COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – A Colleton County woman died from severe burns in 2019, and investigators later charged her husband with murder; The case will be heard five years after the death.

In January 2019, officials said Craig Lewis told them his wife accidentally burned herself while trying to light a wood stove in their home. Terry Lewis suffered severe burns to almost half of her body and required emergency surgery in critical condition. Terry Lewis survived and tried to recover for ten months, but died from her injuries in November 2019.

Terry Lewis' daughter, Leigh Ann Kellam, shared a written statement she wrote years after the incident in which she dealt with her grief and prepared for the trial at which she is expected to appear as a witness.

“I received the worst call I could have ever received. He said I had to come home because mom had a fire. I was confused and he said they were in the emergency room and it was bad. I still didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Kellam wrote.

Officials say Craig Lewis took his wife to Colleton Medical Center on the day of the fire, but returned home later that same day when she was taken to a burn center in Georgia. Officers who visited the home found Craig Lewis hosing down in the driveway and noticed a couch was missing. Officials say Lewis assaulted three deputies during that visit. One suffered a shoulder injury, another a sprained wrist and the third a cut hand.

“Mum was on her way to Burn ICU and without saying a word to anyone, he went home to clean the driveway and remove a couch. I also learned that he had changed her clothes or helped her change, whatever the case was, and that the items of clothing that had been removed were also missing,” Kellam wrote

Later incident reports said investigators found evidence at the home that did not match his story. They later found the couch and clothing elsewhere and used it as evidence. Immediately following the incident, Craig Lewis was charged with arson, attempted murder and resisting arrest. Judge Carmen Mullen set bail at $100,000 and posted the money in February 2019.

“I was in Walterboro for this hearing. I was so confident at that point that this would be a good judge who would look at this case and certainly not give Craig bail. $100,000 and an ankle monitor and he could walk. That was a lot to digest. There was nothing I could do,” Kellam wrote.

In March 2020, months after Terry Lewis died from her injuries, a grand jury indicted Craig Lewis on murder charges. But his bond did not change and he remained under house arrest on the condition that he had no contact with the victim's family and was allowed to work as a truck driver delivering from Florida to New York.

“This time he wasn’t even handcuffed. I entered the courtroom, was told the bail had stood, and walked out. No changes,” Kellam wrote.

Kellam gathered her thoughts to ensure her mother's story would be told, no matter how long it took. Five years after her mother's death, Kellam says she is still waiting for justice and is disappointed with the process so far.

Before the scheduled Nov. 4 trial date, the defense, led by state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, filed motions to compel evidence and a motion to continue the trial.

The motion to compel evidence required prosecutors to turn over to the defense any evidence they plan to use at trial. The document is six pages long and mentions the 911 recording, Craig Lewis' phones and data, several canisters of lighter fluid, firewood, burned substances, the couch with burnt spots, a cigarette lighter, swabs from the living room and the dashcam from Craig Lewis' arrest .

The motion for continuance, sent Oct. 31 and filed Nov. 1, asks the court to set aside the case based on the evidence. The motion states: “The State has presented highly prejudicial testimony from the State's key witness…The State's counsel referred to numerous pieces of evidence that have been submitted to SLED but have not yet been reviewed.”

The lawsuit continues: If the State has not examined certain evidence, the defense deserves time to independently examine certain elements. The filing says the state had Terry Lewis and Craig Lewis' clothing but did not test them. The defense thinks it would be exculpatory to test them. The filing goes on to say that the state shared notes from a witness interview that discussed incidents that the defense needed time to investigate on its own.

The parties spent most of November 4 discussing their positions on the motion to continue, and the judge decided to move forward with the case. Jury selection occurred after hearings on the motion and opening statements are scheduled for November 5 at 10 a.m

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