Bennetsville, SC: Husband charged in wife’s death

By Elizabeth Leland
eleland@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Apr. 15, 2010
A Bennettsville, S.C., father whose children told police eight months ago that he killed their mother was charged Wednesday in her murder.

Vander Simmons Jr. was being held at the Marlboro County detention center.

“We have a lot of mixed emotions,” said Vickie White, whose sister Brandy White Simmons died in July. “I guess you call it bittersweet. Again there’s no winner in this situation. We still hurt. We’re glad to see that we’ve got closure.”

Brandy Simmons’ body was exhumed from her grave before dawn Friday morning, and an autopsy performed.

Simmons died in the hospital on July 26. Vander Simmons told police that she fell. Her death certificate listed the cause of death as natural, and Vickie White said the family was told she suffered an aneurysm.

But on Aug. 2, the day after her funeral, the couple’s children told police that their mother died after a violent argument with their father, according to a police report. The case was referred to the S.C. Law Enforcement Division last fall.

In February, having heard nothing from the investigation, Brandy Simmons’ family turned to politicians and the media for help. The Observer published a story about the case last week.

In an interview Monday, Police Chief Larry McNeill said that no charges were brought immediately after her death because “based on what we had, based on our interviews, people that we talked with, there was nothing there.”

He said they seemed like the ideal couple. Brandy Simmons’ family once thought so, too.