February 27, 2021
Myrtle Beach
On the night of Oct. 3, 2020, April Upton decided that she was going to break up with her boyfriend.
The boyfriend, John Aycoth, had become “overly possessive” of her and “clingy,” she’d later tell police, and she decided to return to the relationship she had with her husband and work things out. Upton and Aycoth had begun dating five months earlier, and Aycoth had moved in with her at her Myrtle Beach apartment.
As Upton prepared for the breakup, she called a friend, Timothy Cleary, and asked him to come to the apartment, explaining that she was afraid of what Aycoth might do. Relatives would later describe to police a young man who struggled with anger and other mental health issues. Cleary joined Upton at the 14th Avenue apartment, just blocks from the ocean, and waited with her. Upton called Aycoth and told him to come home. He did, and she ended their relationship, asking him to move out.