Crystal Todd Murder Case: DNA, Conviction, and Parole Denials

The Crystal Todd murder case is the 1991 rape and murder of seventeen-year-old Crystal Faye Todd of Conway, South Carolina, by close family friend Johnnie Kenneth “Ken” Register, who became the first person in South Carolina ever convicted on DNA evidence. Register is serving two life sentences and was denied parole for a third time in February 2026.¹

What Happened in November 1991

Deer hunters found Crystal Faye Todd’s body in a ditch off Collins-Jollie Road in Horry County, South Carolina, in November 1991. She had been raped and stabbed more than thirty times.² FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood later called it “one of the most vicious crimes that I have ever been involved with.”³

The Killer Was a Family Friend

Ken Register was eighteen at the time of the murder. He was not a stranger. Register was close enough to the Todds to join them for Sunday dinners, and he had briefly dated Crystal. After she was killed, he attended her funeral and served as a pallbearer.⁴ According to the true-crime book later written about the case, he initially tried to console Crystal’s mother and asked about the investigation, then grew nervous and began saying he feared being “framed.”³

The DNA Evidence That Made State History

DNA analysis was still new to the courtroom in 1991. When investigators asked Register for a sample, he reportedly answered, “What is that?”⁴ He gave one voluntarily. It matched evidence from the crime and confirmed he had raped and killed Crystal.

His conviction made him the first person in South Carolina found guilty on the basis of DNA evidence.⁵ Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said the trial prosecutor “basically established the DNA database for South Carolina.”⁴

The case also generated a notable pretrial ruling. In State v. Register, 308 S.C. 534 (1992), the South Carolina Supreme Court considered whether prosecutors could compel a minor witness, identified only as Jane Doe and neither a suspect nor a victim, to give blood, saliva, and hair samples for DNA comparison with evidence found in Register’s car. The court held that such an order was a search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment and that witnesses hold the same constitutional protections against bodily intrusion as suspects and defendants. It was the first ruling of its kind in the state.⁶

Conviction and Sentence

Register was convicted in 1992 of murder, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, indecent exposure, and buggery.⁷ He received two life sentences.⁸ The jury did not impose the death penalty. Former Horry County Solicitor Ralph Wilson, who prosecuted the case, said that outcome remained an “open wound” for Crystal’s mother, Bonnie Faye Todd, for the rest of her life.⁹

Under South Carolina law as it stood in the early 1990s, a life sentence did not necessarily mean life in prison. As Solicitor Richardson has put it, “life didn’t really mean life” at the time. Register had to serve thirty years before becoming parole-eligible, and after that he could request a hearing every two years.⁷ Later “truth in sentencing” reforms tightened those rules but do not apply retroactively to Register.⁴

Parole Hearings Since 2022

Register became parole-eligible after serving thirty years. He waived his hearing in 2022, then requested hearings in 2024 and 2026. The South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons denied him both times.¹⁰¹

Each hearing has drawn active opposition from Crystal’s family. Ahead of the February 2026 hearing, family members circulated an online petition that gathered more than 5,000 signatures asking the board to keep Register imprisoned.² Half-sister Barbara Todd and cousins Kevin James, Amber Alsdorf, and C.J. Heaney have led that effort, with Solicitor Richardson’s office backing them. Richardson said publicly, “We will continue to stand with the Todd family.”⁴

After the 2026 denial, Barbara Todd told reporters: “He chose to do that. And she’s not here, he is. And thank God the parole board said no.” Cousin C.J. Heaney added: “It means she still has a voice, and we are her voice.”² The family has said they plan to appear and oppose Register at every future hearing.¹

Where Register Is Now

As of February 2026, Johnnie Kenneth Register is incarcerated at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, serving two life sentences.⁷ He can request another parole hearing in 2028.¹