Beaufort County man denied bail after ‘extremely brutal’ shooting of longtime girlfriend

In response to fearful calls from the public to keep a murder suspect in jail, a Beaufort County judge denied a request to set bond for a Shell Point man accused of shooting his longtime girlfriend during a gruesome altercation in their bedroom last month.

Brenden Elsila, 37, will remain behind bars after his arrest for alleged murder on Aug. 1, District Court Judge Carmen Mullen ruled Wednesday morning. The man and his lawyer argue they acted in self-defense in the death of Stephanie Fries, 46, co-owner of The Carolina Tavern in Port Royal, whom he dated for a decade.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter Swanson described the early morning incident as an “extremely brutal, very close-range shooting.” Fries was found in the couple’s bedroom with at least five gunshot wounds, all to the face and head.

Elsila did not immediately call 911, Swanson said; instead, she went to her parents’ house down the street and told her father that he had killed Fries in self-defense. Ashley Cornwell, the man’s public defender, said Elsila shot the woman after she swung a knife at him during an argument. The defense attorney argued that Fries’ body was found with a knife in his hand, an allegation disputed by both the prosecutor and the judge.

A Port Royal man charged with murdering his girlfriend in early August had his charges dismissed Wednesday morning at the Beaufort County Courthouse, with his public defender, Ashley Cornwell, arguing he fatally shot 46-year-old Stephanie Fries in self-defense after she brandished a knife in their bedroom.

“It wasn’t self-defense; it was an execution,” said Fries’ brother, Raymond Lewis, adding that the suspect was unable to hold a job and “contributed absolutely nothing to society.”

Lewis was one of several relatives who asked the judge to deny Elsila bond, many citing his alleged history of domestic violence against women and the family’s fear of the man. Fries’ college-age daughter said the suspect “physically assaulted” her and her 16-year-old brother multiple times and brandished a gun in front of the family, “creating an environment of fear and intimidation.”

“The reason I don’t want him to get bail is because my grandchildren are afraid of him,” said Fries’ father, Raymond Lewis Sr., a retired doctor. “They’ve been through enough trauma.”

Cornwell argued that Elsila should be released, possibly on condition of GPS monitoring or house arrest, because he did not try to flee after the killing and had no history of prior arrests. She acknowledged that the couple had a “volatile relationship” but said Elsila’s account of their history was “significantly different” than what prosecutors alleged.