Convicted murderer receives life sentence for sexual assault

BEAUFORT, SC (August 28, 2024) – A Shell Point man already in state prison for the murder of his disabled neighbor will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of a 2016 rape.

Brian David Walls, 43, was found guilty of first-degree sexual assault by a Beaufort County General Sessions jury on Wednesday. He was also convicted of kidnapping and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Under South Carolina's two-strikes law, Walls received an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Walls is also serving a 40-year prison sentence for the murder of 56-year-old Teresa Siegler, which occurred just days before the sexual assault.

“Within a matter of days, Brian Walls murdered a neighbor and raped a family friend,” said Sean Thornton of the 14th District.^th The Circuit Solicitor's Office, which prosecuted the case, said: “He is a predator of the worst kind – someone who rewards kindness with brutality.”

Brian David Walls

Seigler lived two properties away from Walls and several roommates. She was known to cater to friends and neighbors who were down on their luck or needed a temporary place to stay. Walls and two co-defendants murdered Seigler in December 2016 in an attempt to steal drugs and her monthly disability benefits. Seigler's body was then wrapped in a blanket, duct tape and set on fire.

A day after Seigler's body was discovered, Walls sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman in the bathroom of a motel on Boundary Street in Beaufort, where he and two of his co-defendants in the murder case had rented a room.

The victim testified that she received a call from Walls, a family acquaintance, asking for a ride to the motel. She agreed, but was surprised when four other people – two of Walls' co-defendants in the murder case and two of his teenage sons – also got into her car.

The group made quick stops at a friend of Walls' and a convenience store, then drove to the motel to rent a room. The victim attempted to leave, but Walls asked the victim to help him carry some items to the second-floor room. Once in the room, he struck her on the head, forced her into the bathroom, and sexually assaulted her while the others were present in the locked room.

Walls then left the room with the victim, intending to drive her to an ATM and withdraw cash. Seeing an opportunity to escape, she initially played along, but then jumped out of her car and fled into a nearby swamp, she testified.

Walls and Courtney Elizabeth Brock, a co-defendant in the murder, took the victim's Toyota and left town. They were arrested near the North Carolina border while parked in that vehicle. Inside the car, investigators found a roll of duct tape and several items belonging to Seigler.

John Dontue Priest, 27, and Brock, 24, were also convicted of Seigler's murder, and Priest was convicted of arson for attempting to burn down Seigler's mobile home to cover up their crime.

Hunter Swanson of the 14^th The Circuit Solicitor's Office's Special Victims Unit obtained guilty verdicts against Walls and Brock in jury trials in 2019. Priester pleaded guilty in January 2020.

Assistant District Attorney Jared Shedd assisted Thornton in Walls' sexual assault trial. The state called 12 witnesses over the course of three days in Beaufort County District Court.

Walls' criminal record includes convictions for simple assault, fraud, multiple counts of simple possession of marijuana, multiple counts of assault and inducing a minor to commit crimes.

District Judge Carmen T. Mullen presided over the trial.

Thornton is an assistant district attorney and head of the DA's office's Career Criminal Unit, which prosecutes the county's most violent and habitual criminals. That team has secured convictions against 496 of the 541 defendants it has prosecuted since its creation in 2009.