Man Killed His Mother And Grandma After Shooting Up Meth And 'Looking For Lucifer' 

A South Carolina man has been sentenced to four years behind bars for killing both his mother and grandmother during a drug-induced haze.

Bradley C. Aldrich pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime on Wednesday, the Anderson County Solicitor’s Office announced in a press release which was released on Thursday.

Following his plea, Anderson County General Sessions Court  Judge Lawton McIntosh sentenced Aldrich to forty years of prison for the slayings of his 50-year-old mother Theresa Wright and 79-year-old grandmother Judith Calvert.

The deadly incident began just after 1 a.m. on May 6 of 2018 when Aldrich first shot his acquaintance, convicted drug dealer Shane Massey, in the chest with a .22 caliber handgun.  Aldrich, who told investigators he had been “shooting methamphetamine and cocaine all day,” thought there were “two devils living inside him” and he said he was “looking for Lucifer” during the shooting, according to the press release. Aldrich then fled the scene of that shooting and Massey, who survived, was treated for his injuries.

Just hours later, Aldrich’s mother and grandmother were found dead by another relative at their home; Aldrich had been living in a tent behind the house.  Wright had beaten, stabbed, strangled, and shot his mother. He shot and stabbed Calvert, who was found dead in her bed.

While Aldrich originally blamed Massey for the killings, and even said that was why he shot him, he later stated that he may have been the murderer.  

“He went on to say that if the police were to find his DNA though then he was the one who did it,” the press release states. “The DNA of the Defendant was located in fingernail scrapings from both victims, which is typically indicative of a struggle. The jeans the Defendant was wearing when he was arrested also had the blood of both victims on them.”

The press release notes that both murder victims tested positive for methamphetamine. 

“Drug use is the genesis of so many crimes of violence in the Upstate and in our Country,” Solicitor David Wagner stated. “I hope that drug users in Anderson County will see the lessons in this tragic matter and change their behavior before it is too late for them, and they too wind up hurting or killing someone they love. This is a pattern we are seeing all too often."