RIDGELAND, S.C. (Feb. 19, 2026) – A 50-year-old New York man who argued with two acquaintances before gunning them down in front of young children at a Hardeeville apartment complex has been sent to prison.
A Jasper County General Sessions jury found Charles Saunders guilty Thursday of two charges each of murder and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime for the shooting deaths of Alesia Dykes and Bernard Alexander Lyles. Saunders was sentenced to life in prison.
“This defendant chose to repay trust and hospitality with violence of the most horrendous sort,” said Trasi Campbell of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case “Charles Saunders has lived a life of violence, and today’s outcome ensures he no longer endangers the public.”
Hardeeville Police arrived at Walsh Drive Apartments shortly after noon on June 18, 2024, following a report of gunfire. Witnesses told them the victims got into a verbal dispute with Saunders. When the argument turned physical, Dykes and Lyles went inside the apartment, but Saunders stepped into the threshold, pulled a 9mm handgun from his waistband and began shooting.
One of three young children in the apartment when the shootings took place ran for help to a relative’s house at neighboring Deer Run Apartments.
Dykes was dead when authorities arrived. Lyles was taken to Coastal Carolina Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
By the time police arrived, Saunders had fled. However, investigators recovered the shirt he discarded in a Main Street trash can. Forensic testing revealed gunshot residue on the garment.
Saunders was apprehended after he was spotted at Waffle House in Ridgeland several hours after the murders.
Saunders and Lyles had been arguing in the days before the shootings. The defendant posted a video of himself holding firearms and threatening to shoot someone.
Saunders and Dykes were friends in New York several years ago. She introduced Saunders to her sister, with whom he had a son. Saunders was visiting South Carolina after that son had a child and had been staying with Dykes for about three weeks before the shooting.
Saunders criminal history includes convictions in New York for possession of a firearm, assault, conspiracy and criminal use of a firearm.
Campbell called 19 witnesses during three days of testimony at the Jasper County Courthouse.
Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentence.
Campbell is a member of the Solicitor’s Office Career Criminal Unit, which prosecutes the circuit’s most violent and habitual offenders. That team has secured convictions against 541 of the 594 defendants it has prosecuted since its formation in 2009.
Charles Saunders
