GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – State Rep. John McCravy calls the deaths of Kelli Whitten and Anissa Henderson “very tragic and preventable.”
Now he is asking the state’s top police agency to find out what made the murders possible.
FOX Carolina Investigates uncovered incident reports indicating that the events leading to Kelli and Anissa’s deaths may not have been in compliance with a new law passed the previous month.
Investigators said Gary Whitten killed his longtime girlfriend Anissa and his mother Kelli on Jan. 17 before setting fire to Anissa’s house and going on the run.
Whitten was killed later that day by police who believed he was armed.
At the time of the murders, Whitten was out on bail because Anissa had previously been charged with domestic violence. Under the terms of his release, he was not allowed to be near Anissa’s home.
A judge also ordered Whiten to wear a GPS ankle bracelet that would alert the surveillance company Sentinel Offender Services if he got too close to Anissa’s home.
Under a law that took effect in December 2023, the company would have been required to notify police if Whitten came too close to the house.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, the company called Anissa, who said she was “fine,” according to incident reports.
We asked Greenville County multiple times whether policies were followed that night, but a spokesperson said answering our question “could potentially interfere with a potential police investigation.”
The new law also states that the attorney “must” report a company’s violations to SLED, which can then impose a fine or suspend or revoke the license.
We reached out to 13th District Court District Attorney Walt Wilkins, who told us they did not specifically notify SLED about the incident because the agency was already involved in the case when the officer-involved shooting occurred.
A SLED spokesperson said they were not asked to investigate when we asked in July.
That has now changed. After seeing our coverage of the incident, McCravy is asking SLED to investigate the incident on August 21.
McCravy told FOX Carolina News that the SLED representative he spoke to said they were looking into the case.
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