Convicted Beaufort County murderer receives life sentence for 2016 sexual assault and kidnapping

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — A convicted Beaufort County murderer already serving a 40-year sentence in state prison was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday afternoon for sexual assault in 2016, the office of 14th Judicial District Attorney Isaac McDuffie Stone announced.

Brian David Walls, 43, of Shell Point, will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Under the state's two-strikes law, Walls received an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole for the sexual assault. He also received a life sentence for the kidnapping conviction and three years for using a motor vehicle, according to the attorney.

The sentences must be served concurrently.

Walls is already in prison for the murder of 56-year-old Teresa Siegler, which occurred just days before the sexual assault.

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“In a matter of days, Brian Walls murdered a neighbor and raped a family friend,” said Sean Thornton of the 14th District Attorney's Office, who prosecuted the case. “He is a predator of the worst kind – someone who repays kindness with brutality.”

Walls and two co-defendants murdered Siegler in December 2016 to steal drugs and her monthly disability benefits, prosecutors said. Her body was then wrapped in a blanket, bound with duct tape and set on fire.

A day after the body was discovered, Walls sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman in the bathroom of a Beaufort motel. The woman, a family acquaintance, had received a call from Walls asking her to drive her to the motel.

She wanted to leave after dropping him off, but was asked by Walls to help him carry some things into the room. She later managed to escape by running into a nearby swamp area.

District Judge Carmen T. Mullen presided over the trial.