Friday, September 28, 2012

Ronald Ratliff murder

On Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, I was reading in the Post and Courier on the shooting of Melissity Hayes, estranged wife of Ronald David Ratliff, who was wanted in connection with the death of his mother-in-law, Linda K. Hayes.

It happened that I had two editions of the Post and Courier: One, a Wednesday edition; the other a Thursday edition, 01/26/2011 and 01/27/2011 respectively. In the Wednesday edition, it was reported that Mr. Ratliff had been hiding in the attic of his father-in-law's, Mrs. Hayes' father's, house, laying on top of an air conditioning vent waiting for an attempt to shoot Mrs. Hayes. From the article, Mr. Ratliff was found dead of an apparent gunshot to the neck around 7:00 PM Tuesday. It further stated that Mr. Ratliff had been there for three days, waiting for an opportunity to shoot his estranged wife. Evidence found at the scene included a .380 caliber handgun, believed to be used in the shooting, a pillow, and granola bars.

In the Thursday edition, 01/27/2011, It was stated that an armed man, presumably Mr. Ratliff, approached his father-in-law's house around 4:15 PM. Mrs. Hayes had apparently been staying there during her separation from her husband. Mr. Ratliff approached the house, armed, and fired two shots through a kitchen window, one of which hit Mrs. Hayes in the right shoulder. A Charleston County Sheriff's Deputy, sitting outside Mr. Hayes' house, heard the shots, went inside and evacuated Mr. Hayes and Melissity. It is further stated that Mr. Ratliff entered the house during time of the evacuation, and hid himself in the attic, where he was found dead at approximately 7:00 PM Tuesday, 01/25/2011.

PROBLEMS WITH THE OFFICIAL STORIES

1) Most suicide victims don't shoot themselves in the neck. They would cut themselves. Or if they did shoot themselves, they would shoot themselves in the head, where death would be instantaneous.

2) If Mr. Ratliff had been laying wait in the attic for three days, as was earlier reported, why then did they (Charleston County Sheriff's Office) change their story the next day, and say that Mr. Ratliff had shot Mrs. Hayes from the outside instead of from on the air conditioning vent? (That was the first version of how Mrs. Hayes was shot.)

3) If Mr. Ratliff had been laying on top of the air conditioning vent as earlier reported, why did they change their story?

4) If the latter story is true, that Mr. Ratliff shot Mrs. Hayes from outside the house, then the evidence such as the pillow, the granola bars, etc..., must have been planted. Mr. Hayes nor his daughter had any prior knowledge of Mr. Ratliff being anywhere near them. They believed him to be in Florida where he had family, so they could not have done it. Mr. Ratliff certainly would not have planted the evidence, since he was only going there to shoot Mrs. Hayes. The only logical answer, then, is that Charleston County Sheriff's Office employees planted the evidence.

U.S. Marshals were involved in a joint vehicle search with CCSO that happened earlier that day, however, I read no statement from them and cannot reasonably conclude that they were involved in the cover-up.

As of today, 09/28/2012, SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) has done nothing about this. A call to the FBI revealed that because it wasn't a political figure, they would not investigate. I am now appealing to the US Marshals service for help in this matter. Maybe they won't turn a deaf ear like SLED has.

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