A woman who could have ended weeks of agony for the family, friends and others desperate to find Andrew Cato IV when he seemingly vanished in 2018 pleaded guilty Thursday, Feb. 10, to concealing the death of another.
Virginia Wolfe Reynolds, 45, agreed to plead guilty to the charge in Richmond County Superior Court in exchange for a probation sentence for her role in the disappearance of Cato, 28, last seen by his loved ones on May 5, 2018.
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It’s impossible to describe, said Cato’s mother, Ravonna Jones Cibak, “the fear and abject horror a parent has when a parent can’t find their child.” The age of missing child doesn’t matter, doesn’t ease the agony, she said.
For weeks, Cato’s family, friends and co-workers led searches that grew to include many others, more than 3,000, who gave up evenings and weekends to try to find Cato.
Blaeke Wolfe and Devin Stringfield confessed on May 23, 2018. They had killed Cato who had threatened to fight for custody of the son he shared with Wolfe and to report Wolfe to child protective services. Their child lived with Wolfe and her mother, Reynolds.
Stringfield, a friend of Wolfe’s, shot Cato three times, stuffed his body in the toolbox of his truck and drove across the Savannah River and buried Cato’s body in rural McCormick County. Within a day or two of the murder, Stringfield told Reynolds what he and Wolfe had done.
Reynolds withheld that information from Richmond County Sheriff investigators in the early part of the investigation, said Assistant District Attorney Sarah Strickland.
The case against Reynolds had intentionally been left open for some time because of the suspicion others actively participated in Cato’s slaying, Strickland said. But the only way to know that for sure would be to go to Wolfe and Stringfield and try to bargain down their sentences, something that Strickland said she wasn’t willing to do.
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Cato’s father, Andrew R. Cato III, told the judge Thursday that the family and all the investigators suspect Reynolds took a more active role in the killing, but they understand it couldn’t be proven in court. But Reynolds bore responsibility for the inability to search what turned out to be the crime scene, and she was responsible for the fact Cato’s body lay in the woods, exposed to the elements for three weeks, Cato’s father said.
Defense attorney Kelly Williamson told the judge Thursday that Stringfield told Reynolds that he killed Cato, but she didn’t believe him. She knew her daughter and Cato had a contentious relationship but didn’t think that would have happened, Williamson said.
Chief Judge Daniel J. Craig accepted the plea, but he rejected Reynolds’ request to be sentenced under the First Offender Act. That would have enabled her to see the charge erased from her record if she had been successful on probation.
Craig sentenced Reynolds to 10 years on probation. Within two months, she is to obtain full-time employment. She must keep an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for two years and pay a $10,000 fine within six months. If she fails any of those conditions, her probation sentence can be revoked, and she could be imprisoned for the remainder of her sentence.
In October 2019, Wolfe and Stringfield pleaded guilty to murder. Each was sentenced to life in prison.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
