Deonte Williams may face the death penalty if convicted.
FLORENCE -- 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements says because of the brutality of the crime, he may seek the death penalty against Deonte Williams.
Williams is charged in the murder of Miriam Burgess, 44, of Florence. Burgess was found stabbed to death following a fire at her home on Stackley Street three weeks ago.
Officers say she was the grandmother of Williams' child.
Police describe it as one of the most horrific crime scenes they've worked.
Officers responded to the scene after getting a call from officials with the Florence Fire Department that Burgess' body was inside the home, but they didn't think she died from the fire.
Florence County Coroner Bubba Matthews says an autopsy later showed that she had been stabbed to death multiple times.
Detectives tell us they aren't sure if the fire was an accident or if it was intentionally set.
Williams has not been charged in connection with the fire.
Officers say after he murdered Burgess he left Florence. Deputies with the Florence County Sheriff's Office charged Willliams' mother, Evelyn Williams, with accessory after the fact of a felony.
They say she helped him get away by allowing someone to use her car to drive her son to North Carolina, where he caught a bus to New Jersey.
Williams is out of jail on a $100,000 bond. During her bond hearing last week, she told the judge she fully cooperated with police as they were looking for her son.
"They're saying that I helped him got away when I didn't know he committed a crime until after the crime was committed. I mean, everybody is pointing the finger at me. I know that's my child. But my child is accountable for what he does and if he's wrong, he's wrong and like I told the officer I told him where he was at. He called him and that's what I did. I did my part after I found out what had happened. My son contact me. I called the investigator, gave him the number. He called the investigator. He couldn't get back here, so he was up in New Jersey and I stayed in touch with the officers and investigators and all to my fullest extent of cooperation, I did," she said.
Her son was arrested two weeks ago at a motel in New Jersey. His right arm was wounded. He was extradited back to Florence this week.
Tuesday, Williams was arraigned on murder charges.
A bond hearing will be held for him at a later time.
Clements will make a decision whether to seek the death penalty later after studying the facts of the case.
