Daniel Printz Sentenced To Life In Prison For Kidnapping And Death Of Travelers Rest Woman
Daniel Glenn Printz, 59 of Bostic, North Carolina pleaded guilty to Kidnapping Leading To Death in the disappearance and murder of Edna Nations Suttles, 80 of Highway 25, Travelers Rest yesterday (June 21). The plea came in U.S Federal Court in Spartanburg. Multiple investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies held a press conference Wednesday morning in Spartanburg where they discussed and revealed details of Printz's arrest and his sentencing. As part of a plea agreement, Printz admitted to killing three other elderly women: Nancy Rego, her mother Dolores Sellers and Leigh Goodman, all from North Carolina. During his sentencing Printz briefly addressed the judge and the family members of his victims, saying he was sorry and asked for forgiveness although admitting his apology cannot undo what he had done. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said, "He is a serial killer, and there is no doubt about that. He is a sick minded, dangerous individual who preyed on elderly women. We are glad to have him off the street and in prison."
Lewis said the Greenville County Sheriff's Office learned of Suttles' disappearance when they received a request for a welfare check from an elderly person that Suttles was working for as a private sitter for the elderly on August 24th of 2021. The elderly person made the request after Suttles failed to show up for a home visit. Lewis said the investigation started at that time and when law enforcement (Travelers Rest police) found Suttles' Jeep parked in the Best Western Hotel parking lot in early September, it presented a huge break in the case. "If that vehicle had not been found where it was found, we would not be standing here today holding this press conference. The investigation had a number of puzzle pieces and if any one of those pieces had not developed, we would never have reached this point."
Finding Suttles' Jeep led investigators to area security videos from the Travelers Rest Best Western and the neighboring Food Lion grocery. Those videos showed Printz purchasing yogurt and his use of a store VIP customer card led to his identity. The videos also showed Printz getting Suttles' attention in the store parking lot where he entered her vehicle and afterwards, leaving the area with Suttles in her vehicle. Hours later, viedos showed him driving the Sutles Jeep with a motionless Edna Suttles as passenger, removing Suttles and placing her in his wife's Chevy Cruz, moving the Jeep to the Best Western and driving away with the motionless Suttles in the Chevy.
After obtaining Printz's identity Greenville County notified the FBI, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office and Printz was taken into custody at his Bostic, NC home. Rutherford County Sheriff Jimmy Upton said, "This was a very complex investigation. We helped with the search warrant and when we did the initial search we discovered items belonging to Nance Rego and discovered she had been missing for several years, the investigation started to roll like a snowball rolling downhill."
Another search warrant was obtained after Printz's wife was moving from the Bostic NC residence and discovered items hidden in a bee keeping box on a remote section of the property. Those items included Suttles' driver's license, as well as a firearm belonging to Suttles and a discarded vogurt container containing traces of tramadol, lorazepam and cyclobenzaprine. Also found in the box were rubber gloves, zip ties and rope. Investigators said Printz, drugged Suttles, kidnapped her, zip tied her, took her to his home where he suffocated her with a plastic bag and buried her body on a friend's property eight miles from home.
As part of the plea deal Printz admitted to killing Suttles, and the thee NC women. Printz had been arrested and convicted in Michigan for kidnapping a woman and is a person of interest in other disappearances of elderly women.
When investigators interviewed Printz in 2021 "he had no idea what evidence we had against him," said Sheriff Lewis "until we told him and then he wanted to talk with us in the presence of a federal attorney." Printz eventually told investigators he did not kill Suttles but he could tell them within three feet of where she is located. He also mentioned others but did not give names.
In May of this year Printz took investigators to a wooded area off of Harris Holly Springs Road in Rutherfordton NC where he had buried Suttles' body.
Edna Nations Suttles was born in northern Georgia and was the first woman in Greenville County to own a bail bonding company. In 1979 she was the subject of a Jim McAllister column. "I just got tired of book keeping," she told McAllister. "I've always wanted something a litter more adventurous and I think I've found it in the bail bonding business. I have bailed people out before so, I figured why not make money at it and I think I am the first woman to own a bail bonding company in Greenville County. I guess I just like to help people. And I like talking with people and a lot of people would not have the problems they have if hey had someone to talk with about their problems." In the mid 1980s Suttles owned Happy Family Cafe on Tigerville Road in Travelers Rest.
During Wednesday's press conference Suttles was described as a strong backboned woman who was the first woman to own and operate a bail bond company. She was also a mother and grandmother and spent her last years working as a private sitter for the elderly.
Sheriff Lewis said Printz, during the investigation, claimed he had known Suttles for about four years and would visit her from time to time. Printz also claimed he was somewhat of a traveling handy man. He would meet elderly women and kill them and live off of their social security money. Sheriff Upton added, "Nancy Rego signed him as he power of attorney on her bank account in September of 2017 and he killed her a short time later. She was shot."
Rego was born in 1951 and she loved the beach, so much that she once loaded beach sand inside her car and piled it in her back yard. Sellers was born in 1929 in Loris SC and spent most of her life in the Charlotte and Monroe areas of North Carolina. Investigators learned Printz killed her in her home with lethal doses of prescription medications. She lived near her daughter Nancy Rego. Printz shot Rego to death in 2018. Leigh Goodman was 61 years old and she an occupational therapist who never had it easy as a single mother that put herself through college. Goodman died within days of first meeting Printz.
There may be other unknown victims of Printz. According to 2021 documents Printz told investigators he could relay details of five different individuals. Sheriff Lewis said, "We are still interviewing him and trying to determine other information to sort rumors from fact."
Federal officials said the death penalty was not sought because of Printz's cooperation with the investigation.
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