On the morning of August 1, 2024, 46-year-old Stephanie Fries was found dead inside a Shell Point home on Shell Point Road. Deputies responded just before 6 a.m. after a report of a gunshot wound from a domestic incident; the county coroner estimated Fries’s time of death at about 5:15 a.m., roughly 45 minutes before the call.

Also at the scene was Fries’s partner of ten years, 37-year-old Brenden Elsila of Shell Point. Deputies detained Elsila after finding his account inconsistent with evidence at the scene. He was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center. Prosecutors say Fries suffered at least five gunshot wounds to her face and head in an incredibly violent shooting at very close range. The defense claims self-defense, alleging Fries brandished a knife; prosecutors note Elsila did not immediately call 911 and instead went to his parents’ nearby house and told his father he had killed Fries in self-defense.

Family members, including Fries’s children and brother, described prior domestic violence and urged the court to deny bond; a circuit court judge did so. If anyone knew Stephanie, her routines, or has information about what happened that morning, please come forward with what was seen or heard.