Man challenges murder conviction in ex-girlfriend’s SC strangling death

NOTE: The above video is a livestream of WIS featuring current newscasts, Soda City Living and Gray Media’s Local News Live.

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WIS/WMBF) - An Ohio man who admitted to strangling his ex-girlfriend to death in South Carolina is now challenging his conviction.

WMBF reports 20-year-old Blake Linkous filed for post-conviction relief on Tuesday, months after pleading guilty to murder in the death of 18-year-old Natalie Martin.

Linkous, of Blue Rock, Ohio, argued that he was not guilty of murder because the killing was not intentional or premeditated. He added that he would fight to get his charge downgraded and explained why he pleaded guilty to murder.

“I was going to trial, backed out on the day of and plead guilty,” Linkous wrote. “I felt too bad going about this case any longer, putting the victim’s family through that. I’m guilty of the situation, not the charge.”

Linkous said he feels his 45-year prison sentence was too long.

“This is my first and only option to try the case,” he wrote. “I’m trying this case to show I’m a better man than what I’m proclaimed to be as.”

Linkous strangled Martin in June 2023 on Maison Drive while the two were in the Myrtle Beach area on a graduation trip.

Martin broke up with Linkous two weeks before the trip. Prosecutors said Linkous got angry at Martin for texting another boy who lived in Myrtle Beach.

Martin and Linkous were with a group of students who went to an event at the House of Blues on June 6, 2023.

Then Martin, Linkous and one other person returned to their condo.

As the group started coming back to the condo, Linkous told the group that he did not want to live without Martin and had tried to take his own life.

Prosecutors said the group of students found Martin dead on the floor of a bedroom and called 911.

Records show Linkous is currently serving his sentence at the Tyger River Correctional Institute in Spartanburg County.

Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with WIS. For more free content like this, subscribe to our email newsletter, and download our apps. Have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.