Bryan Capnerhurst's case - A detailed case overview

Bryan Capnerhurst is central to a double-homicide case tied to the Ascot Estates neighborhood in Irmo, South Carolina. On April 13, 2012, Capnerhurst, 46, and Tammy Jo Parker, 44, were found dead inside the home of Brett and Tammy Parker. From the start, the case mixed self-defense claims with questions about gambling debts and what the evidence really showed.

A re-air of Dateline: Mystery at Ascot Estates is listed on Oxygen for Saturday, September 20, at 5:00 am ET. The broadcast revisits the investigation and the court outcome that followed.

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Bryan Capnerhurst: detailed case overview

First reports stated that Brett Parker told detectives Bryan Capnerhurst shot Tammy during a robbery attempt, and that Parker then shot Bryan Capnerhurst in self-defense. Officers gathered two firearms, processed the rooms in question, and pulled phone logs and home-surveillance footage for review.

Detectives reviewed home-surveillance footage and phone records during the inquiry (Image via Unsplash)

Within days, investigators broadened the inquiry beyond Parker’s initial account, examining his bookmaking activity and the money reportedly at issue between the men. As reported by The State in a later recap of the case and Dateline podcast, additional testing and interviews led investigators to doubt the self-defense claim

The legal team for Parker weighed South Carolina’s stand your ground statute, but did not seek an immunity hearing. CBS News (January 2014) reported the defense declined a stand your ground hearing because the law bars immunity if the person is engaged in unlawful activity, citing Parker’s betting operation; it also summarized disputes over timing, scene details, and a medical examiner’s testimony that Capnerhurst’s arm wound meant he could not have held the gun.

Parker turned himself in more than three months after the shootings (Image via Pexels)

Arrest warrants followed more than three months after the shootings. The Associated Press reported that Parker turned himself in after investigators alleged he shot his wife, then used a second gun to kill Bryan Capnerhurst, and staged the scene to resemble a robbery.

At trial, prosecutors argued Parker first shot Tammy, then shot Bryan Capnerhurst when he arrived, and that items at the scene were positioned to bolster a robbery story. The state’s theory also pointed to debt pressure and insurance proceeds as motives. These points were framed as allegations drawn from financial records, messages, and witness testimony.

Defense lawyers maintained that Parker acted in self-defense after Capnerhurst allegedly came for money and was armed. The defense proceeded without a stand your ground claim and argued standard self-defense based on Parker’s account of what happened in the house.

The court imposed two consecutive life sentences, and an appeal was later denied (Image via Pexels)

A Richland County jury found Parker guilty of both murders in 2013. He received two consecutive life sentences without parole; a state appeals court later rejected his appeal, leaving the verdicts and sentences in place.

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Oxygen lists the re-air of Dateline: Mystery at Ascot Estates for Saturday, September 20, at 5:00 am ET.

For on-demand listening, Dateline also released The Mystery at Ascot Estates as a podcast episode on major platforms. The audio includes interviews and trial audio that track the case from the 911 call through the verdict.