Father of slain NC school pupil outraged by errors that gave suspect freedom

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An already grieving father was additional enraged upon studying that the person accused of killing his daughter in a home burglary may have already been in jail for quite a few different crimes had it not been for an obvious clerical error.

Logan Federico, a 22-year-old aspiring instructor from Waxhaw, North Carolina, was visiting mates at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and staying at a Cypress Avenue house when a "profession felony" broke in and shot her within the early morning hours of Could 3.

Suspect Alexander Dickey, a 30-year-old man with a prolonged rap sheet, entered the house within the early morning, stole a number of credit score and debit playing cards and fatally shot Logan in what Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook described as a "random" crime throughout a Could 5 press convention.

"The principle cog on this entire drawback was the processing system of a profession felony that ultimately escalated to executing Logan Federico," Logan's father, Stephen Federico, advised Fox Information Digital. "And this wasn't only a random go-in-and-shoot-somebody. This was a man that was a profession felony. And that is why I hate the phrase ‘random’ getting used. He wasn't a random felony. He was a profession felony that got here throughout my daughter… and actually caught a gun in her rib cage and pulled the set off, for completely no cause."

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Logan Federico had desires of changing into a instructor. (Handout/Fox Information)

Dickey has practically 40 prior arrests throughout completely different North Carolina counties relationship again greater than a decade. He pleaded responsible to a primary offense of third-degree housebreaking in 2023 and was sentenced to probation, regardless of having beforehand been convicted of second and third-degree housebreaking costs in 2014, as WIS first reported .

Now, completely different South Carolina officers and companies are pointing fingers at one another over what seem to have been two clerical errors that led to gaps in Dickey's report.

"There are extra folks … preventing for the rights of a profession felony than preventing for the precise for my daughter to be secure."

— Stephen Federico "There are such a lot of issues that I feel have modified within the final 20 years… the place I feel that Dickie really has extra rights than Logan did," Federico stated. "[T]listed below are extra folks preventing for the rights of a profession felony than preventing for the precise for my daughter to be secure. … Actually take into consideration how horrible that's — that anyone with 39 arrests, 25 felonies, was handled with extra respect than Logan Federico."

Federico described his daughter Logan's persona as "electrical … outgoing, personable, infectious." (Adam Eugene Willis for Fox Information Digital)

In August 2014, Dickey was charged with grand larceny. The South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division (SLED) obtained his fingerprints related to that arrest, and the cost and disposition seem on his felony historical past, the company advised Fox Information Digital.

Dickey was served with 4 extra housebreaking and larceny warrants in August 2014, however these costs and tendencies don't seem on his felony historical past, and SLED stated it didn't obtain extra prints for that set of costs.

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Alexander Dickey, 30, has 40 felony and visitors costs relationship again to 2013. (Lexington SC Detention Heart)

In October 2014, authorities served three extra warrants on housebreaking and larceny costs. These costs and tendencies don't seem on his felony historical past, SLED stated, including that the company didn't obtain extra prints for this set of costs.

A primary-degree housebreaking cost carries a minimal 15-year jail sentence, and a most life sentence. In November 2014, Dickey pleaded responsible to second-degree non-violent housebreaking and was sentenced to 10 years suspended, that means he wouldn't have to instantly serve any jail time.

Stephen Federico seems to be at a photograph of his daughter, Logan Federico, on his telephone. (Adam Eugene Willis for Fox Information Digital)

In March 2015, Dickey had certainly one of his two different housebreaking costs from 2014 dropped and pleaded responsible to a primary offense of third-degree housebreaking, which carries a lighter sentence than a second or third offense.

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In 2023, he once more pleaded responsible to a primary offense of third-degree housebreaking — for a second time.

WATCH:

Rick Hubbard, Solicitor of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, advised WIS he didn’t know of Dickey’s prior convictions, which finally impacted his sentencing in 2023. Hubbard alleged that Dickey’s felony report, or rap sheet, filed with the South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division (SLED) was incomplete.

Fox Information Digital reached out to Hubbard’s workplace for remark.

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Federico stated that when he realized of the error in Dickey's rap sheet that might have saved him off the streets years in the past, it was "essentially the most horrendous factor aside from" the telephone name he obtained on the day his daughter was murdered.

Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook described the crime as "random" and the suspect, 30-year-old Alexander Dickey, as a "profession felony" throughout a Monday press convention. (Columbia PD)

"If he’s not out on the road… this assembly by no means occurs," Federico stated of Dickey's encounter together with his daughter on Could 3.

SLED steered the rap sheet was incomplete as a result of the company by no means received Dickey’s fingerprints for the 2014 arrest for housebreaking, which ought to have come from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Division.

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"The taking pictures that ended the lifetime of Logan Federico was a mindless tragedy that left her household and mates in ache," Lexington County Sheriff’s Workplace advised Fox Information Digital in an announcement. "Their ache prompts us in regulation enforcement to assist prosecutors forge a rock-solid case in opposition to Alexander Dickey when his day in courtroom comes."

Stephen Federico recounts the second he realized his daughter, Logan, had been fatally shot whereas visiting mates at USC in Columbia, South Carolina. (Adam Eugene Willis for Fox Information Digital)

However the sheriff's division added that Dickey's full report was available, even when his fingerprints weren't included in his SLED rap sheet.

"Anybody within the felony justice system who had a job in his quite a few circumstances over the previous decade may entry his lengthy felony historical past…"

— Lexington County Sheriff's Division "Anybody within the felony justice system who had a job in his quite a few circumstances over the previous decade may entry his lengthy felony historical past and see quite a lot of costs, together with 23 arrests in Lexington County alone," the division stated. "His felony costs from April 2013 by means of April 2024 are on his rap sheet and likewise listed on the courtroom’s public web site."

The sheriff’s workplace stated Dickey’s costs involving eight completely different regulation enforcement companies led the Lexington County Sheriff’s Division to e book Dickey 11 occasions between 2013 and 2025.

Logan Federico was a 22-year-old aspiring instructor from North Carolina, working two jobs whereas finding out at Central Piedmont Group School. (handout)

"Dickey was held in [Lexington County Detention Center] from Aug. 13, 2014 till he was despatched to state jail Nov. 21, 2014. His fingerprints had been taken throughout the reserving course of on Aug. 13, 2014," the division stated. "Considerations have been raised as as to whether his fingerprints had been transmitted in keeping with protocol after he was served extra arrest warrants whereas nonetheless in LCDC later in August and October 2014. Now we have reviewed all of Dickey’s bookings and we had been unable to find out if his prints had been taken on the time of these extra in-custody bookings in 2014. It’s potential the dearth of prints related to these bookings had been the results of human or machine error."

The sheriff’s division additional added that it has "labored with state regulation enforcement and prosecutors within the weeks since Logan's loss of life to make sure the data from Dickey’s 11 bookings at LCDC is correct."

"Since his final arrest, we have now offered Dickey’s fingerprints to state police to finish the August and October 2014 reserving information. It’s necessary to notice the circumstances in query had been adjudicated and Dickey was sentenced on these costs in 2014 and 2015," the division stated. "Because the company that apprehended and arrested Dickey following his most up-to-date crime wave over a number of jurisdictions, we have now a major function on this case."

Logan Federico, a 22-year-old aspiring nurse, was fatally shot throughout a Columbia house break-in on the morning of Could 3. (Columbia PD)

Stephen Federico stated he's grateful to regulation enforcement for fixing his daughter's homicide inside 36 hours after she was discovered useless, however he's decided to show issues inside the felony justice system that allowed Dickey to stay on the streets earlier than he allegedly killed Logan.

"I'm indignant, and I am attempting to be very skilled, very respectful, and I'll by no means, ever downgrade what the regulation enforcement did for me and my household and Logan in 36 hours of fixing this case. And it hasn't gone to the courts but, however it should, they usually preserve accumulating proof and proof, and are doing an awesome, excellent job. However that does not imply... that there aren't holes within the system," he stated.

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"We will resolve why it occurred," he stated. "I do not know what is going on to come back of that. The finger pointing… everyone can finger level in every single place they need. However there's a course of that is gonna lead us again to the place it began and the place it ended and who must be held chargeable for it."

Dickey is charged with homicide, two counts of first-degree housebreaking, two counts of possession of a weapon throughout the fee of a violent crime, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, two counts of grand larceny, grand larceny of a motorcar, and three counts of economic transaction card theft.

His subsequent courtroom look is scheduled for July 25. He faces life in jail for the costs filed in opposition to him in Lexington County.

Dickey's legal professional didn't reply to a request for remark.

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox Information Digital and FOX Enterprise. E mail tricks to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.