It may take years before accused murderer is extradited to South Carolina for trial

Submitted photo.

Despite the arrest of accused murderer Franklin Wright, it could be years before he is charged with the deaths of 75-year-old Yana Schenker and 38-year-old Shalamar Byrd or tried in an Aiken County courtroom, according to officials.

About 11:30 p.m. Monday, the 55-year-old Beech Island man was apprehended in Hephzibah, Ga., after an officer with the Hephzibah police department spotted him at a convenience store.

"He had a gun on him when taken into custody," stated Capt. Scott Peebles, with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

Richmond County authorities have charged the fugitive with robbery by force, aggravated assault and kidnapping for the attack on 54-year-old Jennie Hope.

The Augusta woman was badly beaten two weeks after two women's bodies were found at separate fires in Aiken County on Aug. 11.

Hope was at work at the Lotto Express on 13th Street when she was assaulted.

Although Hope was seriously injured, officials said they believe she is recovering.

Hospital officials, however, have withheld information about the woman's condition because of federal patient confidentiality laws.

Before Wright is extradited to South Carolina where he faces arson and murder charges, he will be charged and tried in Augusta for the attack on Hope.

Lt. Calvin Chew with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office said the process could take years, adding that it's conceivable that Wright could ask for a speedy trial and go to court next year.

Aiken County Solicitor Strom Thurmond Jr. said Richmond County charges will be resolved there first since they have him in custody.

"There's an old saying in the legal business that possession is nine-tenths of the law," he added.

That may mean area residents may have to wait before learning the details about the murders of Schenker and Byrd or the motive for the homicides, arson or link he had to the two woman.

Capt. Troy Elwell, a spokesperson for the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, said officials will withhold a number of details until Wright's trial in Aiken.

Investigators said Wright had been a handyman for Schenker and had done landscaping for the woman, but have not said Byrd and Wright knew one another.

Elwell confirmed only that Byrd and Wright were acquainted.

He added that investigators do not believe he had an accomplice.

They have not said how he was able to get around the area, but confirmed he had a vehicle.

Officials said Wright was interviewed by investigators along with a number of other suspects in recent weeks, but he was not identified by police as the alleged homicide suspect until Thursday when warrants were issued for his arrest.

Wright has spent decades in the prison system.

He is also believed to be brother to or the half-brother of two Beech Island men who were charged with the 2003 burglary and arson at Building Surplus and Salvage (BSS) in North Augusta.

Tyrone Wright was charged with larceny, safe cracking, arson and multiple counts of burglary.

Emerson Wright, who was a fugitive on Aiken County's Most Wanted list for his alleged role in the BSS burglary and arson, was involved in a high-speed chase with Georgia troopers a year later that ended in Eatonton, Ga., when he got out of a vehicle and shot himself.

He was airlifted to an Atlanta hospital where he later died.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.