The gruesome ax attack on a prominent Orangeburg couple in their Boulevard home, the abduction and brutal murder of a young St. Matthews mother and the ongoing investigation into the mysterious death of a Santee businessman are three of the five sensational true-crime stories chronicled by a retired SLED forensic photographer with close local ties.

Rita Y. Shuler, a Providence community native who retired in 2001 after 24 years with the State Law Enforcement Division, relates the local murder cases in her third book, "Small-Town Slayings in South Carolina," released in early February.

Also included in the book are accounts of the unsolved homicide of a young Orangeburg lab technician found dead in her Walterboro home 30 years ago and the case of a Sumter woman, whose 1989 murder was finally solved through DNA evidence some 15 years later.

"After my last book (on murderer Larry Gene Bell), I decided to go back and research cases I remembered through my childhood and cases I recalled discussing with my parents and friends," Shuler said. "Two cases I was associated with while at SLED."

The hard part, she says, was trying to narrow down her focus from so many interesting cases. Research included SLED files, talks with fellow law enforcement officers and combing newspaper archives.

"In the first book, I brought in some of the evidence I photographed, little pieces," she said. "I wanted some cases with twists and turns and different verdicts."

Although some people "are afraid of bringing up ghosts," Shuler says she's found that the victims' families she contacted are "humble that their loved ones are remembered."

One of the most horrifying crimes gripped Orangeburg in 1955, when an elderly couple, William and Mary Lee Stroman, were attacked in their landmark Boulevard home by the ax-wielding grandson of the family's longtime housekeeper. Mrs. Stroman died at the scene, and her husband was severely injured.

Convicted of the murder and assault, Samuel Wright Jr., a 20-year-old looking for money when he committed the crime, was electrocuted less than one year later.

In Calhoun County, the 1974 abduction and murder of Nancy Linett Amaker, a young wife and mother just shy of her 29th birthday, still elicits sadness and horror. Amaker was leaving her uncle Dan Savitz' department store downtown in broad daylight when a stranger pulled a gun and forced her into his car. Her body was discovered the next day in rural Darlington County.

After a nationwide manhunt, career criminal Jack Leland Allen was arrested in Arizona some 34 days later and charged with the crime. Convicted and sentenced to die, Allen got a reprieve, when in 1976, a ruling by the state Supreme Court commuted all death sentences between 1974 and 1976 to life in prison. He is eligible for parole every two years.

The 1955 case of 33-year-old Amos Bowers, found shot to death a few weeks after his disappearance in Eutawville, is still unsolved. The owner of a Santee service station and grocery store, Bowers was last seen in the yard of Dwight West, where he had parked his car. West was tried for the murder but acquitted.

Shuler, it turns out, was a high-school classmate of Bowers' niece.

The only case not directly related to the immediate area, the Sumter murder of Joyce Robinson, is included in the book, Shuler says, in order to "show how advances in technology can solve crime."

"Keep in mind, a case can be solved this way. Cold cases are never closed," she said.

After new DNA testing provided a match in 2004, Robinson's former neighbor Tony Mack was sentenced to 30 years in prison for her murder. The 29-year-old woman, who was planning her wedding to a state trooper, was found dead with her throat cut in her apartment.

Still, Shuler says, it's the 1978 unsolved murder of Orangeburg native Elaine Fogle that stays on her mind and has "touched her so deeply."

Fogle was a 26-year-old lab technologist for a Walterboro physician when she was found raped and beaten to death in her home.

Fogle's parents, Myrtis and Wells Fogle, were long-time Orangeburg residents. In a bizarre twist, Mrs. Fogle was attacked and robbed by an unknown assailant in her home in 1991.

"I attend the old Fogle reunions ... 50 people eating at Antley's Bar-B-Q. ... I got to know the family when I wrote the story," she said. "I have a passion for the victims. People still do remember their loved ones."

And, while she's no longer active in law enforcement, Shuler says she hopes to assist in any way possible in solving the Fogle murder.

As a forensic photographer, Shuler explains that she didn't actually go to crime scenes unless specialized photography was needed.

"SLED had a special team that collected evidence and photographed the scene. I processed and printed all the film," she said. "That's when my specialized photography -- lighting and special film -- I did in a lab under special conditions. That's when I came into the case. ... The crime scene was brought to me."

In addition to photography, Shuler says she also assisted on "special assignments, such as extradition duties, crowd control and security, and I sat with sequestered jurors, a little bit of everything ... and especially when a female was needed."

"I enjoyed working with evidence," she said. "Every piece of evidence I touched was helping the victims."

Joking that she has "deep footprints in the sands of Orangeburg," Shuler's interest in crime stories began at a young age. She remembers her parents taking her, as an 8-year-old child, and her brother to visit the scene of a well-publicized, grisly double murder of a young couple in the Pamplico area of Florence County.

"That is stuck in my mind. And I'm still fascinated," she said. "I remember walking through that crime scene. People from North Carolina and South Carolina came from all over."

The daughter of the late Mike and Olive Shuler -- her father was a farmer and long-time employee with the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service office -- Shuler grew up in rural Orangeburg County between Elloree and Holly Hill. Her brother, Irvin Shuler, and his family still live in the old home place, she says. After graduating from Holly Hill High School and X-ray technician school at the old Orangeburg hospital, Shuler worked for several years in a Columbia hospital.

"That was until 1977, when I changed professions and went to SLED as a forensic photographer," she said. "And shortly thereafter, I went through the police academy. I'm a certified police officer."

After her retirement, Shuler wrote "Carolina Crimes," which included a dozen case files, and then "Murder in the Midlands -- Larry Gene Bell and the 28 Days That Shook South Carolina."

With book signings scheduled throughout the state, Shuler will be back in her "old stomping ground" at the Elloree Museum on Saturday, March 7, in conjunction with the Cooking on Cleveland celebration.

After three books, Shuler, who lives in Irmo, says she still has "stories to tell, but I don't know if I'll do another one. But I said that after the second one. It feels good when I'm finished."

So, when a recent conversation in passing turns to another Orangeburg County murder, Shuler quickly introduces herself and jumps right in.

"I said I'll never write another book, but ... ."

T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon can be reached by e-mail at tlyon@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5545. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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