PARENTAL KILLING LEADS TO 40- YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR SPARTANBURG COUNTY MAN

A Lyman man received a 40-year prison sentence today after he admitted to shooting his mother to death while she slept.

Douglas M. Beddingfield, 20, of 241 Lindsey Ridge Road, pleaded guilty to murder before Circuit Judge Derham Cole.

Douglas Beddingfield shot Betty Joyce Beddingfield, 48, to death on March 2, 2004 at their home. Douglas Beddingfield told police that he got into an argument with his mother. She was upset with him for not having a job. Douglas went to Blockbusters Video and a local fast food restaurant to cool down. Once he returned home, he went to his room for several minutes before he walked into his mother’s bedroom while she slept. Douglas told police he thought about using a .38 handgun but surmised that a shotgun would work better. After the shooting his mother one time at close range, he took her ATM card and withdrew $300 from her account. He also took a sum of money from her pocketbook and drove to Alabama. He went to a Radio Shack store and asked an employee to call the police for him.

“This was a cold-blooded murder,” Solicitor Trey Gowdy said. “There is no other way to describe it.”

Douglas Beddingfield, who had no prior criminal record prior to the killing, is not eligible for parole.