Blake Linkous is a teen killer from Ohio who while on a graduation trip to South Carolina would murder Natalie Martin
According to court documents Blake Linkous and Natalie Martin were on a graduation trip to South Carolina and staying at a friend’s home when he would strangle Natalie causing her death
Blake Linkous would stay in the room for hours with the dead body of Natalie Martin before stabbing himself in the chest and announcing to the rest of the house that Natalie was dead
Blake Linkous would be arrested, pled guilty and was sentenced to forty five years in prison
Blake Linkous Case
An Ohio man was sentenced to spend decades behind bars after admitting to strangling his ex-girlfriend to death in the Myrtle Beach area.
Blake Linkous, 20, of Blue Rock, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of murder on Monday in the death of 18-year-old Natalie Martin.
He was then sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Blake Linkous strangled Martin in June 2023 at a hotel room on Maison Drive. The two were in Myrtle Beach celebrating a graduation trip.
Martin’s father, Jesse Martin, addressed the court, explaining that their family is disgusted that Linkous was granted bond back in 2023.
“You know, if you wanna do what’s right, it’s 635 days of my daughter’s murderer out running around in Ohio,” he said. “I don’t know what the people of Horry County think, but that doesn’t- that doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter, your Honor.”
Linkous was accompanied by his mom, dad, and sister, who were visibly emotional when he was taken into police custody.
Martin said the number of years doesn’t mean anything to him, telling the judge to set the precedent for domestic violence cases like his daughter’s.
“I think what’s happened happened. There’s nothing you could say here today or do that’s going to make me feel better. If you all would let me smell his hair burn, that’s what I want, that’s what would make me happy,” Martin stated. “But we’re not here about making me happy. I want you, you owe the people of South Carolina, you owe the citizens, and taxpayers of Horry County, you owe them the knowledge that the judicial system has their back. Right now, from where I’m standing, it doesn’t feel like that. You need to be setting an example,” Martin told the judge.
The prosecution said on Monday that Martin broke up with Linkous two weeks before a graduation celebration with friends in the Grand Strand they were both going to.
Martin’s best friend of 12 years, Brooklyn Ferrell, stated she was supposed to go on the trip with them but couldn’t. Ferrell told the court that remembering who Martin was as a person has helped her wake up every day and make something of herself
“Around three and a half minutes is how long it took the defendant to manually strangle my best friend,” Ferrell said. Three and a half minutes he had to change his mind, just for a second, to allow my best friend to live.”
Prosecutors said that Linkous got angry at Martin for texting another boy who lived in Myrtle Beach.
Martin and Linkous were with a group of students who went to an event at the House of Blues on June 6, 2023. Then, Martin, Linkous, and one other person returned to their condo.
As the group started coming back to the condo, Linkous told the group that he didn’t want to live without Martin and had tried to take his own life.
The group of students found Martin dead on the floor of a bedroom, according to the prosecution, and called 911.
Linkous addressed the court saying he is taking responsibility for what he did.
“She was the love of my life,” he said. “I swore to protect her, and I failed.”
Linkous will serve the entirety of his sentence in South Carolina. A judge said he had 10 days to appeal this decision in writing
