A deeply troubled inmate from South Carolina, marked by a traumatic upbringing, has penned letters from death row that chillingly threaten his loved ones at times and, at others, reveal a fragile man who views himself as “fragile as a child.”

This inmate, Freddie Eugene Owens, is scheduled to face execution via lethal injection on Friday. If carried out, this will be South Carolina’s first execution in over a decade and the 14th in the U.S. this year. He is among five individuals set to be executed across the country within a six-day span from September 20 to 26.

At 46, Owens received the death penalty after being found guilty of murdering 41-year-old Irene Graves during a convenience store robbery on Halloween in 1997. He was just 19 and continues to assert his innocence while contesting the death penalty.

“I’m branded as a ‘thug’, ‘killer’, ‘robber’ – someone without compassion for the vulnerable, but that’s not true. I’m as delicate as a child,” Owens expressed in a letter to a woman he loved back in 1998. “People forget that we ‘brothers’ who are incarcerated are still human, with souls and feelings, despite our mistakes and the crimes we’re accused of.”

With the impending execution, YSL News is delving into Owens’ past, his crime, and the ongoing battle against his death sentence.

A Fateful Night in October

On that tragic Halloween night in 1997, Owens and an accomplice, Stephen Andra Golden, conducted a robbery at a Greenville convenience store, as indicated in legal documents.

During this robbery, Irene Graves was fatally shot in the head after telling the men she couldn’t open the store’s safe. Graves, a single parent of three, worked multiple jobs to support her family.

Surveillance footage didn’t definitively show who fired the fatal shot. Owens maintains he was at home asleep during the robbery.

Prosecutors presented the store’s surveillance video, and Golden claimed Owens was the shooter. Golden struck a deal with prosecutors to testify against Owens and thus avoided the death penalty; his murder charge was subsequently downgraded to voluntary manslaughter, resulting in a 28-year prison sentence.

Owens, however, claimed that his wrongful conviction led him to kill his cellmate while awaiting formal sentencing, stating to officials: “I truly did it because I was wrongfully convicted of murder.”

Understanding Freddie Eugene Owens

Owens’ upbringing was riddled with neglect, abuse, and severe emotional challenges.

His older sister, Marie, highlighted in court documents from 2016 that their father was extremely abusive—physically, verbally, and emotionally—to her, Owens, and their mother.

“He would do anything to inflict pain on my mother,” Marie Owens recalled. “He hit us all the time with anything he could find—sticks, bats, beer cans, electrical cords, belts  anything until we bled.”

Marie added that the children were eventually placed in a group home after police intervention due to severe neglect and abuse, particularly after she was beaten so badly with an extension cord that her injuries warranted professional attention.

“They had been neglected, living in a home without food or electricity when they were removed from their parents when Owens was just five years old,” explained Stacey Wood from Scripps College’s psychology department.

Owens’ mother, Dora Diane Mason, recounted instances of her husband’s abuse towards Owens during his infancy.

“I recall when Freddie was around 1 year old—he was still very small—and his father got angry with him and violently assaulted him. After he was done, I couldn’t calm Freddie down no matter what I did,” Mason remembered.

To this day, Owens has adopted a new name—Khalil-Divine Black Sun-Allah—after converting to Islam while in prison.

Freddie Owens’ Letters: ‘Betrayers Will Be Slayed’

In letters obtained by YSL News, Owens expressed deep sorrow about his life and upbringing.

“I wasn’t born or raised this way, and while I can’t solely blame society, living in this world for 19 years has been my biggest regret,” Owens wrote. “I wish I had known before I arrived that this world”

His letters reveal a darker side, one that poses a threat to those he claims to care for. He communicates with a woman named Aisha, expressing his affection but also issuing threats upon discovering she is expecting a child with another man.

“I mentioned I would kill the baby, you, and that (expletive). You know the things I’ve done, and what I am capable of, so why do you wish to play these (expletive) games with me?” Owens wrote in 1998. “Don’t let it be true or if you try to leave me, those who betray will be slain, and then I might find a reason to end up in jail. I don’t require this, but I could use a few bodies added to my count.”

His mood shifts drastically within the same letter. He concludes with: “Love you always. The only thing that can separate us is death.”

An excessive punishment

Owens’ legal team argues that his troubled upbringing is a significant factor in why he should not receive the death penalty. They also mention his age at the time of the crime — just 19 — along with claims of organic brain damage, asserting that these circumstances make the death penalty an unfair punishment.

In reaction to the defense’s position in a recent court filing, the state dismissed Owens and his attorneys’ efforts to halt his execution as unfounded.

“A delay at this stage would only prolong the execution process that has been deemed appropriate for this petitioner — death,” the filing stated.

The following day marked the cutoff for Owens to select his method of execution: electric chair, firing squad, or lethal injection.

Due to his religious beliefs prohibiting him from making a choice regarding how he would die, his lawyer, Emily Paavola, opted for lethal injection on his behalf.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for YSL News. You can  follow him on X @fern_cerv_.