Housekeeper For Murdered Couple Arrested On Financial Fraud Charges

The housekeeper for the elderly couple that was brutally stabbed to death last week in their Eastside home was arrested the day of the murders for allegedly defrauding one of the victims, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office has confirmed. 

Jonathan Smith, public information officer for the GCSO, said Shirley Ann Rogers, 51, was arrested on Oct. 3 on charges of financial transaction card theft and financial transaction card fraud for allegedly taking Helen Wells' bank card and using it without her permission. 

Smith said Rogers, the housekeeper for the family, told investigators that she arrived at the 10 Terramont Drive home of Gary Wells, 78, and Helen Wells, 77, on the morning of Oct. 3 for work. When she couldn't get anyone to come to the door, she peered through a window to see them laying dead inside. 

Smith said Rogers, who has since been released from jail on bond, had not been named a suspect. 

"We've not identified any suspects or persons of interest in this case," Smith. "Investigators are talking to anyone and everyone."

Because the Wellses were victims of a financial crime as well as the crime that took their lives, the GCSO's white collar crimes investigator is working with the agency's violent crime unit, though a definitive link between the fraud and the murders has not been suggested. 

Helen Wells filed a report with the Sheriff's Office on Sept. 26 because her bank account had been compromised and someone had made fraudulent charges against her bank account. 

More on this story:

• Family of Slain Eastside Couple Grieves a Second Time
• Police: Eastside Murder Victims Not Picked At Random
• Coroner: Elderly Couple Was Stabbed To Death
• Funeral Services Set for Eastside Couple Found Dead