Newly obtained incident reports reveal a chilling pattern of brutality.
As investigators continue piecing together the gruesome puzzle surrounding a South Carolina "care facility" transformed into a hunting ground for an alleged cannibalistic killer, chilling new revelations have come to light. The horrifying details of the suspect's prior crimes paint a portrait of a predator whose violent compulsions may have gone unchecked for years. With each new discovery, the true extent of his alleged brutality emerges -- a nightmarish history that raises questions about missed warnings, failed systems and the sinister intentions investigators say drove him to prey upon the most vulnerable.
While the arrest of 27-year-old Marc-Anthony Cantrell on August 4, 2023 was shocking, details contained in a civil lawsuit filed by attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Joe McCulloch have sparked outrage through South Carolina and beyond.
Filed on behalf of Peggy Ondrea, the lawsuit names New Hope Home Solutions, LLC, its owner Brittany Reynolds-Jackson, as well as the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) as defendants. The complaint accuses them of gross negligence, recklessness and wrongful death in connection with the murder of her grandson, 22-year-old Jared Ondrea.
Initially filed last year, the complaint (.pdf) claimed Jared Ondrea was placed in a Columbia, S.C. "residential care home" that was nothing more than a house of horrors. At the facility - New Hope's Harper Street home - Ondrea was allegedly strangled by Cantrell before being stuffed into a storage bin and discarded like trash.
His body was never recovered.
SCDMH - which was responsible for Jared's mental health care - recommended he be moved into the facility without warning him or his family that he would be living under the same roof as a convicted criminal with a history of violence and sadism, according to the filing.
Jared was last seen alive when his family dropped him off at the Harper Street facility on March 20, 2023. Just days later - when his family arrived to pick him up for an appointment - they discovered he was missing. According to the complaint, no one at the facility even noticed his absence. It wasn't until three days later - March 23, 2023 - when staffers finally admitted Jared had been gone for days.
Instead of alerting law enforcement, the suit claimed they dismissed his disappearance.
What they didn't know was Jared had already been savagely murdered. According to Cantrell's confession, he strangled Jared with a rope, placed a plastic bag over his head, and stuffed his body into a Rubbermaid storage bin. He then carried the bin outside and placed Jared's corpse into a trash can, which was eventually collected by city garbage services. Jared's remains were likely discarded in a landfill, never to be seen again.
Months after Jared's disappearance, another resident of the Harper Street facility, Deshea Butler, also mysteriously vanished. When police investigated, they found his decomposing body in a nearby wooded area. Surveillance footage obtained by investigators showed Cantrell dragging Butler's body into the woods.
Cantrell confessed to both murders in chilling detail. His confession took a bizarrely dark turn when he claimed that after strangling both men, he cut off their ears and ate them because he believed it would give him their power. He also admitted to drinking Butler's blood over several days from a coffee cup. The autopsy confirmed Butler's left ear had been severed and that he had been strangled with a black, belt-like ligature.
While the initial reports of Cantrell's past crimes were deeply troubling, incident reports (.pdf) obtained this week by FITSNews revealed an even more shocking and sadistic narrative.
According to documents (.pdf) obtained this week from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office (ACSO), Cantrell left a trail of bloodshed long before he found his way into the New Hope facility.
The earliest documented encounter with Cantrell occurred in 2017 when law enforcement stopped him for failing to maintain his lane while driving a 1999 Buick. Although this incident may have seemed routine at first, a search of Cantrell's vehicle revealed a small amount of green, leafy material believed to be marijuana. Due to his "honesty and cooperation with the search", Cantrell was issued a warning for his driving infraction and a courtesy summons. Law enforcement at the time did not realize this minor incident would later serve as an ominous prelude to far more heinous acts.
Cantrell's interactions with law enforcement grew increasingly concerning culminating with his 2018 arrest for the arson of his family home in Jackson, S.C. - a crime he said he committed to cover up the brutal murder of his family's dogs.
Details contained in a May 11, 2018 incident report were downright terrifying. ACSO deputies were called to Cantrell's home to assist the Jackson Fire Department and Police Department with a structure fire located at 205 Third Street. According to the report, "shortly after the fire was extinguished, fire department personnel found three dogs inside the residence with visible injury not caused by the fire."
While at the scene, the investigating officer was informed Cantrell's grandmother had called Aiken County dispatch and advised them her grandson had confessed to setting the fire. Officers responded to Cantrell's grandmother's home where the young man confessed to killing the dogs. According to the incident report, Cantrell claimed he blacked out from "injecting amphetamine" and when he came to he had "an axe in his hand and saw that he had killed the dogs."
Cantrell said he burned the house to conceal the crime because "he had killed his family's dogs in the past."
According to the police report, two of the dogs were found with lacerations on their necks while the third had an arrow in the back of its head.
On May 18, 2018, Cantrell was charged with one count of second degree arson and three counts of animal cruelty. He pleaded guilty on August 30, 2018 and was sentenced to ten years with 311 days suspended in prison by S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman. According to the lawsuit, Cantrell was released by the S.C. Department of Corrections (SCDC) after serving three years.
He was on probation until less than a year prior to the murders of Ondrea and Butler.
The disturbing details surrounding Cantrell's past - and his ability to continue his violent spree at the New Hope facility - have left investigators and the victims' families searching for answers. As noted in the lawsuit, Cantrell's placement at the home was a catastrophic failure.
"The fact that this man was allowed anywhere near vulnerable patients is beyond comprehension," McCulloch said. "This was not just negligence -- it was a death sentence."
Cantrell's admission of the brutal murders of Jared Ondrea and Deshea Butler, including his grotesque claims of cannibalism and blood-drinking, have only intensified the outrage surrounding this case.
"He confessed to eating their ears and drinking their blood because he believed it would give him their power," the lawsuit states. "The sheer brutality of these acts cannot be overstated."
As previously reported, SCDMH is led by a seven-member commission appointed by governor Henry McMaster. As of this writing, three of those seven commission seats are vacant - part of a troubling dearth of appointment authority exercised by McMaster's office. The agency has also been led by a temporary "acting" director for nearly three years.
Jenn Wood is FITSNews' incomparable research director. She's also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she's married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at [email protected].