Ricky Lee Blackwell
It’s often been said that the ones who are hurt the most by the mistakes of us adults are our children. This is especially true during a divorce or the break up of a relationship. Many times the parents end up using the kids and weapons against each other, and the ones who pay the highest price are the little ones.
Sadly, in this particular case, 8-year-old Heather Brooke Center paid the ultimate price.
Ricky Lee Blackwell, 50, lived on quiet street in Chesnee, South Carolina, in a house right next door to his daughter, Heather Bryant. Ricky Lee and his wife had lived in that home for a number of years, but since the couple had split up it appears he was living alone.
How long Ricky Lee Blackwell and his estranged wife have been separated is unknown, but on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009, when she showed up at next door with Heather, the daughter of the estranged wife’s live-in boyfriend, Blackwell lost it. He stormed across the two connected yards, open 
the car door and pulled Heather out. He put the young girl in a headlock, pulled out a pistol and shot Heather Center in the head. He let her limp body go, and as she fell, shot her three more times.
Heather Brook Center, 8 years old, who had come expecting to spend the day swimming and playing with the other kids who lived at the house, was dead before she hit the ground.
Master Deputy Tony Ivey with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, who called the shooting “heinous” told reporters:
“When she got here, her estranged husband showed up — he lives next door — I don’t know if he saw her pull in, if he knew she was coming or what.”
“That’s when everything took place.”
Blackwell fled into the woods that lined the backyards of the homes on that street. Deputies soon arrived and saw the girl, Heather, lying facedown in a driveway. She had a gunshot wound in one leg, a pool of blood in the center of her back, and blood coming from her right ear, according to an incident report.
Sheriff Chuck Wright explained what his deputies did after they arrived:
“Once our officers got on the scene, people here, at the home, began to point in the direction of Ricky’s home and said, ‘He’s that way.’ That’s when deputies began sweeping the area.”
Ricky Lee Blackwell emerged from the woods soon after they police began searching for him. When the deputies demanded he drop his weapon, he refused. Instead he took the pistol, stuck it into his side and shot himself. He was taken into custody and rushed to the hospital, where doctors said he will survive.
On Thursday, July 10th, Rickey Lee Blackwell was charged with Kidnapping and Capital Murder. Prosecutors announced that they intend to seek the death penalty.
Bobby Center, Heather Brooke Center’s father, described the beautiful young girl:
“She was special from the day she was born.“
“Really really had the whole world ahead of her. I think Brooke would have made a very very wonderful adult as she grew older—and she was robbed of that.“
“Everyone that knew her—she just lit their life up. She was just a very special.“
Ricky Lee Blackwell has a long and extensive criminal career. Sheriff Wright recalled:
“As soon as they called his name, I knew him. I’d heard that boy’s name before.”
I think Sheriff Wright described the entire situation best:
“I don’t know where you can go in the mind to justify shooting a child. I don’t understand how you can get so angry.”
“It’s a bad scene. You have a baby who is deceased who had nothing to do with it.”
“It’s pitiful.”
I found Blackwell’s actions especially disturbing because of the deliberate way he went about killing little Brook (she preferred to be called Brook). I don’t think any normal thinking person can understand what can make a person deliberately murder an innocent child just to spite someone who has tried to end a relationship. While we don’t know any of the specifics of Rick Lee Blackwells relationship with his estranged wife, can any of us think of a good enough reason to justify the cold blooded murder of an 8-year-old girl?
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66 Comments »
This is so sad and senseless. Her poor dad- in the video clip, you can just see that his heart is breaking. I hope that Ricky Lee gets the death penalty for this.
Yeah- contrast that with the mugshot of the POS. Does he have the ‘I just killed a kid’ look all over his ugly face or what?
Why do the POSs always ‘try’ to kill themselves and fail?
And why do POSs always think killing people, especially children will somehow fix the mess they made of their romantic failures? Try being a nice person to begin with- that’s why people don’t like you and get new partners. Killing kids? Eh, not so effective.
c
I don’t think that’s his mugshot, as he shot himself afterward and is still in the hospital. That may be one of his multiple prior mugshots, however.
OK.. this is confusing as hell, but I think I got it… Ricky had an adult daughter named Heather who lived next door to him. His estranged wife has a boyfriend who has a daughter also named Heather (but called Brooke?) The estranged wife went to Ricky’s daughter’s house with the child, and Ricky killed the kid. Right?
Anyway, this scumball deserves hell. No doubt. He killed a fucking KID, simply for being the child of a man he had issues with. What the fuck is THAT? The death penalty is too good for him. I would prefer that he be subjected to psychological torture for the rest of his miserable life. Make him suffer. Bastard.
Ummmmmm, I don’t get it? I understand the story, oddly enough, but why in the world did he shoot the little girl? I hesitate to bring logic into this but wouldn’t it have been more logical to shoot the boyfriend? I think I’d like to know his motives before I vote him to hell. Not because killing the little girl was right, obviously, but because it’s so illogical. Clearly he deserves to be punished, but he may just need a straight jacket and a lot of injected medication for the rest of his life.
It was clearly an act of spite Alanna, IMHO. What better way to get even than to kill the child of his romantic rival, the guy who’s stolen his woman? Not only does he hurt him, and in the worst way possible, but he makes it nearly impossible for the relationship between the dad and Blackwell’s wife to go on. Can you imagine the hidden resentments that would be bubbling right under the surface?
It is a diabolically brilliant move. But my God. What in the world could bring someone to that depth of anger and resentment? That’s a rhetorical question. I know it’s about control but there is more there. A serious wiring problem in the gray matter.
I agree, it was an act of spite. What a sorry ass loser. I don’t know how he can even live with himself after such an underhanded, cowardly act.
I’m very lucky to have a wonderful husband I’m madly in love with. I must say, the thought of ever divorcing terrifies me. If my husband and I (God forbid) ever split up, the constant fear of who would be in my daughter’s life would consume me. When seperations and divorce happens, you no longer have control over the kind of people your children might be exposed to. This poor girl’s parents must be in absolute agony right now, not to mention Blackwell’s ex wife must be going out of her mind. Why didn’t someone put this animal down a long time ago?
I would suggest, Moop, that you and your husband talk about it right now. Start by talking about what you would do if one of you were to die. Make sure that he understands how important it is that he only pick “good mother” material if he remarries. (I used to tell my ex that he should marry the ugliest woman her could find, who always wanted kids, lol. And then carefully cheat on her if he had to!)
When my ex and I divorced, he brought his serious girlfriends around to meet me, and I have to say, they were all caring, loving women. The one he finally married was beautiful as well, lol. But seriously, you need to make a pact now that A) IF you ever divorce the kids will still come first for both (or ALL) of you, and B) you will get along with each other, no matter what the reason for the divorce.
I did it. My ex and his wife are very good friends of my husband and mine. They stay with us when they come to visit. We do Christmas together, and his wife and I took my daughter shopping for prom dresses together. We will always be bound together by our daughter, and for her sake we learned to become friends when we were no longer spouses.
It’s worth it.
How very lucky for you, Mazzi. I wish my daughter’s father wasn’t a complete moron, but I guess that’s partially my fault. His wife? Retard breeder, same as him. Uck. Either way, my husband and I spoke in length about this several times, and though we occasionally joke (hence the “I’d just kill you instead.”), we have the understanding that if I want the kids to live with me, they live with me. That simple. AS LONG AS I’m not “a bitch” about when he wants to see them. My husband has had the misfortune of seeing the experience I have with custody courts and my ex and wants NOTHING to do with it. Anyone with even 1/4 of a brain can see that type of crap is hurtful to the kids .
Well good luck with that, Alanna. I’m sure you and your husband are different, but my ex and I also had that agreement. I’d been taking care of the kids (he lived out of town) for years, and I took care of them after he moved here part-time, and after he moved in with us fulltime. It was always agreed- I would keep the kids and he could visit them and have them visit all he wanted- if we ever divorced.
It won’t surprise you to learn that the first thing he did after filing for divorce was to file for SOLE custody of our children. It has cost me $40k in lawyers fees, yet 3 years later we still have no legal custody agreement. Every week is some kind of problem with him rearranging the schedule at the last minute or not bringing the boys over when agreed upon. It is dang lucky that I have found the best man in the world, who loves my kids and doesn’t get involved with the ex’s crap, although it pisses him off. It’s nice having a good, gentle, kind partner instead of the ex.
The ex? I don’t worry about him finding anyone new, because he’s a jerk. Maybe if they lived out of town and didn’t see each other much like it was for us for years.
My point is, if you and your husband have agreed that you will have custody of the kids in case of divorce, get it writing in front of an attorney now. If you never divorce, great! But if you do, never count on an ex doing ANYTHING they have previously promised. For some people getting divorced gives them the freedom to do whatever they want. I have kept my word, but not many divorced people do. Just saying.
c
Oh glory, trust me… I understand!
The only thing we disagree on here is that MY husband is the most awesome sweetest man in the world. He rather has to be, to deal with me. 0.0 As for getting papers signed to the effect that the kiddies would stay with me: unless I’m mistaken, those types of documents are not legally binding, so if he were to decide to take me to court, it would be the same old mess all over again. I think that he has plenty of experience in this however, since his mom and dad divorced and shared if not happily, at least somewhat equitably.
Could you imagine doing the custody thing with your kids, then adding another custody battle with a second man to the mix??! UCK!
Brrok was the last person that deserved to be shot,,,,,
The X wife is the first one that “deserves” a bullet
Then the boyfriend is the next logical recipient….
But the real tragedy is that Mr. Blackwell is still alive.
This should be one of those cases where the abulance should have been a few minutes late……. should have been doing more important things like stopping by someplace and picking up a few donuts and coffee.
Also it’s obvious that Blackwell wanted to die – why can’t we, as a society, allow some people to take their own lives?
Think of all the resources that were used to keep this obvious POS alive so that we can give him the death penalty???
In a time when Biden is hinting at there may become a need to ration health care, such POS are allowed to drain the system…..
“The X wife is the first one that “deserves” a bullet
Then the boyfriend is the next logical recipient….”
No offense or anything, but I’m not clear on what you mean by that. The ex wife had a right to go on with her life, as many people do when a marriage ends. Her boyfriend as well. The father of this poor girl seems devestated by this loss. I’m not sure where your logic is in stating that they deserved a similar fate. Ricky Lee Blackwell is a monster who couldn’t handle watching his “property” move on to another man. So he exacted the most evil, hurtful revenge he could possibly inflict on this couple, and now a little girl is dead. Maybe in time we will learn more, but for right now I don’t see where anyone in this scenario deserved a bullet. But I know one thing, if I had been a cop who witnessed what this sorry sack of shit did, the minute I saw he had a gun I would have capped him right in the head. Boom, done.
I don’t think he meant they actually deserved to be shot….I think he was saying in this dude’s twisted logic it would have made more sense for him to go after the ex-wife and/or the BF, why the BF’s kid?? That’s how I took it anyways :-)
yeah lol read my follow up comment. Sometimes it’s hard to get the inflection of what people mean in writing, I took it differently.
I get Fred’s point. The problem is that to this POS it WAS logical to kill the little girl.
Killing his ex would just make her dead. She couldn’t suffer. Killing the girl guarantees that she will suffer forever, that the girl’s father suffers forever, and that there will be little chance of them staying together unless they REALLY had a strong relationship. And the reason he was so sloppy about killing himself was so that he could stick around to witness their suffering, even if from jail.
Maybe he should have thought about HIS daughter. Nobody likes having a kid-killer for a father. He’s ruined her life as well. What a selfish fuck.
c
Or rather, were you saying that, it should have occured to Mr. Blackwell to kill his ex wife or her boyfriend, because that would have been the “normal” reaction to this type of situation?
If so, then I see what you meant.
This, in my opinion, was premeditated, because you’re right. The normal, knee-jerk reaction to that type of rage, would have been to go after your ex and her new man.
But to have your gun, run to the car, pull out rival’s daughter and shoot her? That’s no blind rage. It’s calculated. You know who the girl is, you know who her father is, you know that her death will fuck their relationship up royally (and likely end it).
I see you got my point in the second reply.
No one deserves to be shot, that’s why I put it in quotes….
Logically the offenders are the ones who should receive the brunt of the wrath, not someone who was barely a bystander….
The saddest part has not even been nor may ever be written. Veterans of our wars in the Mid East may be coming home to NOTHING, sleeping in the streets, begging for food, while this POS will be “rewarded” for what he did with a guaranteed 3 hots and a cot, possible TV, books etc……
That’s just Fred’s sense of humor – He’s the master of dry wit on this site. He’s actually one of my favorite people, and a one of the most decent guys we have around here. (If you can get past his politics, that is – LOL)
Blonde moment.
In total agreement with each and every word in your post.
and yes, he deserves hell!
This is just disgusting. What an absolute vile POS. What kind of psycho can just run up an execute a child??? I’m so sad for her parents……
IMHO if he really had wanted to die, he’d have shot himself in the head, not the side. I think he knew what he’d done was horrible and that he would be locked up (hopefully) for the rest of his life and the only thing he could think of that may save him from that was to appear insane or suicidal. He clearly didn’t want to die or he would have. People who really want to commit suicide finish the job. Most folks who superficially wound themselves in a suicide attempt are after attention or a cop out or, bless them, they are dumb as a box of rocks. It may be all three in this guy’s case.
Then I believe the ambulance should have gotten an oil change on the way over to the scene.
It also should have gotten a full tune up >:)
there is no justification for shooting a child, whether you have a grudge against their parent or not, or even the child. it seems premeditated because he had a gun, pulled her out of the car, and shot her several times. they need to brand “baby-killer” on his forehead and release him into general population, before the wound in his side is completely healed. wonder what excuse his lawyer will try to use, male PMS??????? this sorry excuse for an ex husband and father should be shot in several areas such as groin, kneecaps, elbows and through the collarbone, only then will any kind of justice be given, and hope he gets the death penalty, and hope lil brookes dad gets to see the injection or electrocution
what a piece of shit. his beef was with his wife, not some innocent little girl. what a coward too, to try and take his own life when it was all said and done. i wish we had a firing squad in this country..
rip little brook…
Max, did you get my email about the 8 year old girl from Canada?
Word is that the woman who helped the guy knew the mother of the child, and that the child was kidnapped for sexual purposes…
As to this POS here…W…T….F???? Why the hell shoot an 8 year old baby over some hatred harbored for the ex wife?
This world has gotten bad…really bad.
RIP little Brooke.
Yes I did – I haven’t had a chance to look into it. I’ve been busy with some personal stuff today. Really GOOD personal stuff, for a change. LOL
This guy is evil no doubt-your normal love triangle jealous X story seems to follow a pattern, crazy X shoots his/her ex lover then their new lover, but this is just pure evil to pick out the innocent child and chose to murder her. I wish the police would have deemed him a threat cause he still had a gun near him and gone ahead and taken him out. I am on an email list for a group that helps vets who are having a hard time with employment, medical issues, disability and this group asks for donations of time, money, gift cards to walmart etc and it just pisses me off that these guys who did nothing but fight to preserve freedom have to beg for help and this idiot will get medical care, a free lawyer, food till he dies, shelter, dental care, this is so wrong on so many levels. I hope there is a hell just because nothing I can think of is enough punishment for this puke
From seeing the pic of the little girl she certainly does look very special and beautifull. how absolutely tragic for her father…..
I can only see one resolution in this and that is for this Ricky Lee nutter to get the death penalty. He is a coward for shooting that dear innocent little girl and a coward for not shooting his head instead shooting his stomach… oh and a coward in that instance for shooting himself at all……to hell with you mister.
R.I.P little Brook..
Oh wow. I’m surprised to see this on here.
I work with a woman who is personally involved with this case. It was decided the day after the shooting that they will seek the death penalty. I truly believe this guy WILL fry. I just wonder how they’ll find a jury…I’ll bet there will be a change of venue when this finally goes to trial, as pretty much everyone around here is furious about this and many people just want to lynch that fucker. (Myself included.)
Let me know if there will be a lynching. I’ll bring the pasta salad.
I’d also like to attend if there is one.
ditto..I am really starting to become a believer in vigilante justice. hate to see dip shits like this guy with a private cell on death row for the next 20 years.
I’ve got a couple coolers for beer and pop..and I’ll make sure to bring a finale of fireworks.. :grins:
I will bring s’mores
I’ll tie the noose. I’ve always wanted to be an executioner. “Short walk, and a long drop!”
Bravo on the lynching, you can count me in too, ill bring the gas and its not for a grill.
Do the world a favor if your ever contemplating killing a child and then yourself, skip the child and off your self, because the problem is you.
This shit makes me cry.
Good suggestion………
Sometimes it’s the simple solutions that work the best.
Also if a POS tries to commit suicide and the POS does not have any value left to society, then let it die.
If the POS is like hiding a body, locked up someone who may still be alive, then keep the POS alive – barely.
Wow…I just got out the out the hospital and this makes me want to go back :[
out the*…that seizure still has my brain fried I see
WOW!!!! Can we all say, “COCK SUCKER”! I hope everyday for the rest of his pathic life he endure’s pain and agony. I hope he rots in hell for all eternity.
He should be sucking cocks – at the HIV ward!
“While it should have been a better shot and got him in the head”
-Butthole Surfers “Pepper”
Yeah…coward
I am opposed to the death penalty.
This scum sucking monster makes me wish I wasn’t.
Yeah? you dont believe in it? well read about baby “PETER” and tell me you still dont….
Brook’s pink casket was placed in a glass sided hearse which was carried to the cemetary by a motorcycle. The Patriot Guard accompanied the funeral procession as did somewhere from 300 to 500 other motor cyclists. Brook always enjoyed sitting behind her Daddy and riding with him.
It was her Daddy who drove that motorcycle which pulled the hearse. He said he needed to be the one who took her for her last ride.
It’s heart breaking
Oh my God. That brought tears to my eyes and a shiver down my spine. I have been fortunate in my life to know many good, hardworking, wonderful biker dudes. Not the scummy ones who don’t bathe and think that meth and beer make a fun Saturday night, but good earthy people.
The ones I know always band together for charity runs and to celebrate weddings and unfortunately to honor their dead. I can only believe that this little girl was well loved in her life, and hopefully didn’t suffer too much at the end.
I think the vast majority of bikers are among the coolest, nicest people you could meet. Unfortunately, it’s the bad apples who you more often hear about.
Oh for Christ sake….*sigh*
Wow. That put a knot in my heart and tears in my eyes. I could imagine my husband or any of his friends doing that for our little girl. And just the thought of that makes me borderline hysterical. What’s worse is that someone actually did have to go through it.
I’ve been reading about this case and I’ve discovered a lot of people (including Heather Bryant, Ricky Lee’s daughter) are putting some of the blame at Ricky Lee’s estranged wife for the death of Brooke. I suppose it was somewhat obnoxious, or at least inconsiderate of her to rub his nose in the fact that she had a boyfriend and was enjoying time with his daughter, if that had even entered her mind. However, even if it did, even if she brought Brooke to her daughter’s house for the express purpose of saying “Fuck you” to Ricky Lee, does that in any way make what he did any less horrible? Nope. Could she have possibly thought that he would have done anything remotely like what he did? I doubt it. Hey, maybe the woman is a total bitch. But she’s not the one who plugged an eight year of girl full of holes. And there’s no reasonable way she could have forseen him doing anything other than maybe confronting her. This was the act of a self-absorbed, self-pitying creep, whose life was falling apart and decided instead of trying to put it back together to tear everyone else’s life apart as well. There are some things which are totally inexcusable and uncondonable. Bringing your new boyfriend’s kid within a hundred feet of your estranged husband isn’t one of them. Blowing the kid away to get back at your estranged wife, however, most definitely is.
You know Justin, I wondered about that myself, but then I thought that the daughter must have given her permission to come over. I assumed the two women were still close in spite of the separation. Makes sense, doesn’t it? She’s got some nerve saying what she’s saying now if it’s true.
Hm, good points.
Unless he had specifically threatened the girl or said If I see you with her near me I will kill her I don’t think she could have foreseen he would the girl….I have had several friends go through bad divorces with violence, threats involved but all the threats were towards the woman or her new boyfriend, none were to the kids or family of the new boyfriend so I am not sure she could have foreseen this, maybe if he had been violent towards her and threatened to kill her it was not good judgment to go near him alone or with anyone else but still-the only one to blame is this evil jerk who killed an innocent little girl. I am disgusted that ANY family member could even think there could be any excuse for his actions. The story about her funeral made me cry. If this freak were related to me I would be advocating for the death penalty not coming up with any excuse
ANd what a doll the ex-wife must be, to attract two scary losers.
I’m not getting the impression that Brooke’s father was a loser.
Brookes father was NOT a loser. I new the family (not the girlfriend). Both were very involved and loving parents. They would play family baseball, go fishing, and always were involved in family oriented activities. I admit the situation is confusing – but that’s not what matters. That was his baby girl-now he will never hold her again.
Yeah, he didn’t strike me as being a “loser.” You can tell how much he loved his little girl and how involved he was. My heart honestly breaks for the guy.
Anyone who can talk about his daughter the way Bobby Center talked about Brooke can never be a loser in my book. This guy obviously loved his daughter with all his heart. It’s really tacky to talk badly of the man at a time like this.
This was the act of a self-absorbed, narcissistic jerk that was trying to hurt his ex-wife and her new lover in the worst way possible. This asshole had the mindset of killing this sweet little girl because this would insure that these two people had to live in their own pain & misery for the rest of their lives because of his actions. Blackwell figured that this would make them both as unhappy & miserable as he was. WHAT A VINDICTIVE FUCKING PRICK!! Too bad his gunshot wound didn’t end his life. This may sound awful to think this, but he deserves to be permanently paralyzed because of his gunshot wound. Then he could really see how miserable life could be living in prison and being disabled. That would show him that his life was not really as bad as he thought it was. This man was making his own life bad & miserable by his thoughts & attitude about the situation. He could have tried to move on with his life & tried to find a way to make himself happy, but he instead became a hateful & spiteful man.
The thing that bothers me the most about this is that it seems like he must have known his ex-wife was bringing Brookn over. It seems like he must have known this information because he had a gun in his hand and pulled little Brook out of the car before she even had a chance to get out on her own. There is no way that he could have seen them pull up, run inside to get a gun, & come back out before the little girl had the chance to get out of the car. The only way this would be possible was if they were taking some time in getting out of the car. But, that still really seems unlikely because I don’t know any little kids that don’t immediately want to go running out of the car when they know that they are going somewhere that other kids are going to be, somewhere that they can swim, and somewhere they can play.
It just seems like there was a lot of thought probably put into this by Blackwell because he knew that this would be the way that he could hurt his ex-wife and her lover the most. He knew that his ex-wife would eternally blame herself for this situation, that she would always wonder what she could have done differently, & that she would always wonder if her new lover would resent her because she was the catalyst that led to his baby girl’s death. Blackwell also knew that Brook’s father would always grieve for his little girl and the best way to destroy someone’s soul is to take the thing that is the most precious in their life away from them. Blackwell knew that killing Brook’s father would be a short & quick death, but killing Brook would slowly kill Brook’s father daily. Blackwell will be able to sit in prison & know that Brook’s father lives in pain & grief daily, and that this would kill him and his soul on a daily basis. How fucking twisted is that?? I hate it when people take their problems and involve innocent children in the situation.
Reading the comments about her funeral (her little pink casket…her father pulling the hearse that carried her casket) made me cry so hard. I can’t even begin to comprehend the pain that her family & loved ones must be feeling at losing such a beautiful & sweet little angel. My condolences go out to the family & I am so sorry for your loss. May little Brook rest in peace!!!
To SC Mother…. I cant even imagine what family and friends are going thru. Brooke was absolutely beautiful and it just breaks my heart for the family. I just came across this story and would just love to know that the d.a. is seeking death penalty. Ricky Blackwell is a pos coward to do this to a child!!!!! Has there been a court date yet or any info about a trial? I dont want to come off as being nosy…. Ricky Blackwell is such a monster!!!! I would love to hear that he didnt even make it t trail cuz the good ole boys in the jail house put him out of his misery!!!
I WANT TO FUCKING SHOOT HIIIMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GIVE ME A GUN!!!!! >8O