North Charleston man sentenced to 45 years for beating girlfriend to death

Graphic content: Reader discretion advised. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, call the domestic abuse hotline at 800-799-7233

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A man who brutally beat his then-girlfriend to death in 2021 was sentenced to 45 years in prison Thursday.

Robert John Nelson pled guilty in April of 2023 to killing his girlfriend Chanel Crawford in their North Charleston apartment.

Court filings detailed the gruesome nature of the assault, which happened sometime the evening of January 7.

“Body worn camera footage showed what appears to be female hair and blood stains…large amounts of blood covered portions of the hall… one of the bathrooms off the hallway was covered in towels and the sink, toilet, and bathtub were covered in blood.”

Nelson left to go to work the next morning and returned to the apartment several times that day before leaving town, taking Crawford’s car with him. He called to anonymously report that someone was seriously injured in the apartment the evening of June 8, which is when officers found Crawford.

He was later found in Texas trying to cross the border to Mexico.

During Thursday’s sentencing, Crawford’s family spoke directly to Nelson about what he took away from them. One family member lamented that Nelson would have a roof over his head and three meals a day for the rest of his life, saying Nelson deserved to “die a violent death just like she did.”

Nelson had an extensive history of domestic abuse, with multiple women having reported him over the past two decades.

The sentencing was less than the 60 years requested by the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case.