Teen Killer Thinks He’s Going Home - Doesn’t Know He’s Been Arrested for Murder

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Is she breathing? Is your friend breathing?

[00:00:02]>> I do not think so. I really cannot tell.

[00:00:04]She is ice cold.

[00:00:06]>> This is a call from a group of teenagers on a high school graduation trip. Just minutes ago, they awoke to find their 18-year-old friend unresponsive on the floor. As paramedics rushed to the scene, no one in that room fully understands what happened the night before. But what investigators are about to uncover tells a very different story.

[00:00:27]Because just hours earlier, a jealous argument over a message on her phone had turned violent, ending in one of the most disturbing teen murder cases South Carolina has ever seen.

[00:00:39]>> Do you say my leg will be really?

[00:00:44]>> What you did caused the death of somebody.

[00:00:49]>> God, I want to see you one more time.

[00:01:03]Paramedics and police would come into a situation with multiple teenagers in distress. A young woman lying dead on the floor of the master bedroom and a young shirtless man crying and muttering that it was all his fault. All his fault. The young woman, it became evident, had died the night before and rigor mortise had set in. The CPR that had been performed heroically on her was in vain. The young man, claiming responsibility, was bleeding slightly from two small puncture wounds just below his sternum. He showed scratches, also apparently from some kind of knife with one on his wrist and one at his throat. 18-year-old Blake Linkis would be arrested, placed in handcuffs, and taken to the nearby Grand Strand Hospital for treatment of his wounds, observation, and questioning by police.

[00:01:51]18-year-old Natalie Martin, who worked in a daycare and was beloved by so many, would never see home again. The lives of the other six young people on that trip also would never be the same.

[00:02:03]Considering everything that had happened and what Blake was looking at down the road, it would seem that he was resigned to his fate or possibly just bored with it all. It is now the afternoon of June the 8th, and it's time for Blake to sit down and explain what happened that evening. They let him sit in the room by himself for a few minutes to settle in and hopefully the weight of the situation will dawn on him. He is obviously uncomfortable, but doesn't seem to fully understand what he has waiting for him.

[00:02:32]Eventually, detectives Jones and Skellar from the Horry County Sheriff's Department enter and begin the interview after explaining his Miranda rights.

[00:02:40]Blake waves those rights and lets them know that he is fully willing to talk to them. Oh, you guys were planning on going to the House of Blues, right?

[00:02:50]Okay. Just start start from there and walk me back through everything again.

[00:02:57]Um, all my Ubers go there and then I was talking to other friends that I knew there and everyone else was in the back towards the back of the line and they were saying the code was getting kicked out. So, I walked over there and was wondering what was going on.

[00:03:14]and you know he was going to get an Uber back and I didn't feel good so she was going to go back and I wanted to get Dakota to come back and that Lisa went with him and um got back more me and N you know got himself together took a little bit of a nap just kept hanging out with them then later on the whole situation happened which I didn't mean to it just happened and I would never anyway I was a dream I didn't even know it was true I think so you Dakota Natalie what it was that went back to the rental unit at >> all right >> um do you remember about what time that was idea maybe >> just one thing I remember >> like it was it Dark.

[00:04:14]It's >> dark, huh?

[00:04:15]>> Is it dark?

[00:04:21]>> Every year, tens of thousands of recent graduates and young people make their way to the white sands and activities of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For many kids on the East Coast, it is a right of passage. In the first week of June, a group of eight young people from Ohio made such a trip. The group had made a 9-hour trip in two cars and planned to do as many groups do, all piling into one vacation rental condo on Mason Drive. As with so many of these beach trips, there was a lot of alcohol involved once the young people arrived.

[00:04:51]It's not known whether they brought it with them or obtained it once they arrived, but they had cases of beer and alcoholic beverages on hand, even though none of them were over the age of 20.

[00:05:01]The legal age for purchasing and consumption of alcohol in South Carolina is 21. And yet there they were. After incident statements taken by police investigators would show that alcohol was not an uncommon thing for this group back home either, with tales of parties held at their homes, sometimes with the knowledge of at least some of their parents. It was also known that one of the young people had a reputation for being a bad drunk, one who would turn argumentative and even violent if he had been drinking. Blake Linkis. By the second night, Natalie and Blake, who had been off and on as a couple for 3 years, had a falling out. She had decided to spend the night sleeping in her car rather than in the room the two shared.

[00:05:44]Over the last few years, the two spent most of their time getting along famously, but they had a few arguments and a couple of breakups along the way.

[00:05:52]Blake was on the possessive side, and when he drank, he was more than willing to fight for or with Natalie. Still, they had been prom dates and had made this trip together. After Natalie spent the night in her car and Blake spent the night alone in a large bed, the two seemed to work it out. Sun, sand, and suds seemed to patch things up, and it would look that way until June the 6th, the fifth day of their trip. That evening, the group would head out to the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach for a night of music. One of the group would be stopped by the bouncers at the front door. or the young man was carrying an open container of alcohol. Since he was underage, they wouldn't let him in, even after he got rid of the drink. Blake and Natalie would tell their friends they would accompany him back to the condo and just made an early night of it. And that they did. Once back at their place, Natalie and Blake retreated to their room while their friends settled in for a night of TV. It shouldn't have been much of anything for the night. Blake had pregamed for the night or had alcohol before leaving to go to the club. And he was still intoxicated when he and Natalie laid on the bed and began scrolling on their phones. At some point, Blake looked over and noticed a Snapchat message on Natalie's phone, one sent by some guy she had met earlier in their visit. what the message hinted at.

[00:07:10]And apparently Natalie's response sent Blake into a rage that would culminate the next morning in a call to 911 and an attempt by Blake to harelf in the room's shower using a steak knife from the kitchen.

[00:07:25]>> You said the whole thing happened. All right, tell me what that whole thing was.

[00:07:30]Um, I'm pretty sure we were watching Tik Tok or something and I got mad over something on her phone.

[00:07:40]It's hard for me to exactly remember what it was and I thought I choked her for a little bit and she fell off the bed and I thought she said something to me like I didn't think she was just dead. So, I just decided to go to bed. Dakota and seemed like he didn't want to even go to the club.

[00:08:02]Yeah, I should have checked on back. And you said you got an argument over something over the phone to phone.

[00:08:09]>> Yeah.

[00:08:10]>> But what was that?

[00:08:13]>> I'm sure it was like other dudes or something. I don't know.

[00:08:19]>> It's obvious that Blake is downplaying the entire event, something he would continue to do time and time again. The detectives know this wasn't a casual accident.

[00:08:29]>> Now, what led up to you choking her? I mean, tell me excruciating detail about that.

[00:08:36]like we were beside each other and uh I mean she was on her back and I was on my side like towards her and I mean I'm pretty sure like I was just like saying stuff to her and I just reached and she was saying stuff back and she I just reached over and I she was at the edge of the bed so I just choked her for a little bit not meaning to just try to kill her.

[00:09:06]whatsoever.

[00:09:07]>> And how were y'all on the bed? Were y'all with like your like say this is the bed that's up against the wall here.

[00:09:12]Were y'all face Were y'all like feet this way or feet this way or >> feet towards the end of the bed?

[00:09:18]>> Feet towards the end of the bed. Okay.

[00:09:24]All right. Which side of the bed was she on? Was she on like this side or that side?

[00:09:30]>> Um the side that she was on the whole time.

[00:09:34]>> Okay. like right was right there.

[00:09:40]>> Okay. You said you reached over and like choked her. How How did you do that?

[00:09:47]>> Just I just put my hands around her throat and >> how just one and then two and she like went sideways and fell over and I just said, "All right, I'm just going to go to bed." like I'm not dealing with this right now. So, I rolled over on towards the middle of the bed and I thought she just wanted to stay down there. I thought she was going to leave the room or something.

[00:10:15]>> All right. Now, you said you reached over and grabbed her one hand and see what what happens there.

[00:10:22]>> She like like starts to like go up a little bit and then like she just fell over cuz we were so close towards the end of the bed.

[00:10:34]And then she fell and I just rolled back over and go to bed. So you said that I'm I'm trying to get in my mind how this happened. So she's laying on the back. You you want to said you're laying on your side. So you reach over one hand and she kind of like arches up, I guess, is what you're saying.

[00:10:54]Um is that when you reach over with the other hand? All right. Now, at what point in there did y'all end up on You said something about being up on your knees. Where did >> she arched up? That's when like I basically arched up with her and then that's when she like fell back. I mean, she maybe pushed a little bit. I don't know. It just didn't feel long at all. Like, honestly.

[00:11:19]>> Was there Did you hear anything? Any noises or >> I thought she was saying something. I thought like I heard I don't know. I just after that I just didn't want to talk. I should have just left the room or checked on her and called 911.

[00:11:38]I wasn't in my right mind.

[00:11:43]You said you guys were arguing after whatever you found on the phone and she you said you said something or she said something. Do you know what she said to you?

[00:11:50]>> I don't remember what we both talked about at all. I just when I said something which I never get mad mad over that stuff. It's just she'd get mad and it just I don't know the alcohol. It just escalates. I don't know worse than I would ever be if I was sober. If I was sober, I just storm off or something. Plus, we've just never had anything like that happen to us before.

[00:12:24]As we said before, alcohol and Blake don't go well together. A text string taken from Natalie's phone showed that there were some folks who had misgivings about Blake and Brady, another friend of the group, taking part in this trip, as well as even Blake's own mother. Blake's mother would send a text to Natalie reading, "Hey, I love Brady to death, but I'm not comfortable with him going on the trip. I feel like it's just asking for trouble. Lincolnis, yes, Blake is known by his family members by his last name is a concern enough, but him and Brady without parents is a recipe for disaster. In another text thread, Natalie and a friend are discussing that Natalie needs to be the one to kick Blake or Brady or both out of the trip. In the end, Natalie tells her friend, "I think it's really unfair.

[00:13:14]I don't want to uninvite him. So maybe Blake can just not go since his parents have a huge problem with it. When honestly, truthfully, Blake is always the problem every single time. Her friend finally surrenders to the inevitable, saying that it is kind of hard to uninvite someone. After the decision was made and everyone was ready to go on the trip, Blake's mother would send him one last text in an attempt to change his mind about going. She would write, "It's not for you to control. We do everything for you. Have your best interests at heart and don't ask anything, every rule you have broke, and now you have an attitude about it. You have been making good choices and graduation." I have never seen so many smiles. You know what is right and wrong, and you are setting yourself up to make mistakes. Have you ever heard the saying that the road to hell was paved with good intentions? Blake's father would also send a text close to the time when the group was almost at the end of their journey to the seaside town. In part, it would read, "Have fun.

[00:14:22]Be smart. Make memories. Laugh. Take pics. Enjoy the beach and ocean. No drama. Keep your cool. Bring laughter instead of anger. Walk away from trouble and be the bigger and better man. I love you with everything in me and always will. I want you to have fun, buddy. Be safe and check in, please. Now that we have a better picture of what was going on behind the scenes before the trip even began, let's rejoin Blake's interview with the investigating officers.

[00:14:54]>> So, after Natalie falls off the bed, um you said you maybe would you said you thought she said something or Something of that nature. What What was that? I mean, well, what what did you hear? I guess is what I'm trying to get at.

[00:15:12]>> Seemed like just breathing and a word, like a word come out. I don't know. It seemed like she was like dying. I've never heard anyone die. So, >> so I guess at that point you went to sleep.

[00:15:29]Is that what you say?

[00:15:30]>> Exactly what I did.

[00:15:31]>> Huh?

[00:15:32]>> It's exactly what I did.

[00:15:35]I thought she would sleep there and go out of the room. I don't know.

[00:15:40]>> Did you text anybody or anything at that point?

[00:15:44]>> Texting my parents like I messed up.

[00:15:48]I was really it and stuff.

[00:15:52]>> What was that about?

[00:15:53]>> Just cuz I mean I've never done that to a woman before in my life.

[00:16:01]I even checked to see if she was on the ground still or she had it.

[00:16:06]>> Like it was just right during that point. I put my phone down. I did die and I just I was really tired anyway. So I just went to bed and I woke up and all that happened squatted.

[00:16:25]Both texts to his parents were captured by his phone. In both instances, he says that he knows he has done something wrong without saying exactly what had happened. Both messages were sent out about 11 p.m. on the night of June the 6th. His father would reply at 2:33 a.m.

[00:16:43]asking his son to reply to him ASAP. His mother would not see the message until the next morning. At 10:01 a.m., she would reply back, "I love you, Infinity Bunches. What's going on?" He would reply to neither. And there is no way his parents could have known that the young man had slept all night in the bed with his girlfriend's lifeless body laid on the floor nearby. That next morning would be the next focus of the detectives.

[00:17:12]>> When you woke up, tell me what happened then.

[00:17:15]>> I woke up. I first seen her there. I thought she was sleeping. I noticed something was off. She looked and then I went to the shower room and I got a knife and stuff cuz I thought like that she actually was dead or something cuz she was still in the same position and she All right, I'm going back up a little bit cuz you lost me.

[00:17:40]>> You got Excuse me. When you got up, you saw Natalie still on the floor. Where was Where was she at?

[00:17:47]>> Same like just on the side of the floor.

[00:17:50]She hadn't moved anywhere else. She her bed like she >> was she like right beside the bed or kind of under the bed or >> like besided a little bit? I don't know.

[00:18:00]Under it. I don't know.

[00:18:02]>> Okay.

[00:18:04]All right. So, you got up, you seen Natalie. What's the first thing you think see you do at that moment? Like I kind of checked on her a little bit.

[00:18:13]Like I just like moved her arm a little bit and she was like cold and blue and I'm just like this is really happening.

[00:18:20]like this is really happening and like I look and walked outside, people were sleeping and I just I wanted cuz I didn't want to live without her and I just did that.

[00:18:35]I just in the shower for a minute and I just I couldn't do it to myself so I just went out. I like we need to get her help now.

[00:18:46]While it seems anger and alcohol fueled this incident, they have to rule out that it wasn't just a sex act gone wrong, but it was actual murder.

[00:18:55]>> I know you said you guys had like had sex earlier, right? Right. You didn't weren't into the whole choking thing where you were having sex or anything like that, were you?

[00:19:05]>> I mean, we've done it before, but obviously it's not going to be actually just choking her.

[00:19:11]>> Okay. So, I mean, so when this incident happened with this choking incident, you guys weren't engaged in any kind of sexual activity or anything >> during the choking incident?

[00:19:21]>> Yeah.

[00:19:23]>> Yeah. That's cuz you all got an argument about some stuff on the phone.

[00:19:26]>> They need to narrow in on making sure that Blake admits to what he has done in full understanding of the seriousness of the situation. One might guess that while Blake may have been in trouble a number of times in his life before now, introspection into what his responsibilities were might be lacking.

[00:19:44]>> Do you have any doubt what you did caused her death?

[00:19:49]>> I mean, do you doubt what you did caused her death? Is there any doubt in your mind what you done caused her death?

[00:19:54]Cause her to die?

[00:19:57]Well, at the time when at first I didn't know, but now I do know and there's no other way. I mean, it was me and I remembered that happening. I didn't think it was actually true. And when I was I seen that morning, I was just hyper. I didn't know what to do. I wish I could explain, but I've never been in that position before.

[00:20:24]>> All right. So, and you you tell me right or wrong if I'm understanding this the way I put it.

[00:20:32]I'm going kind of paraphrase it.

[00:20:37]The next morning, you kind of had that moment of, "Oh crap, I choked her last night and I've killed her." Is that the thought process the next morning?

[00:20:50]>> I'm sorry.

[00:20:51]>> Yeah.

[00:20:54]He loved her to death. How did he move from love to murder though? Jealousy played a part for sure.

[00:21:02]>> And I wasn't even I mean I was a little bit mad obviously, but I wasn't trying to like completely harm her even though I mean that's >> what I mean what what did you get mad about?

[00:21:13]>> Whatever I seen on the phone it was just like >> what what did you see on the phone? You you you know what you saw? It wasn't nothing like dude was like trying to meet up with her. I was there at you know Myrtle Beach and Corner Bay and stuff and she wasn't even like >> Oh, she she gave out her number to some dude.

[00:21:32]>> No, this through Snapchat.

[00:21:34]>> Oh, through Sn Okay, I got you.

[00:21:35]>> It's just all the Snapchat.

[00:21:37]>> Gotcha.

[00:21:39]>> I don't know. I just just kind of got mad about it. She saying I don't know stuff like I don't know.

[00:21:48]Show me her tax.

[00:21:52]>> And then they ask about the anger issues.

[00:21:56]>> What happened to your hand right here?

[00:21:58]>> This?

[00:21:58]>> Yeah.

[00:22:00]>> Something late. This was a year and a half ago that a party. I mean, >> what uh were you drinking then?

[00:22:09]>> That's why everything that I do when I drink, it just leads into something bad.

[00:22:14]Somehow in the process of all of this, the situation becomes real to Blake.

[00:22:18]He's not a kid in trouble anymore. He's an adult and he is a murderer. The weight begins to settle on him.

[00:22:26]>> No.

[00:22:26]>> Can I ask you a question?

[00:22:28]>> Sure.

[00:22:28]>> I mean, when you like already have talked, have you talked to her mom or just your dad?

[00:22:34]>> I spoke to her dad briefly yesterday.

[00:22:37]Obviously, I'm going to have to talk with him a lot more over time. Look.

[00:22:41]Well, if you don't mind, if you're allowed to What did you say?

[00:22:46]>> Pardon?

[00:22:46]>> What on did you say to him?

[00:22:48]>> I just told him that his daughter was deceased and that it was some suspicious circumstances and it was under investigation. Right. Now, what do you say?

[00:23:04]>> Well, he was quite devastated.

[00:23:07]That's his daughter. This is baby girl.

[00:23:13]He was a little angry, want to know what happened and everything else. I said, "Well, in times to come, we'll be able to tell you more.

[00:23:23]I'm pretty sure you're probably not going to be their favorite person in the world for a long long long long long time.

[00:23:38]I would I would argue that when the you know when everything kind of settles down though if you if you talking with us and telling us everything to give them you know everything that we know to the best of our knowledge though that's at least the best thing that you can do just to you know at least give them that to them.

[00:23:58]>> Yeah >> and that's and that's why we're asking these things. I understand. I mean, I want to lie over I've loved more than anyone my whole life, and that's their own daughter, their best They're the best parents in the world.

[00:24:13]I just want them to know that I didn't mean to do that.

[00:24:17]And my intentions were not to do that at all.

[00:24:22]Now, everyone's going to hate me, and I didn't even mean to do that.

[00:24:27]I mean, I do got anger issues, but never towards her. I mean, it's got to get it from my dad. He's got to take medicine for it, which should been doing better. But like I said, the like I said, this is the first time I've met you today. At least we can say this though for for what has happened. Hey, you're you're you're manning up now and and telling the truth with it, though.

[00:24:52]He was there for a moment, but then he slips back as if something tells him this problem will go away in the time frame that has no basis in reality. That he can make a promise of change like he had done so many times before and get off with light punishment. Now by himself, the young man resorts to sending up words to a Natalie that is no longer there.

[00:25:20]Godly supposed to see you one more time.

[00:25:28]Just one more time.

[00:25:30]Please.

[00:25:33]Please.

[00:25:35]Please.

[00:25:38]I just want to see you.

[00:25:40]I just want to see you.

[00:25:43]I just want to see you. I want to talk to you.

[00:25:48]Look, I just want to see you.

[00:26:18]from my girl.

[00:26:28]How is this happening?

[00:26:38]After the DNA evidence has been collected, just the older of the two detectives is left in the interview room with Blake. Blake is about to step through a door into a life he never would have imagined, and he is afraid.

[00:26:50]He asked the detective a simple question.

[00:26:54]>> Do you think my life will be ruined?

[00:26:59]Blake, I don't know how else to tell you this, buddy, but your actions killed somebody.

[00:27:06]What you did caused the death of somebody. Blake Lincolnis would end up pleading guilty to the murder of Natalie Martin just days before he was set to go to trial. He would receive a 45-year sentence and begin serving it at the Tiger River Correctional Institute in Spartanberg County, South Carolina. Just before Christmas in 2025, Blake filed a notice seeking a postconviction relief from his guilty plea. He would tell local news outlets that he should not have been guilty of murder because the killing was neither intentional nor premeditated. He would say that he was guilty of the situation, but not the charges. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Natalie Jane Martin, an 18-year-old woman taken far too soon.