with the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office. Hewlett had allegedly attempted to electronically deposit several fraudulent checks through a federal credit union based there, court records show.
Hewlett stayed in the Berkeley County jail for 12 days before he was extradited to Florida, Baker said.
During that time, Capers filed a petition asking for an order of protection to prevent Hewlett or anyone acting on his behalf from contacting, threatening or abusing Capers or her children, according to court filings provided to The Post and Courier. It went into effect July 2.
On July 15, Hewlett was released from the Walton County Jail on a $10,000 bond. The same day, Capers contacted her case worker and the agency's non-emergency line to alert them that Hewlett had texted her.
On July 18, Berkeley County deputies got a warrant for Hewlett's arrest in connection with the June 25 solicitation of a minor.
Less than a week passed before Capers reported that Hewlett had violated the protection order. Capers said on July 21 someone contacted her on Hewlett's behalf. She again reported it to Berkeley County deputies.
Then, Hewlett began to target Capers at work in Hanahan, she reported. He allegedly showed up on July 25 and spoke with both her and another witness, an arrest warrant states. Hewlett fled before officers arrived, said Hanahan Police Chief Richard Gebhardt. A judge authorized an arrest warrant a week later.
Authorities did not serve that warrant because the case officer was off duty the weekend of Aug. 2-3, Gebhardt said.
Aug. 4: Nearly broken glass to gunshots in 10 hours
The day Caper died on Aug. 4 played out like this:
5:24 a.m., according to Hanahan Police: Hewlett went back to Capers' workplace, in violation of the protection order. This time, he reportedly blocked her vehicle in a parking spot and tried to break out the windows, according to an affidavit. Hewlett left before officers arrived, Gebhardt said.
Warrants for stalking and malicious injury to personal property charges were drafted.
Had Hewlett stayed on the scene, officers could have arrested him then, the chief said.
7:15 a.m., according to North Charleston Police: Hewlett was allegedly involved in an incident that North Charleston officers were called to. He was not arrested.
12:49-12:52 p.m.: The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office emailed the Charleston County Sheriff's Office about the arrest warrant in the child solicitation charge. Hewlett lives off Brownswood Road on Johns Island, which is outside of Berkeley County's jurisdiction.
1 p.m.: The U.S. Marshals Service gets request for assistance from Hanahan police in Hewlett's case, said spokesperson John Hale. Four warrants in relation to the July 25 and Aug. 4 incidents were delivered to the agency together.
"We realized that the first incident directly led to the second and the crimes were getting progressively worse," Gebhardt said. Hewlett "was showing a propensity for violence."
1:25 p.m.: Berkeley County Sheriff's deputies called Hewlett's phone and left a voicemail.
2:54 p.m.: Berkeley County Sheriff's deputies left a voicemail with their Charleston County counterparts in reference to their request for warrant service sent two hours earlier.
Around 3:30 p.m.: Berkeley County Sheriff's deputies responded to Capers' Cane Bay-area home.
When the Marshals Service received the warrants from Hanahan, there was no notice that the documents or situation should be treated as an emergency, nor that there was an immediate threat to life, Hale said. Had the Marshals Service understood the situation to be a threat, agents would have responded immediately and with urgency.
Hewlett wasn't served with all the pending warrants until he was in custody Aug. 4, after he was charged with murder, records show.
'Ripple effect' of domestic violence
Jeremy Baker, chief deputy at the Berkeley Sheriff's Office, described the case as "very, very sad." He noted that Capers had done the right thing by filing for the order of protection, but he said that the administrative process of obtaining and vetting warrants takes time.
"There's so many agencies and this crossed so many jurisdictions," Baker added. "This is so complex and it's just an unfortunate and sad, sad situation."
Baker added that the sheriff's office is reviewing the case to examine how it was handled and what else, if anything, law enforcement could have done.
"Unfortunately, domestic violence touches more than just the victim involved," Chief Gebhardt said. "It creates a ripple effect."
Legislators need to change the possible punishment for violating protection orders, Gebhardt added. At present, the crime is a misdemeanor.
"A 30-day misdemeanor (jail sentence) is a slap in the face to victims," Gebhardt said.
Tosha Connors, CEO of resource center My Sister's House, said what happened to Capers is both heartbreaking and infuriating. The decades-old nonprofit provides shelter and other resources to victims of domestic abuse in the Charleston area.
Capers "took every step that was available to her. She engaged law enforcement, she went through legal protections. (Hewlett was) showing up at her work, stalking her, harassing her, and we see this escalation," Connors said.
"I mean, the only thing that I can say is that the system that we're a part of is clearly broken -- because if it wasn't, (Capers) wouldn't have fallen through the cracks."
She said her agency looks at homicides involving domestic violence and reviews whether the victim ever reached out or was offered services. Though she could not disclose whether Capers was ever in contact with My Sister's House for confidentiality reasons, Connors said she hopes the case is a catalyst for action and more collaboration.
"If we want a significant impact to decrease domestic violence in our state ... there has to be affordable housing, there has to be affordable child care," Connors said. "Those things have to be in play to make a safe and conducive environment for somebody to be able to leave and seek the resources."