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| Brent Poole Murder: Where Are Renee Poole and John Frazier Now? |
William Brent Poole was taking an ordinary walk along Myrtle Beach in June 1998 when he was attacked and shot twice in the head. What initially looked like a robbery quickly became something far more complicated, with investigators turning their attention towards people much closer to Poole than a random beachside thief. More than two decades later, Renee Poole and John Boyd Frazier remain in prison for their roles in the murder, while the case continues to feature in A&E’s Money, Murder: Dancing With Death.
Poole was 24 when he died and had built a fairly conventional life in Mocksville, North Carolina. Born on January 24, 1974, to William Eugene and Agnes Smith Poole, he grew up alongside his brother Craig and sister Dee. Those who knew him described him as kind and compassionate, which makes the circumstances of his death all the more difficult to square with the apparently routine family holiday that preceded it.
After graduating from R.J. Reynolds High School in 1992, Poole trained as an ASE Master-certified mechanic and worked at Charlotte Mack Truck Sales. His faith was also important to him, and he attended Calvary Baptist Church. He later married Kimberly Renee Sumney, and the couple had a daughter, Katie Lynn Poole, about a year after their marriage.
The family travelled to Myrtle Beach on June 9, 1998. Poole and Renee were walking near the beach when a masked man dressed in black trousers, gloves and a hooded sweatshirt attacked him. The gunman shot Poole twice in the head before taking his wallet, watch and diamond engagement ring.
Renee went to a nearby law enforcement officer and reported the attack. Responding officers found Poole dead and his wedding ring lying in the sand, but the weapon was nowhere to be found. Weeks later, a wallet discovered near the beach contained just $9, Poole's driving licence, photographs and bank cards.
The autopsy left little ambiguity about what had happened. Poole died from two gunshot wounds to the head, turning what might initially have appeared to be a straightforward robbery into a homicide investigation with considerably more questions than answers.
Renee naturally became one of the first people investigators questioned because she had been with Poole when he was attacked. According to court records cited in the case, she initially described the gunman and said he had demanded money and jewellery. She also told investigators that she had closed her eyes during the shooting but heard Poole pleading for his life.
Then the investigation took an unexpected turn.
A dancer at the club where Renee worked reportedly told detectives that she had introduced Renee to John Boyd Frazier. The witness also said Renee later asked John for her ring following Poole's death. That detail, unsurprisingly, gave investigators something rather more substantial to chew over than the original robbery theory.
A couple who were near the beach on the day of the killing also became important witnesses. They reported seeing a heavily clothed man acting suspiciously in the area and later identified John from police photo lineups. Investigators subsequently learned that Frazier had requested time off work for June 8, 9 and 10, surrounding the date of the killing.
There was another detail that drew attention. According to court records, Frazier borrowed a friend's car the day before Poole was killed and returned it the day afterwards. When questioned, he reportedly could not provide an alibi and said he had been ill and alone at home.
Investigators eventually alleged that Renee and John had planned Poole's murder together. Renee later said she had not expected John to actually carry out the plan. She subsequently withdrew those statements and argued that they had been obtained through coercion. The legal battle over those statements would become one of the central issues in her case.
Renee was initially arrested on an obstruction-of-justice charge, which was later dismissed. She was subsequently indicted for murder and criminal conspiracy. Frazier was arrested in June 1998 and charged with murder, criminal conspiracy and armed robbery.
Renee's trial began in November 1999. Prosecutors argued that she had a motive connected to her marriage and custody of her daughter, while the defence challenged the circumstances surrounding her alleged confession. The defence also presented psychological evidence concerning her condition following Poole's death.
On November 13, 1999, Renee was found guilty of murder and conspiracy. She received life imprisonment without parole for murder and a concurrent five-year sentence for conspiracy. Her subsequent appeal was unsuccessful, with the conviction affirmed on January 16, 2002. Later petitions also failed to change the outcome.
Frazier's first trial took place in 2000. Prosecutors relied in part on the witnesses who had identified him from photographic lineups, while his defence questioned the reliability of those identifications and other evidence.
He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, alongside 30 years for armed robbery and five years for conspiracy, with the sentences running concurrently. But his legal story did not end there.
In January 2004, an appeal court overturned Frazier's convictions because of evidentiary errors. He faced a retrial in May 2005 and was again convicted. This time, he received 30 years for murder, 30 years for robbery and five years for conspiracy, to be served concurrently.
His robbery conviction later became another point of dispute. It was overturned in November 2007 before being reinstated by the South Carolina Supreme Court in February 2010. So, while the case has had more legal twists than most people would reasonably expect from a single criminal proceeding, the convictions ultimately remained in place.
As for where they are now, Renee Poole is incarcerated at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, South Carolina. In August 2017, her defence team sought post-conviction relief, but the material provided for the case does not indicate that the effort resulted in a change to her sentence.
John Frazier is serving his sentence at Livesay Correctional Institution in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His projected release date is October 19, 2029, according to the information provided for the case. His legal history includes multiple appeals, a retrial and the eventual reinstatement of his robbery conviction.
The case is particularly striking because the original explanation was so simple: a young man walking on a beach had apparently become the victim of a robbery. But the investigation gradually moved away from that theory and towards an alleged planned killing involving people who knew him. The murder therefore became less about a stranger appearing from nowhere and more about the relationships, testimony and decisions surrounding Poole in the months and days before his death.
My view is that the most compelling part of the case is not simply the question of who pulled the trigger. It is how quickly an apparently ordinary robbery narrative began to unravel once investigators compared witness accounts, employment records, vehicle movements and relationships. The conflicting statements surrounding Renee's alleged confession also make the case considerably more complicated than a neat television-crime conclusion might suggest.
At the same time, the repeated appeals show why criminal cases rarely fit comfortably into a tidy beginning-middle-end storyline. Evidence can be challenged, convictions can be overturned and retrials can follow years later. That legal back-and-forth may sound frustratingly slow, but it is precisely why the final outcome cannot be understood from the original arrest alone.
Today, the Brent Poole murder case remains defined by a 1998 killing, two long prison sentences and years of courtroom challenges. Renee remains imprisoned in South Carolina, while Frazier continues serving his sentence with a projected release date in 2029. The story also leaves plenty to discuss about the evidence, the changing accounts and the investigation itself. If you have watched Money, Murder: Dancing With Death, which part of the Brent Poole case stood out to you most?