Pastor's son charged after four kept in basement; wife’s death triggers investigation in Lancaster, S.C.
Donnie Ray Birchfield Jr., 35, faces 16 charges, including false imprisonment and exploitation of a vulnerable adult, after authorities say four captives were confined in his basement for years.
A pastor's son in Lancaster, South Carolina, kept four people—including a married couple—confined in his basement for years, authorities said, with the case coming to light after the wife died. Donnie Ray Birchfield, Jr., 35, faces 16 charges in total, including false imprisonment and exploitation of a vulnerable adult, according to the South Carolina Attorney General's Office. Police allege Birchfield exercised physical abuse, controlled when the victims could use the bathroom, restricted their access to cellphones and stole money from them, according to warrants.
The investigation began July 25 when a woman died at Birchfield's Churchill Drive home in Lancaster, about 50 miles from the Charlotte metropolitan area. The 3,751-square-foot residence, built in 1996, was last sold for $200,000 in 2022. Police were called to respond to an unattended death and, court documents indicate, found evidence that the woman had been physically abused. She was reportedly denied food and medical care. Police warrants state that the woman died one day before investigators learned of the abuse.
![Churchill Drive home](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/09/21/20/102327791-0-image-m-17_1758482496858.jpg