Authorities in South Carolina have placed a man behind bars and charged him with murder after the body of his girlfriend, who was badly beat, was discovered next to their infant son’s body.
Tyler Wilkins, 21, is being held without bail after being charged with one count each of kidnapping, murder and child neglect, in connection with the deaths of his girlfriend Clarrissa Winchester and their infant, according to court records. According to her family, Tyler Wilkins’s former girlfriend, Jorden Nibling, was reported missing in 2020. She has not been heard from or seen since.
According to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office investigators are trying to determine whether the two cases are connected. In Nebling’s disappearance, no person of interest was named.
Greenville Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Wilkins last Wednesday. Michael Winchester, Clarrissa’s dad, called authorities to report that he was looking for his daughter, and found Wilkins at the residence of a relative. Wilkins said that he came to the door and shut it in the face of the dad, according to WGHP TV.
“I could tell right away that something was wrong. He went back inside his home. Shut his door and we immediately called the police, and they came right out, and everything started unfolding,”The father said. “Little did we know she was in the home. He beat her to death without mercy.”
An autopsy determined Clarrissa died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to authorities. The circumstances of the newborn’s death were not released. Additional charges will likely be filed after the infant’s autopsy is completed, the sheriff’s office said.
Wilkins was out on $4,000 bail from a previous incident in which he allegedly shot at Clarrissa and Michael Winchester, narrowly missing them, authorities said. Wilkins was charged with several counts, including attempted murder, domestic violence, assault and threatening and spitting on a law enforcement officer, according to authorities and court records.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
There is no attorney of record listed for Wilkins in online court records for his most recent arrest. A request for comment from Digital to Wilkins’ attorney in the attempted murder case was not answered.
In 2020, when Jorden Nebling disappeared, the last person to see her alive was Wilkins, according to the woman’s stepmother, Mary Tucker.
Nebling had borrowed a friend’s car and when it broke down, she called Wilkins to come and get her, Tucker told Digital this week.
When she had been missing for several days, Tucker said she contacted Wilkins. “He said that he had picked her up and that they returned to his house. They got into an argument, and she ran away from his house.” Tucker said.
Tucker has been closely monitoring Nebling’s case over the past two years and is in constant touch with investigators, she said. When she heard news reports of a woman’s body being found last week, she immediately thought it was her stepdaughter’s, she said.
Tucker had temporary custody of Nebling when she was a child, the woman said. Nebling eventually went into foster care and was adopted at age 12, Tucker said. “Her life was very difficult.” Tucker said.
After leaving her adoptive parents at age 17, Nebling started living with Wilkins, Tucker said, and described their relationship as “Volatility and violence”
The young woman would leave, “She always returned, however.” Tucker said. She had been living with her biological mother when she disappeared, Tucker said. “She just got a job.”
She described her stepdaughter as a smart and strong-willed person who was charming. “She was the kind person everyone loved.” Tucker said.
“This is my 11-year-old son.” Tucker said. “Although she may not be from a traditional family, she does have a loving family who misses her.