A driver stopped to pick up a man who was stranded in the middle of the night. He was then hacked to death with a machete
A man who brutally hacked a driver to death with a machete after he stopped for a ride in the middle of the night has been jailed for life.
In July 2020, Rodney Watson, 66, of St. Marys, Georgia, drove to a store in Burton, South Carolina, the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said in a news release. That’s when he saw 50-year-old Michael Eugene Goode stuck in the road.
Watson’s niece and a woman sitting in the front passenger seat recognized Goode, also known as “Slick,” so the 66-year-old pulled over and gave him a ride, according to authorities. he.
Shortly after, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 8, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of a fight in the yard of a mobile home on Horton Drive in Burton.
When they arrived, they found the 50-year-old man assaulting the woman in the front seat, authorities said.
When Watson tried to stop the attack, Goode stabbed him six times with a 10-inch serrated machete. One of the blows severed an artery in Watson’s left arm, killing him, according to a forensic pathologist.
Goode fled the scene but was tracked to a nearby house and arrested hours later.
10-inch serrated machete used in attack (14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office)
He claimed innocence, but at trial DNA evidence revealed he was carrying a machete at the scene.
Now, more than four years later, Goode has been found guilty of Watson’s murder following a three-day jury trial in Beaufort County Court.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder and five years for possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Goode had committed a series of other offenses before Watson was killed, including with intent to distribute drugs, assault, battery, domestic violence, resisting arrest and giving false information.
