Aiken County Murder Suspect Walks Out…Comes Back to MCG

Augusta, GA—40-year-old Terrance Riley is a murder suspect accused of killing a Ridge Spring, SC man. Aiken County investigators say he was with three other men, when he shot and killed Jerry Tyler at his home, early Friday morning. During the incident, Riley was shot three times, and taken to MCG for treatment.

Friday afternoon, Aiken investigators said Riley was in critical condition.

Capt. Troy Elwell, Aiken County Sheriff’s Office: “All law enforcement agencies pretty much have the same policy. If you’re not physically capable of leaving the hospital, if you’re in a condition where you have to have medical care to survive, there’s no need in guarding you…you cannot survive on your own, you have to have medical treatment to live…therefore we wait on an upgrade to where you physically leave the hospital on your own. At that point, we put a guard on you.“

Captain Elwell says, because they believed Riley was unable to leave on his own, they did not put a guard at his door.

But sometime over the weekend, investigators say his condition changed, and Sunday night, he went for a smoke break on the smoke-free campus at MCG. A day later, Riley ended up right back at MCG, asking for pain medication.

An Aiken Department of Public Safety officer was there on an unrelated matter, and spotted Riley in the waiting room…where investigators say he still sits now.

Joy Howe, reporting: “What’s to stop him from walking out again?“

Capt. Elwell: “A Richmond County deputy.“

Now that his condition has improved, Captain Elwell says an officer is guarding Riley, and as soon as he’s well enough, he’ll be arrested and taken to jail.

The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office is now reviewing procedures, to look at how to better communicate with the hospital to keep this kind of thing from happening again.