More time could be added to a Cordova murderer’s 40-year sentence after officials say they stopped his effort to tunnel out of prison.

Oscar Beecher McDowell, 31, pleaded guilty last year to the brutal slaying of his girlfriend in a Cordova residence. His projected release date was Jan. 27, 2047, before the alleged escape attempt.

“The Department of Corrections has approached my office about looking into the escape charges,” said First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe. “This carries one to 15 (years) and it has to be consecutive.

“Any added time I can give these individuals is deserved.”

The body of 31-year-old Ruby Rawls was found Feb. 6, 2007. Rawls had been shot multiple times, dismembered and mutilated. Officials said McDowell then burned her body and set the home on fire.

McDowell pleaded guilty to Rawls’ murder on May 1, 2008 in an emotion-filled courtroom.

“One bullet would have killed her. Why 12 bullets? Why did you have to cut her? Why?” Rawls’ mother, Nancy Rawls, said during the plea hearing. “What kind of monster would have done this to my daughter? How bad did my daughter suffer before she died? How do we know that?”

Early in June, McDowell had his post-conviction relief hearing, a hearing to argue a legal technicality wasn’t observed correctly. He argued he had only offered his guilty plea under the belief he would be sentenced under a 30-year cap.

However, at the 2008 hearing before Circuit Court Judge James Williams, no plea agreement was offered for the court’s consideration.

Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein, who presided over the relief hearing, hasn’t returned her decision yet.

Meantime, South Carolina Department of Corrections officials allege that about a month after that hearing, the Cordova man and two others attempted to escape from Leiber Correctional Institute in Ridgeville by digging a tunnel underneath the prison walls.

Willie Parker and Cazario Marshall have also been named as alleged participants in the tunnelling effort, according to SCDC.

Parker was sentenced in 2003 to 30 years for a Fairfield County armed robbery. Cazario Marshall was sentenced to life for burglary, armed robbery, kidnapping and assault sentence two years ago.

As punishment for the alleged escape attempt, McDowell and the others are being held in what prison officials call a special management cell at Leiber Correctional Institution.

The isolated cells mean the inmates will be confined 23 hours a day and kept apart from the rest. There is no phone use or visitation, officials said.

SCDC spokesman Josh Gelinas said investigators discovered the trio burrowed a 17-inch hole into the floor of the prison industry building, where tractor transmissions are disassembled.

From there, the escape tunnel extended about 15 yards deep and ran about two feet beneath the concrete surface of the floor inside the building.

Gelinas said the tunnel was about 170 feet from the outside wall.

However, the idea that McDowell would see daylight outside of a prison is the worst nightmare for his victim’s father, Arthur Rawls of Wagener.

“If that is a secure prison, how is it he can do that? In a secure prison?” Rawls said. “If somebody can do that, something is wrong with the system.”

Leiber is classified in the SCDC system of 28 institutions as Level 3 prison, with the highest level of security.

The SCDC Web site says Level 3 facilities are designed to house the most violent of the state’s long-term offenders and “inmates who exhibit behavioral problems.”

“Inmates at level 3 facilities are closely supervised and their activities and movement within the institution are highly restricted,” the SCDC Web site states.

Rawls said his concern is that to initiate a tunnel that extended any distance would give hope and a real possibility of freedom to the person he calls a “monster.”

Steps have been taken to prevent a similar incident in the future, Gelinas said. An SCDC investigation determined that no prison staff members were involved, he said.

“We were able to determine the length of the excavation by drilling holes beneath the floor surface and into hollowed out areas below,” Gelinas said in a statement this week. “To fill in where earth had been removed and to reinforce the concrete flooring, we poured a mixture of concrete and sand slurry into the holes.”

Pascoe said his office will be looking into where the hand and power tools alledgedly used in the tunnelling were obtained.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve had dealings with Leiber,” he said. “We’ve had a number of cases involving escapes.”

Rawls said he’s concerned about the help the prisoners may have received.

“I don’t think he’s going to dig a hole and not have a plan, something,” Rawls said. “I mean, what’s he going to do when he gets out? He’d have to have help. Wouldn’t you think?”

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

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