SHIELDS OF SHAME • FAMILY ARCHIVE • WALTERBORO, SOUTH CAROLINA • 1975
Billy F. Blume Sr.
My father. The death behind Shields of Shame.
In 1975, my father died in a fire at the Colleton County jail. More than fifty years later, the surviving documents, the questions my family carried, and my search for accountability remain part of who I am.
My journey ↗ | Historical photographs ↗ | SLED case file ↗
This is why I am here
Shields of Shame is an archive of investigations, videos, government records and difficult questions. But this page is not just another investigation. Billy F. Blume Sr. was my father. I am not approaching his death as a detached observer. I am his son.
Before body cameras, online case databases, digital audit logs or social-media investigations, there was a death in a South Carolina jail in 1975. The official record, the fire, and what my family understood about the circumstances left questions that did not disappear with time. Some of the family allegations—including questions about deliberate fire-setting, motive, threats and related practices—remain allegations, not findings independently established by this page.
I will not turn my father into entertainment or manufacture certainty where records are missing. He deserves a careful account, one that readers can investigate for themselves.
My journey: from a family loss to investigative journalism
For more than three decades I have worked with photography and video. A camera taught me the value of a record that can be revisited: details that might be forgotten, disputed or omitted can still be examined. Over time, that became a way of investigating institutions as well as documenting the world.
My work grew into thousands of videos, investigations of police and jail conduct, and the collection of internal affairs reports, POST files, 911 recordings, body-camera evidence and public-records correspondence. I have learned that obtaining a record is often its own battle. Sometimes the dispute over access reveals as much about accountability as the incident itself.
I have seen families struggle to get answers and reporters forced to reconstruct events from incomplete documents. Every case is different, and no allegation should be treated as a conviction. But the principle remains the same: when the government holds the evidence, the public must have meaningful ways to scrutinize its actions.
My father’s death was not a story I discovered while researching Shields of Shame. It was the story I carried into the work.
That is why I care about records that disappear, timelines that do not fit, missing footage, access logs, disciplinary decisions and explanations that cannot be checked. I cannot change 1975. I can preserve what remains, keep asking questions and make it easier for the next family to find its own answers.
What the surviving record can establish
My father’s death is associated with a 1975 fire at the Colleton County jail in Walterboro. Our archive preserves photographs, newspaper material and a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigative file identified as M75-1687. Those primary sources should be read directly, not replaced by a dramatic retelling. Interviews, assertions, investigative observations and conclusions must be distinguished from one another.
The historic Gothic Revival Old Colleton County Jail on Jeffries Street was built in 1855–56, but historical accounts indicate it ceased being the active jail well before 1975. Its appearance in historical searches must not be mistaken for proof that it was the building where my father died. South Carolina historical register ↗.
The family archive
These images include newspaper coverage, preserved documents and a ten-image case sequence. Open each image for the full-resolution copy.
Additional original family photographs: Portrait one ↗ and Portrait two ↗. These remain on the original archive while the image migration is completed.
SLED Case M75-1687
The original SLED document is one of the most important surviving records. Read it alongside the historical news material and family account, paying attention to what each source directly supports.
Open the SLED investigative file (PDF) ↗
Where the missing history may be found
Additional evidence may remain in coroner and death records, 1975 jail logs, fire reports, county council minutes, sheriff’s-office correspondence, insurance and repair records, historical newspaper collections and SLED archives. The Press and Standard newspaper has a historical index covering the 1970s; microfilm collections may contain coverage that modern search engines do not find. Explore newspaper index ↗.
The first name in this archive should be his
There are hundreds of names and many difficult stories on Shields of Shame. This one is the reason the mission is personal. My father’s death is part of my family’s history and part of the reason I believe records should be preserved and government actions should be questioned.
I cannot promise that every missing document will surface or that every question will be answered. I can refuse to let the evidence disappear quietly. I can document what is known, label what is disputed and continue to look for the truth.
If you knew Billy Blume, lived in Walterboro in 1975, or worked in local law enforcement, the fire service, the courthouse, hospitals or newsrooms, I would like to hear from you. Share information or records ↗.
Editorial note: This founder’s first-person account uses documented biographical and professional history, not invented childhood memories or private conversations. Family allegations remain distinct from independently verifiable facts. Updated October 2026.