5 chilling details about Susan Hendricks's brutal crime

Susan Hendricks' case will be explored on Oxygen's Snapped season 23, episode 24. The episode originally aired on July 29, 2018, and is being re-aired today, August 10, 2025, to bring to viewers the quadruple murder that took place on October 14, 2011, in Liberty, South Carolina.

The small town of Liberty became one of the state’s disturbing family tragedies when four members of a family were found dead. Susan Hendricks, a local woman and mother, was later convicted in relation to the incident for killing her close family members in a plot driven by financial gain.

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Susan Hendricks' crimes: 5 key details about the Hendricks family murders

Before the Snapped episode airs today, here are five key details from the murders of the four members of the Hendricks family.

Susan Hendricks crimes (Representative image via Getty)

1) Four members of the Hendricks family were found slaughtered in Liberty, South Carolina

As reported by NBC News, on the morning of October 14, 2011, the Pickens County Police received a call reporting that there had been a murder in Liberty, South Carolina. When officers arrived at the scene of the crime, they discovered four victims inside and outside the Hendricks home.

The deceased were identified as Susan Hendricks' eldest son, 23-year-old Matthew, her younger son, 20-year-old Marshall, her ex-husband Mark, who was 52 at the time, and her 64-year-old stepmother, Linda Burns. All of them were found shot to death.

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2) Susan’s account of the crime

Susan Hendricks was the only surviving member present at the scene of the crime. She spoke to the authorities and accused her eldest son, Matthew, of killing the others before taking his own life. According to U.S. News, she claimed that the family had gathered the previous night to pray because Matthew was upset that many people had forgotten his birthday.

Susan even presented the police with a note allegedly penned by Matthew, and claimed that he wrote it before killing everyone and committing suicide. While handwriting experts confirmed that it was indeed Matthew who had written the note, investigators suspected it was written a long time before the murders and kept by Susan to corroborate her story.

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3) Susan's arrest and a motive behind the murders

Susan is now incarcarated (Representative image via Getty)

Police suspected that it was Susan who had committed the crime, not Matthew. She was arrested on October 23, 2011, after investigators uncovered multiple wills and life insurance documents in her motel room, per CBS News.

According to the same publication, the Hendricks family policies were valued between $680,000 and $700,000, and Susan was the sole beneficiary. This revealed a financial motive behind Susan's actions.

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4) Evidence against Susan

Susan Hendricks' behavior following the Hendricks family murders made the police suspicious. It was discovered that Susan had visited a printing shop shortly after the murders to alter the will's executor, CBS reported. Testimony from her sister, Evelyn Burns, also shared that Susan had casually mentioned Matthew’s death to her before reporting the crime.

Furthermore, other family relatives described Susan as volatile and abusive. They even recounted incidents where she allegedly fired shots at her sons’ feet during arguments. Shortly after her incarceration, investigation files were released, which had over 600 photographs from the crime scene, Fox News reported.

Susan Hendricks' crime is depicted in Snapped. (Representative image via Getty)

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5) Susan's sentencing and mental illness

In April 2013, Susan Hendricks pleaded guilty but mentally ill to all four murders. Fox News reported that nine months after her arrest, she even attempted suicide by overdosing on 40 mental health pills, leaving a note saying she would “be okay with Mark and the boys,"

As per the same media outlet, Susan's psychiatrist, David Price, testified in court that she was a victim of abuse throughout her childhood and had developed multiple personalities as a result. Susan Hendricks was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and she remains incarcerated in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

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Catch the full case today on Oxygen's Snapped.