He Killed 3 People — Then Taunted Investigators with Messages Written in Victims’ Blood

A South Carolina death row inmate who killed three people two decades ago is scheduled to be executed next month.

The death warrant for Stephen Corey Bryant, 44, was issued by the Supreme Court of South Carolina on Oct. 17, according to an execution notice obtained by PEOPLE. This comes as the Court turned down a request by Bryant’s attorneys, who had recently asked for a postponement because of the U.S. government shutdown.

Bryant, who’s scheduled to be put to death on Nov. 14, will be the fifth person to be executed in South Carolina this year, per the South Carolina Daily Gazette. He has his choice of either lethal injection, firing squad or electrocution, according to the outlet.

Bryant was convicted of fatally shooting three people during a week-long burglary and killing spree in the fall of 2004 in rural Sumter County. He was 23 at the time, according to the Daily Gazette, which reported Bryant first killed his 36-year-old coworker, Clifton Gainey, on Oct. 9 of that year and then burglarized his home.

Two days later, he killed 62-year-old Willard Tietjen in his home, per the outlet. Tietjen was fatally shot and his face and eyes were also burned with cigarettes, according to WISTV.

Bryant left notes written in blood on the wall of Tietjen’s home, one of which read: “victim number four in two weeks, catch me if you can,” per the Post and Courier. He also taunted the victim’s wife and daughter when he answered Tietjen’s phone, saying the man was “dead.”

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Two days later, he killed 35-year-old Chris Burgess after meeting him at a convenience store, the Daily Gazette reported.

Bryant pleaded guilty to the crimes in 2008.

His lawyers argued that he had asked for mental health counseling prior to the murders because he kept reliving sexual abuse he claimed occurred while he was a child, the Post and Courier reported, citing court records. Bryant was first institutionalized at 11 years old, and he regularly abused methamphetamine, Benadryl and marijuana sprayed with RAID insecticide, per the outlet.

In a 2011 denial of an appeal sought by the defense, the South Carolina Supreme Court noted that Bryant was “unquestionably a deeply troubled individual.”