BLANTON RECEIVES 13-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR ACCESSORY CONVICTION

A Gaffney woman received a 13-year prison sentence today for being an accessory after the fact of murder.

Jessica L. Blanton, 24, was found guilty at the conclusion of a two-day jury trial. Blanton helped Eric Blackwell, 25, of Gaffney cover up the Nov. 23, 2003 murder of Christopher Riddle, 28, of Blacksburg. Following the murder at the Limestone Courts Apartments, Blanton helped Blackwell wrap the body of Riddle in a white sheet and discard the corpse in a wooded area near the intersection of I-85 and Highway 18. Riddle died as a result of 167 stab wounds.

Blackwell pleaded guilty to murder in May and received a deferred sentence after he agreed to testify against Blanton. The convicted murderer, who admitted that he only stabbed Riddle four times during the trial, will return to court for sentencing in December.

“The Gaffney police detectives did a super job solving a horrific crime,” Assistant Solicitor Michael Morin said. “They developed a challenging sequence of events into a strong murder case.”

Teresa Humphries, 41, of Gaffney, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of murder in December and received an 8-year prison sentence that was suspended to 4 years of service and 3 years probation. Humphries admitted to cleaning up the crime scene after the killing.