SC man held 4 captive in Lancaster basement, raped and murdered one: Prosecutors
A South Carolina judge has ruled prosecutors can move forward in the case against a Lancaster man accused of killing and sexually assaulting a woman after holding her and three other people captive in his basement.
Yet the lawyer for Donnie Ray Birchfield Jr. says DNA evidence points away from Birchfield, and law enforcement targeted only him despite three other people — the alleged three other victims in the case — being in the basement when the woman was strangled to death.
Lancaster magistrate judge Elizabeth Hyatt said testimony Wednesday in Lancaster County criminal court from a police detective showed there was probable cause to arrest Birchfield, 35, on 18 charges. Birchfield is charged with murder, sexual assault, financial crimes, domestic violence, and false imprisonment and abuse of vulnerable adults. Two of the alleged victims are people with disabilities, police and prosecutors say.
Birchfield has been jailed since late July after Shirley Arnsdorff, 49, was found bruised and strangled to death in the basement of Birchfield’s home.
He has not been convicted of any crimes in the case. Birchfield was in court Wednesday but did not speak. Many of his family were in court in the gallery.
The case has attracted media attention nationally after Birchfield was accused of holding the victims in captivity for years before police later charged him with the murder and sex assault.
Prosecutors: “Intense psychological abuse” plus rape and murder
Police and prosecutors say Birchfield held four people, including Arnsdorff, a man, and two younger women against their will in his basement. They say Birchfield’s DNA was found under Arnsdorff’s nails, and also allege Birchfield withheld food from the victims, stole money, and forced them to use a bucket to go to the bathroom.
Arnsdorff weighed just 65 pounds when she died in late July from being strangled with a ligature and malnutrition, Lancaster Police Department Sgt. Jordan Brown testified Wednesday.
The investigation showed Birchfield kept her and the other man, along with two younger women, in the basement while his family members upstairs were unaware anyone was living down there with Birchfield, police said.
Arnsdorff and the man, whom police testified had disabilities, had been there as long as six years, police said. Birchfield allegedly would feed them as little as a can of beans or a slice of pizza. Birchfield also told police Arnsdorff had stomach cancer, yet the autopsy showed no cancer.
Prosecutor Kinli Abee of the S.C. Attorney General’s Office told Judge Hyatt there was “control and manipulation” and “intense psychological abuse” by Birchfield toward the victims. He swindled two of the victims out of thousands of dollars while limiting their food, hygiene, and ability to come and go as they pleased, Abee said.
“They are sitting in a house, they are not allowed to go the bathroom, they are barely fed,” Abee said.
“The last person who was with Shirley (Arnsdorff) when she is alive is the defendant,” Abee said.
Defense: DNA clears Birchfield, and no confinement
Ryan Payne, Birchfield’s lawyer, told Judge Hyatt that DNA on Arnsdorff’s neck and under the nails of one hand does not match Birchfield.
He also said police targeted Birchfield, yet all the alleged victims had the ability to leave at any time. There were no locks on the doors and the people had come to the house voluntarily, Payne argued.
Three of them had gone on multiple trips with Birchfield as far as Florida in the years leading up to Arnsdorff’s death, Payne said.
“They are going all these places and they go on trips,” Payne said. “There are no signs of confinement ...They all had the ability to leave.”
Payne argued there are no witnesses to show Birchfield committed the sexual assault or murder.
What happens now?
The judge’s ruling means prosecutors can now take the case against Birchfield to a Lancaster County grand jury seeking indictments. S.C. law requires a grand jury to issue indictments before a trial.
Birchfield remains jailed without bail. No trial date has been set.
This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 12:50 PM.
