Isaiah Gadson Jr. of Burton arrested today after being linked to 1980 Cold Case Murder and Sexual Assault through DNA
In the early morning hours of January 6, 1980, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a dirt path off of Old Salem Point Road. Deputies responded in regard to a report of a deceased male gunshot victim and juvenile female victim of sexual assault that had just occurred. The juvenile female reported that at approximately 11:45 PM on January 5th she and her boyfriend, 18 year old David Krulewicz, were parked in his van on the dirt path. She reported an unknown African American male approached and fired several shots into the van with a handgun. Several of the bullets struck Krulewicz, who was pronounced dead at the scene upon the arrival of Emergency Medical Services.
The juvenile female went on to report that after shooting Krulewicz, the unknown male robbed her and then sexually assaulted her. After the sexual assault, the unknown male walked off leaving the juvenile female with the mortally wounded Krulewicz. The juvenile female ran to her house a short distance from the scene to seek assistance and to notify authorities of the incident. Sheriff’s Office investigators looked into the case for many years and it eventually grew cold, due to limited forensic technology at the time and the subject’s identity remaining unknown.
In 1999 when Sheriff P. J. Tanner took office investigations into unresolved murders/sexual assaults, also known as “cold cases”, became a priority. Since forensic science technology had vastly improved since 1980, especially in the area of forensic DNA analysis, items of evidence collected during the sexual assault examination of the juvenile female were resubmitted to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Forensic Services Laboratory by Sheriff’s Office Cold Case investigators. Ultimately, a DNA profile of an unknown male’s semen was developed from evidence collected at the juvenile female’s examination, just hours after the incident on January 6, 1980. The unknown male profile was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in 2003 by SLED analysts. There was no immediate match through searches against known offenders in the database.
On August 2, 2016, SLED DNA analysts reported a match between a now known offender, 63 year old Isaiah Gadson Jr. of Burton, and the unknown DNA profile developed from the semen in this investigation. It was learned that 63 year old Gadson Jr’s. DNA was collected at the Beaufort County Detention Center after his arrest in an unrelated incident In June of 2016. Once his DNA profile was uploaded into CODIS, it was quickly matched to this case. Upon receiving the match report, interviews of original witnesses and further investigation were conducted. On August 9, 2016 Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Investigators met with a Beaufort County Magistrate and obtained warrants for the arrest of Isaiah Gadson Jr. for Murder, Criminal Sexual Conduct 1st Degree, Kidnapping and Armed Robbery.
Early this afternoon Isaiah Gadson Jr. was located at the Beaufort Police Department. Gadson Jr. was at the Department to meet with Beaufort Police investigators on an unrelated matter. It was there that Sheriff's Office Cold Case investigators arrested him on the warrants for Murder, Criminal Sexual Conduct 1st Degree, Kidnapping and Armed Robbery. Gadson Jr. will be transported to the Beaufort County Detention Center and incarcerated shortly. Anyone with information regarding this investigation or other criminal activity Isaiah Gadson Jr. may have been involved in is urged to contact Captain Bob Bromage at 843-816-8013 or CrimeStoppers 1-888-CrimeSC if wishing to remain anonymous and for possible reward
Address/Location
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office
2001 Duke St
Beaufort, SC 29902
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 843-255-3200