FBI connects man to disappearance of 2 women

By Kristy Kepley-Steward

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    RUTHERFORD COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — Newly unsealed federal search warrants are providing new details in the investigation of a Rutherford County man currently in jail on charges linked to the disappearance of one woman.

During the course of the investigation, Daniel Glen Printz has claimed he’s in fact killed four people.

On August 27, 2021, in Greenville County, South Carolina, authorities were notified that Edna Suttles, 80, was missing.

On Sept. 3, authorities located the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee that belonged to Suttles at a Best Western hotel in Travelers Rest. Authorities were able to review surveillance footage from the Best Western, along with surveillance video from a nearby grocery store and an antique store adjacent to Suttles home from the day she went missing.

The surveillance video showed (all times approximate):

9:22 a.m.: A Chevrolet Cruze pulled into the Food Lion along Walnut Lane in Travelers Rest, SC 9:30 a.m.: Suttles drove away from her home in her Jeep Grand Cherokee 9:38 a.m.: An individual, later identified as Daniel Printz, purchased a pack of yogurt at the Food Lion and scanned his frequent shopper card during checkout 9:39 a.m.: Suttles parked her Jeep near the Chevrolet Cruze in front of Food Lion. Printz was seen walking out of the grocery store with a grocery bag and gesturing to Suttles. Printz walked by the Jeep and continued to his vehicle. He retrieved a small bag from his vehicle and then carried the bag, along with the grocery bag, to the Jeep and got into the front passenger seat. Soon after, Suttles left with Printz in her vehicle. 1:43 p.m.: The Jeep left the home Suttles lived in, traveling back towards the Food Lion. 2:02 p.m.: The Jeep pulled into the Food Lion parking lot and parked across the log from the Chevrolet Cruze. Printz can be seen exiting the driver’s side door and walking to his vehicle. Printz then moved his vehicle and parked directly adjacent to Suttles vehicle. Printz then moved Suttles from her Jeep to his car. 2:07 p.m.: Printz drove the Jeep to the Best Western parking lot. Video surveillance captured him wiping down both the interior and exterior of the vehicle before walking away from the parking lot. 2:14 p.m.: Printz is seen walking back to his vehicle and driving away with an apparently “motionless” Suttles.

On Sept. 9, Printz was arrested at his residence on Kiser Road in Bostic, North Carolina, by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office on warrants for Grand Larceny based on the surveillance footage showing him driving the Jeep Cherokee belonging to Suttles.

During the execution of the arrest warrant at the home, authorities found multiple firearms and electronic devices. The firearms led Rutherford County authorities to charge Printz with several state firearm violations including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, two counts of possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle and two counts of possession of a short-barreled rifle with an obliterated serial number.

Search Warrant Executed

During the search of the Rutherford County property on Sept. 9, investigators found a North Carolina driver’s license and passport belonging to Nancy Rego, 66. Additionally, they located bank statements, a debit card belonging to Rego inside of Printz’s wallet.

When questioned, Printz told authorities he had been appointed Rego’s power of attorney over her affairs.

Investigators later discovered that Rego had been listed as missing from the Charlotte, North Carolina, area since 2017.

When investigators contacted Rego’s family members, they were told Rego and Printz were in a relationship prior to her disappearance. “Rego’s family members have reported communicating through text and email with an individual who purported to be Rego; however, the individual declined to meet with, or speak to, any family members,” the warrant said.

Second Search Warrant Executed

On Sept. 23, Rutherford County authorities executed a second search warrant for Printz’s residence in connection with the missing person investigation into Rego. During that search, investigators found more documents in Rego’s name, along with a wallet belonging to Rego’s mother, Dolores Sellers Gore, and pill bottles for powerful drugs in Rego’s name.

“Investigators also found partially full pill bottles prescribed to Rego labelled ‘Cyblobenzaprine 10mg,’ ‘Tramadol HCL 50mg tab,’ and ‘Lorazepam 2mg tab’ (all dated 2017), as well as black bag containing various items, including zip-ties, a taser, lubricant, and crushed pills in a plastic bag labeled ‘Ativan,’” the warrant said.

Third Search Warrant Executed

On Oct. 9, Printz’s wife and another individual were reportedly removing various birds from the property when they located a bee box approximately 75-yards from the home in an area mostly surrounded by trees.

Inside the bee box, they found “a woman’s purse, rope, zip-ties, and medication hidden inside,” the federal search warrant said.

The individual notified the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, and a third search warrant was issued for the property.

“During a law enforcement search of the property, Suttles’s purse, Jeep Grand Cherokee keys, and other various items belonging to Suttles were located inside the bee box,” the federal search warrant said.

Additionally, authorities found an empty yogurt container inside the bee box. Approximately 30 feet away from the bee box, authorities found an interior vehicle panel along with a black trash bag and a tarp.

The warrant said the yogurt container was later tested at the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Forensic Services Laboratory and was found to contain traces of Cyclobenzaprine (commercially known as Flexeril), Tramadol (commercially known at Ultram, Tramal or Topalgic) and Lorazepam (commercially known as Ativan).

The following day, investigators brought a police K-9 trained to detect the odor of human decomposition to Printz’s property but the dog did not locate any remains. However, warrants say, “the K-9 produced a strong alert to the scent of human decomposition at the location where the vehicle panel, trash bag, and tarp were recovered.”

Printz Questioning

During two separate interviews with Printz in September, he admitted to traveling from North Carolina to South Carolina in August to visit Suttles, saying the two were friends. He claimed he had dropped her off at her home after leaving the Food Lion parking lot on August 27. Additionally, he claimed she had hired a private investigator to help her daughter with a pending divorce. Printz said he wiped down her vehicle because he was nervous about being involved in the situation between Suttles and the private investigator.

During a third interview, on Oct. 13, investigators confronted Printz with the additional items that had been discovered on his property.

“Printz eventually advised he wanted to fully disclose his ‘sins’ and state he knew he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison,” the warrant said. “Printz told investigators he wanted to ‘purge himself’ of details which were not even on the law enforcement ‘radar,’ and that he wanted to ‘come clean’ through an attorney at a later date.’

He continued on saying, “that he ‘hypothetically’ assisted a close friend with the euthanasia of a family member. He then stated, ‘That is one body.’ The friend then had feelings of remorse and was going to ‘tell.’ Printz described the friend as the ‘second body.’ Printz went on to tell investigators of another friend he was trying to help, but who also ended up dying. Printz did not report the death, but instead disposed of the body so he could keep collecting the friend’s social security benefits. Printz also described an incident in which someone tried to rob him, but the robbery ‘did not work out well for [the robber].’ He stated that after the attempted robbery, he drove to a rural area, disposed of the body, and cleaned up from the incident.”

When questioned specifically about the disappearance of Suttles, Printz declined to provide additional details without a lawyer, but said “he could take law enforcement to the location of Suttles ‘within three feet,’” the warrant said.

At this time, Printz has not been charged with the murder of anyone.

Printz is due in federal count in Asheville in April on the firearms charges.

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