Half-Brother William Micah Hester Accused of Smothering Sister Joanna J. Lockaby in Pelzer, South Ca

Half-Brother William Micah Hester Accused of Smothering Sister Joanna J. Lockaby in Pelzer, South Carolina Skip to Main Content The logo for the Daily Beast's Obsessed website. It reads: 'Obsessed: What to Watch, Binge, See, & Skip' ","type":"Social","width":552,"content":"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0PSLADDMJqWHzAWojqb7eA8QmfYbx42NzE3kA1gGeDAgrQyQHysJTSPjd5dEikVP1l&id=100069131202956","version":"1.0","author_url":"https://www.facebook.com/people/Greenville-County-Sheriffs-Office/100069131202956/","author_name":"Greenville County Sheriff's Office","provider_url":"https://www.facebook.com","responseType":"rich","provider_name":"Facebook","socialChecked":"facebook"}]],"markups":[["a",["href","https://www.wyff4.com/article/teen-half-brother-charged-4-year-old-death/40665304"]],["a",["href","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do-7jofWNFQ"]],["em"],["a",["href","https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/2018/06/08/hot-car-death-greenville/685218002/"]],["a",["href","https://www.gofundme.com/f/babies-funeral-and-medical-cost039s"]]],"version":"0.3.0","sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A 17-year-old half-brother has been accused of suffocating his toddler sister to death before dumping her body in a plastic bin behind their South Carolina home, marking the death of a second child in four years for mother Krista Nix."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"William Micah Hester now faces a murder charge in the death of 4-year-old Joanna J. Lockaby, whose body was found by a search and rescue team on Tuesday afternoon less than 30 minutes after she was reported missing. Video from "],[0,[0],1,"WYFF 4"],[0,[],0," showed that the area behind the home was wooded."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Daily Beast that Hester is being charged as an adult. Local cops haven’t said why he would kill his baby sister. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Hester, who appears to go by his middle name “Micah,” appeared in court Wednesday afternoon, with his father, who shares the same name as him, and Nix in attendance."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“Micah would not do anything like this on purpose,” the father said, captured by "],[0,[1],1,"WYFF News 4"],[0,[],0,". “I know my boy. I can hold up my hand up to the lord and testify that because I know he's a good boy, never been in trouble and he loved his sister.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Despite his father's pleas to have mercy on him, a judge ruled to hold Hester without bail. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"This isn't the first time tragedy has struck within the family. Four years ago, the youngest sibling of Lockaby and Hester died from heat exhaustion after her grandmother had a medical episode that left the child abandoned in a hot car, the "],[0,[2,3],2,"Greenville News"],[0,[],0," reported in 2018."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The loss of that baby, one-year-old Jojo Lockaby, devastated Nix at the time, she said."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“That little boy meant the world to me,” she wrote in a "],[0,[4],1,"GoFundMe"],[0,[],0,". “I miss him so much everyday, it's like a piece of my heart is gone.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0," She didn't speak Wednesday, but could be seen wiping away tears as Hester stood in all-yellow, handcuffed. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Hester is being held at Greenville County Detention Center, approximately 17 miles north of his hometown of Pelzer, South Carolina."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A mugshot released Wednesday showed what appeared to be tears in his eyes as he stared into the camera."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“We've lost little Joanna,” Hester's father said. “We lost little Joanna, I just don't want to lose my son. I'm just asking to have mercy on him.”"]]],[10,0]]},"hero":{"image":{"id":"3532251","crops":{"1_1":{"x":878.9473684210525,"y":211.81507788162008,"width":1303.7894736842104,"height":1302.652211838006},"16_9":{"x":157.8947368421052,"y":176.49065420560777,"width":2689.473684210526,"height":1511.5093457943922},"original":{"x":0,"y":0,"width":3000,"height":1688}},"title":"","credit":"Greenville County Sheriff’s Office","mobiledoc_caption":null,"alt_text":null,"url":"https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/v1658344416/Blank_3000_x_1688_copy_74_kdq7fj.jpg","public_id":"Blank_3000_x_1688_copy_74_kdq7fj","version":"1658344416","__typename":"Image"},"__typename":"Media","video":null},"accentColor":null,"audience":"public","autoBrandSafe":false,"autoIAB":[{"id":"379","category":"News and Politics","score":0.90722656,"parentId":null,"parentIABCategory":null,"__typename":"AutoIABCategory"},{"id":"380","category":"Crime","score":0.95,"parentId":379,"parentIABCategory":{"id":"379","category":"News and Politics","parentId":null,"parentIABCategory":null,"__typename":"AutoIABCategory"},"__typename":"AutoIABCategory"}],"autoKeywords":["death","wednesday afternoon","teen","body","half","brother","south carolina","tuesday afternoon","dumping","local cops","baby sister","rescue team","pelzer","sister joanna j. lockaby","plastic bin"],"autoSentiment":{"neutral":"0.44","positive":"0","negative":"0.56","__typename":"AutoSentiment"},"autoThreats":[{"id":"GGT7","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Disasters","__typename":"AutoThreat"},{"id":"GGT9","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Medical","__typename":"AutoThreat"},{"id":"GGT1","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Violence and gore","__typename":"AutoThreat"},{"id":"GGT2","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Criminal","__typename":"AutoThreat"}],"canonicalSlug":"half-brother-accused-of-smothering-sister-joanna-j-lockaby-to-death-in-pelzer-south-carolina","crossPromotion":null,"dek":"It’s not the first time tragedy has struck the family, either. 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