Ninth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson announced that a Berkeley County jury had convicted defendant Edward Mark Fabian Hannah of murder, first-degree burglary and first-degree assault and battery. Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. sentenced Hannah to life in prison on the murder and burglary charges and the maximum sentence of 10 years on the assault and battery charge.

The victim, Birthener “Joy” Joseph, 58, of Summerville, had moved to South Carolina in June 2021 to live with her daughter and end her relationship with Hannah. Hannah flew in from Michigan and arrived uninvited at the victim’s residence on September 2, 2021. After law enforcement was called, he left the residence prior to their arrival but remained nearby.

Three nights later, on September 5, 2021, Hannah kicked in the back door of the residence around 3 a.m., breaking the door with bolts. When he entered the residence, he attempted to assault the victim’s 12-year-old niece before being confronted by the victim’s 13-year-old nephew. He found Joseph in the hallway and inflicted severe trauma on her in addition to stabbing her with the scissors.

While the attack was taking place, the 12-year-old niece was trapped in her bedroom and escaped through the bedroom window. She and her 13-year-old brother, who had rescued their 11-month-old niece from the house, ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911. Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office deputies Michael Donovan and Brandon Williams arrived within minutes , but the defendant ran away.

Hannah was seen on a nearby Ring video camera minutes later. Deputy Devonte Rumph caught him less than a mile away on foot shortly after. The children immediately identified their attacker, and he was apprehended without incident.

First responders transported the victim to Trident Medical Hospital, where the trauma team treated her for life-threatening injuries. Joseph survived the initial attack but suffered permanent brain damage and eventually succumbed to his injuries on April 28, 2022.

Wilson said the killing was a culmination of abuse by Hannah, who was furious that the victim had broken off the relationship and stopped taking her calls. Evidence presented at trial showed a pattern of stalking and harassing behavior towards the victim and her family.

During the four-day trial, Assistant District Attorneys Julie Rochester and Michael Secrist presented evidence from juvenile victims, first responders, law enforcement, DNA experts, doctors and a cell phone forensics expert. Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department caseworker Lt. John Caddell was one of the first on the scene the night of the murders and testified at the trial.

Rochester praised the bravery of child witnesses in the case.

“The quick thinking and courage of the children in this home not only saved their lives that night, but their testimony in court helped convict their grandmother’s killer,” she said.

The 57-year-old defendant has prior convictions in multiple jurisdictions for aggravated assault, robbery with a deadly weapon, forcible rape, assault with a deadly weapon, theft, assault, resisting a police officer and burglary. The state gave Hannah notice to seek life without parole on the first-degree murder and burglary charges, which the court was to impose once the jury returned a guilty verdict.