Man found guilty of killing postal worker delivering mail in SC, prosecutor says
An Andrews man charged with murder in the 2019 slaying of a U.S. Postal Service carrier delivering mail in rural South Carolina was found guilty Tuesday after a federal jury trial in Florence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Trevor Seward will be sentenced at a later date, and he faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
“The jury was out just for an hour and a half,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brook Andrews told The State.
Seward was convicted of killing Irene Pressley, 64, while she was carrying out her official duties as a mail carrier in rural Williamsburg County.
Pressley, who had worked more than 20 years with the U.S. Postal Service, was found shot to death in her vehicle near her mail route in Andrews the afternoon of Sept. 23, 2019.
The killing took place about 3 p.m. at the intersection of two rural two-lane roads, Senate Road and Morrisville Road, about 20 miles east of Kingstree, according to a state warrant.
Another man charged with killing Pressley, Jerome Davis, has not yet been tried.
According to evidence in the case, Seward and Davis shot Pressley multiple times with a semi-automatic weapon in an attempt to steal a package containing marijuana.
Seward was seen with an AR-15 before the shooting, and several .223 shell casings were found with Pressley’s body, the Williamsburg County Sheriff’s Office said in 2019. That is a type of ammunition used in an AR-15.
Additionally, Seward’s fingerprints were found on mail at the crime scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
A third man was charged in connection to the death.
Ricky Jesus Barajas, of Santa Rosa, California, was charged by the federal government for his role in a drug conspiracy that investigators said was connected to Pressley’s shooting, the U.S. Attorney said in 2020.
In June 2022, Barajas pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in connection with the killing.
Federal prosecutors, called assistant U.S. Attorneys, in the case were Elle Klein, Robert Bianchi and Katherine Flynn.
Seward’s lawyers were Josh Kendrick and Lindsey Vann.
Federal Judge Donald Coggins presided.
Pressley’s killing drew national law enforcement attention to Williamsburg County. Over 70 law enforcement agencies were ultimately involved in the investigation.
“When a member of our postal family is attacked, we pull out all stops to track down the perpetrator and deliver justice,” Tommy D. Coke, the postal inspector in charge of the Atlanta Division, said in 2020.
The various investigators worked more than 25,000 hours “to deliver justice for Irene,” Coke said.
Pressley was survived by her husband and their five children, among other family members. She was a leader in her church, and was known as “The Mother” at the U.S. Postal Service by her co-workers, according to her obituary.
