South Carolina’s longest-serving death row inmate dies of natural causes after 42 years in prison
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina inmate who spent 42 years on death row has died of natural causes at a prison hospital, the state Department of Corrections said.
Fred Singleton, 81, was sentenced to death in Newberry County in 1983 for raping and strangling a woman and stealing her jewelry, according to court records. He is the state’s longest serving prisoner on death row.
Singleton spent the last three decades in legal limbo in prison after the state Supreme Court ruled that he was not competent to be executed because he did not realize he could die in the electric chair and only answered “yes” or “no” to his lawyers’ questions.
But the judges too It was decided in 1993 He said Singleton’s death sentence should remain if advances in psychology allow him to recover, and that he cannot be forced to take medication to improve his mental state just so he can be executed.
Prosecutors said Singleton broke into the home of 73-year-old widow Elizabeth Lominick in 1982. His two sisters and nephew found his body. He was smothered with the sheets. Singleton’s fingerprints were found on the bathroom window screen.
When Singleton was arrested in Georgetown County, Lominick’s diamond and gold rings were found in his pockets and his car, which contained Singleton’s fingerprints, was found nearby, police said.
Singleton’s death is behind us 24 men On South Carolina’s death row. As of the end of 2014, there were 48 prisoners on death row in the state.
It’s in South Carolina executed 6 prisoners since then, all in 2024 or 2025. Others on death row either had their convictions overturned and were resented, or died of natural causes.
The longest-serving inmate currently on death row is 56-year-old Jamie Wilson, who has been there for 34 years.
Wilson killed two 8-year-old girls and injured several teachers and students in a 1988 shooting rampage at an elementary school in Greenwood County.
Wilson is in a similar legal limbo as Singleton. Wilson was considered mentally ill at the time of his trial. He had a competency hearing in 2011, but it is understood the judge did not make a decision in his case.
