Today a joint investigation of the Campobello Police
Department and the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office into the April 13, 2012
murder of Mr. Fred Wayne Ramsey came to a conclusion with the arrest of 74 year
old, Mr. Bobby Dean Pruitt. Mr. Pruitt confessed to investigators that he
murdered Mr. Ramsey by shooting him.
On the afternoon of April 13, 2012 the body of Mr. Ramsey was found by a
citizen in a wooded area just off of Highway 176 in the Town of Campobello.
Officers from the Campobello Police Department requested assistance from The
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation of this case. Sheriff
Chuck Wright assigned Investigators from the Sheriff’s Office Violent Crime
Unit to assist in the investigation. During the course of the investigation Mr.
Pruitt had been identified as a person of interest in this case. In late
September 2012 Mr. Pruitt was arrested and charged by the Inman Police
Department with Assault and Battery High and Aggravated Nature and booked into
the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center. Mr. Pruitt was also
charged with a probation violation by the SC Department of Probation and
Parole. A bond was set at $75,000.00 on these charges. Mr. Pruitt has remained
in the detention center since his September 2012 arrest. This morning Mr.
Pruitt informed detention center personnel that he wished to speak with an
Investigator. While speaking with an Investigator he made a confession to the
murder of Mr. Fred Wayne Ramsey. Mr. Pruitt will go before a judge for a bond
hearing on these new charges of Murder and Possession of a Weapon during a
Violent Crime at a time to be set by the court.
Sheriff Chuck Wright and Campobello Police Chief Chad McNeill said that they
are pleased that this case has been solved and that the family of Mr. Fred
Wayne Ramsey can have a form of closure in this case here at Christmas. This
investigation is another example of the cooperation between law enforcement
agencies to see that justice is served.
