Mother ‘99% sure’ second man found stabbed, burned in car is her son
HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – Tracy Baker and her family are still waiting on DNA results, but she is "99% sure" the unidentified man who, along with another, was found burned in a car in the Socastee area is her son, Matthew.
"Several witnesses have named my son as the other victim," said Baker, a Rock Hill, N.C., resident, via Facebook. "He would have called me by now."
According to Baker, the last time she spoke to her son, 29-year-old Matthew Autry, was Thursday, July 26. The next day, Horry County police were called to Butler Road near Socastee after a grisly scene was discovered.
Two men were found dead in a car, having been shot and stabbed before they were burned inside the vehicle, according to arrest warrants. One of the victims has been identified as 35-year-old Shawn David Anderson, of Laurens.
The Horry County Coroner's Office is still working to identify the second man. Baker believes it is Matthew.
"He was my baby boy and now my life is destroyed," she said. "I will never be the person that I was before this happened. His life plays like a movie in my head every single day. Then the movie stops."
So far, five people have been arrested in connection with the two murders. According to warrants, the suspects hatched a plot to recover heroin and fentanyl from the victims, as well as dispose of the bodies by burning them in the car.
Michael W. Faile, David L. Cook, William D. Tatum, and Zachary Stell are all facing two counts of murder.
Cook and Tatum also face arson and drug charges.
On Tuesday, it was announced that a fifth person, Miranda Owens, had been charged with accessory after the fact to felony murder. Police are also looking for Jeret Cox and Shannon Little, who are set to be charged with the same offense.
"The horrific things that those monsters did to my son is tearing me apart," Baker said. "I will never see my son again, not even in a casket. There will never be any closure for me."
She said her son was a doting father to his daughter, Jordan, who just turned 7 last Saturday. He referred to her as his "girl baby."
Baker also described Matthew as a gifted guitar player, having never taken a lesson and being able to play a song after listening to it.
She said she didn't find out about the two bodies found on Butler Road until two days later, when a friend told her Matthew had been murdered.
"I then started calling detectives who (did) confirm that my son's name was one of the names that had been given to them," Baker said.
As for the relationship between her son and the second victim, Baker said she was under the impression he and Anderson had just recently become friends.
Matthew had been living in Myrtle Beach, but according to his mother, he had been talking about coming home to Rock Hill.
"I just wish he would have made it back!!" Baker said.
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