A trail of accusations and fear - The State
For at least 12 years, a charming, well-dressed man moved from woman to woman, who accuse him of leaving behind empty bank accounts, black eyes and raw fear.
Hank Hawes, now 37, rarely was punished for his alleged financial exploitation and abuse.
Now, Hawes is in jail without bond, charged in the Aug. 28 stabbing death of 36-year-old Jennifer Wilson of Columbia, a respected USC professor. Wilson, who met Hawes through an online dating site, told friends she was concerned about his aggressive behavior and broke off the relationship.
Hawes lawyer, Kris Hines, a public defender, would not comment on the case.
However, court and law enforcement records dating to 1999 reveal a pattern of behavior, one that eventually led Hawes to South Carolina and to Wilson.
Hawes bounced from one woman to another, portraying a lifestyle of sophistication and wealth, wearing nice suits and driving expensive cars. At least a dozen educated, professional women in Florida and South Carolina had complained to police, judges and each other about either his aggressive and controlling behavior or his manipulation of their finances. Some said he showed off guns to intimidate people.
He told different stories about what he did for a living. Several women allege he paid for his lifestyle by exploiting them financially. Domestic violence experts say that is a way of controlling women, keeping them attached by financially tying their hands. At least four sued to get their money or possessions back.
And he swindled his mother and grandmother out of a family home.
Hawes did not limit his abuse to personal finances.
Sworn statements in court documents and police reports obtained by The State newspaper allege he physically abused his two wives, three of his girlfriends and two of his three daughters.
To this day, many of those women remain afraid of Hawes.
But, as often is the case with domestic violence, Hawes walked a fine line that kept his victims under his thumb and the law off his back, according to his accusers and court documents.
A half-dozen men and women who crossed paths with Hawes declined comment when contacted by The State. Some said they were afraid he would seek revenge. Others expressed concern about their professional reputations.
However, three victims spoke on condition that their names not be used.
I want people to know he was a sociopath, one said.
Physical and financial control
The earliest documented case of physical violence is a 1999 conviction for battery/domestic violence in Hillsborough County, Fla.
Sheriffs deputies reported that Hawes, then 24, bit his live-in girlfriend on the shoulder during a fight. He also covered her mouth with his hands, and she had an abrasion on her elbow, according to a police report.
In an interview with The State, the woman said she met Hawes when they were in a training class for jobs at the reservation counter of Continental Airlines. They dated for six months to a year.
Now 40 and working in health care in south Florida, the woman said she met Hawes at a time when she had dropped out of college and was feeling vulnerable. She needed a strong person to take care of her.
He was dressed really well, very good looking, clean cut, she said. Said all the right things. Very sweet.
But the relationship proved difficult.
From what I remember, he was always a little controlling, and I wanted to do my own thing, go out with my friends, she said. So we would argue a lot.
Her case against Hawes is his only conviction on a violence charge.
Hawes did not contest the charge. A judge sent him to a domestic violence class.
Officials were notified on at least two other occasions about allegations of physical abuse.
In 2004, according to court affidavits filed in a Bay County, Fla., divorce case, a family therapist filed a complaint with Florida social services against Hawes after one of his three daughters told the therapist Hawes had grabbed her by the neck, shook her, dragged her upstairs and spanked her hard to punish her.
In a 2007 case in Walton County, Fla., a live-in girlfriend told police that Hawes lifted her off the ground by her neck and choked her until she passed out. She also said he grabbed her young daughter by her hair and threw her against a bathroom wall, according to a sheriffs office incident report.
The woman called police after Hawes drove her to her mothers house.
As she was meeting with deputies, Hawes called the sheriffs office to give his version of the fight, the incident report said. He told officers his girlfriend was pregnant, emotional and abusing the prescription drug Adderall, a stimulant used to treat attention deficit disorder.
Investigators wrote they could not determine who was the aggressor but tried three days later to obtain a warrant against Hawes for aggravated battery/child abuse. However, prosecutors closed the case because the girl already had been sent to Louisiana to live with her father and investigators could not examine her.
There are other documented cases blaming Hawes for financial manipulation:
A Pensacola Beach, Fla., veterinarian sued Hawes in 2007 to recover a $135,000 loan.
A Gulf Breeze, Fla., insurance saleswoman filed bankruptcy in 2008 in part because she had purchased a 2007 Mercedes CLS 550 for Hawes. The car has a base price of $68,000.
A Michigan woman who works in financial services and met Hawes through the online dating service eHarmony in 2008 loaned him $15,000, money he said he needed to pay child support. He returned $240, she said.
Thats how he made his living taking money from women, said the long-ago girlfriend in south Florida.
Earlier this year, the FBI and Greenville County Sheriffs Department opened an investigation into Hawes after three women filed separate complaints of fraud with the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center, according to a report from the Walton County, Fla., sheriffs office, which also looked into the complaints. Each said she met him through eHarmony. The report said he had stolen a combined $110,000.
In late June, though, the case was closed after Greenvilles 13th Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins determined the claims against Hawes should be handled as lawsuits, not crimes.
Mother: I was afraid of him
The divorce case in Bay County, Fla., might provide the most complete look at allegations about Hawes behavior toward women.
Affidavits, signed in December 2008, are part of the divorce record between a man and his ex-wife, who was seeing Hawes at the time. The ex-husband was trying to use other womens complaints about Hawes behavior to keep his ex-wife from taking their children to South Carolina.
The sworn statements describe years of manipulation, financial control and physical assaults toward both of his ex-wives, an ex-girlfriend, two of his three daughters and his mother and grandmother.
The documents show that Hawes first married in 1994, just a couple of years after he graduated from high school. The couple had a child in 1995. The marriage ended two years later.
His abusive behavior already had begun, according to his first wifes affidavit.
During our marriage, he was verbally very abusive, she said. He would get angry and throw things at me. Once he threw a shoe at me and gave me a black eye. He always carried a gun.
Her affidavit recounted the May 2004 complaint to the Florida Department of Children and Families involving Hawes and their daughter, but said nothing came of the complaint. She tried to obtain a protective order against Hawes but could not afford a lawyer.
She eventually agreed that Hawes did not have to pay child support in exchange for the termination of his visitation rights with the little girl, the affidavit said.
In 1998, according to another affidavit, Hawes became involved with a flight attendant who quickly became pregnant. They broke up before their daughter was born.
She described Hawes as possessive and controlling.
He would constantly call me to see where I was and what I was doing whenever I was out of town, even after I had just spoken to him to tell him I would call him back in a little while, she wrote. He would often ask to drive me to and from the airport, even though I had a parking pass and a car. Later, he got rid of his car and got me to let him use mine all the time.
The woman alleged abuse toward their daughter when the girl was 2, according to the affidavit.
Hawes put the girl on a tree branch and started to let go. When the child cried, Hawes said she needed to learn not to be afraid and refused to take the girl down until she stopped crying, the affidavit said.
Shortly after that incident, the child acted up in a restaurant and Hawes took her to the restroom.
Later that day, I discovered bruises all over her bottom that were so serious that I did not take her to day care the next day, the affidavit said. After that, I did not let him alone with her.
In June 2004, Hawes married his second wife and had a third daughter.
That woman, too, reported a manipulative relationship.
Hawes spent all her savings on expensive vacations, vehicles, his debts, legal fees and child support for his other children, according to her affidavit.
He convinced me that my family and friends, who were warning me about him, were just jealous of us and that I should isolate myself from them, the womans affidavit said. As a result, I didnt speak to my family and friends for months. He seldom left me alone.
Hawes and his second wife moved into a house where his mother and grandmother lived in Plant City, Fla.
On June 7, 2005, Hawes mother and grandmother signed over the deed to their house to Hawes for $10, according to documents filed at the Hillsborough County clerk of courts office. That same day, Hawes mortgaged the property for $166,000.
The women felt they could not stop Hawes from taking the property, his mothers affidavit said.
I was afraid of him, especially because of the gun.
Hawes installed a lock on an interior door to keep his mother and grandmother out of two rooms where he and his wife stayed, according to the affidavits. One night, he locked his mother and grandmother out of the entire house and then pulled a gun on them when they knocked on the front door, the mothers affidavit said.
He was very angry and said that I better not knock at the door like that or I would get shot, she said.
When one of Hawes daughters would visit the house, he would not allow her to speak to his relatives. If the daughter needed to use the bathroom, he would wait outside the door and then escort her back to his section of the house. On occasion, he forced the girl to urinate in mason jars, affidavits said.
I have seen him grab (his daughter) by the neck, pick her up by the neck, and swing her around, his mothers affidavit said. She would say ow and he would say That doesnt hurt. He would do this when he was angry at her or just to get her attention.
Hawes mother and grandmother took him to court when he sold the house out from under them. In November 2007, a judge ruled that he had defrauded them, according to court records.
By then, Hawes and his second wife had divorced.
Hawes mother said she did not hear from her son for some time after their dispute.
Her 2008 affidavit recounted: He said his life was better now and told me that he met someone that made him happy and that there was going to be a court hearing the next week so they could take her children to South Carolina
Trouble moves to South Carolina
The relationship that brought Hawes to South Carolina began in April 2008, when he met a Panama City, Fla., doctor through eHarmony, according to the fraud report from the Walton County Sheriffs Office.
He told the doctor he was a successful business owner and a financial consultant. He drove two Mercedes and always carried large amounts of cash.
By July 2008, he had moved into the doctors home, according to the report.
After Hawes moved in, things changed, the report said. He had a setback at work and convinced the doctor to give him cash and allow him to use her bank and credit cards, often promising to repay her but rarely following through.
The doctor was offered a job in Greenville and moved there with Hawes in January 2009. She bought a $300,000 house in Simpsonville.
But records in the Greenville County clerk of courts office show that in the fall of 2010 the doctor evicted Hawes and asked a judge to order him to return $3,447 of her property, including a Mac laptop, tools, jet ski keys and photographs with sentimental value.
Took every cent I had
Even before the doctor evicted Hawes, he was back on eHarmony. This time, in August 2010, he met a 41-year-old woman from the Greenville area who works in finance.
Hawes told the woman he worked for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, sometimes designing guns on the side, she said in an interview with The State. He also said he sold insurance.
At first, he was very charming. Dressed the part, the woman said. Sent you texts telling you he was thinking about you.
Hawes had explained his previous relationship was ending he characterized it as a common-law marriage but said he still lived with the woman because he was a stay-at-home father to her children.
He told his new girlfriend he was worried about having the money for the split.
He would kind of show you documentation, but he wouldnt let you read and scan through it letters, like from her attorney, she said.
The woman researched Hawes online and found nothing to scare her off. She offered a loan of $20,000 and Hawes signed a promissory note, a formal IOU.
The two dated on and off about six months. They lounged on the couch watching TV went to the gym together, went out with friends.
He was taking the stimulant Adderall, she said. He never really slept. He would sleep or be kind of tired and rundown for a couple of days, and then he would be extremely high and never sleep.
She described subtle forms of intimidation.
A couple of times, he put his hands around her neck and pressed the hollow at the base of her throat.
Once he pulled out a knife, but played it off as a joke.
He definitely made a show that he had guns with silencers. It would be in the back of his pants and he would take it out and put it in the glove box, or put it on the nightstand.
She remembers a conversation when Hawes stressed that a true relationship involved solving problems for a loved one.
Hawes said he needed to earn a commission. So she bought a life insurance policy from him.
Only later did she realize Hawes had named himself the beneficiary while she made the payments.
When he needed something, he would call and harass you a hundred times a day, the woman said. He was constantly calling you with his problems and his drama. So at some point, it switches to: you just throw money at him to get him off your back because you dont want to get your job in jeopardy.
All told, shes out $70,000.
He pretty much took every cent I had, she said, and Im trying to figure out how to pay bills.
Shes one of the women who went to the FBI.
The stabbing
No one investigating Wilsons death, or any friends contacted by The State, have said for certain when she began a relationship with Hawes.
But she and Hawes met through an online dating site, and by June he had rented a house on Woodrow Street in Columbias Melrose Heights neighborhood. She lived a mile or so away, on Monroe Street, in Shandon.
Wilson had arrived at the University of South Carolina in 2005. She quickly was becoming a star in her field, literacy for middle school students. She already had brought in nearly $600,000 in grants and was a published author. She was a Fulbright scholar who had taught in Tanzania and Norway.
She loved snow skiing, yoga and traveling. During the months between earning her doctorate and beginning her career at USC, Wilson taught childrens skiing in Lake Tahoe, Calif.
The month before her death, she went to Bali with a group from City Yoga, a Columbia studio. There, the small group practiced yoga multiple times a day and visited a spiritual healer. For many, it was a life-changing experience.
Back in Columbia, Hawes was following a familiar pattern, based on information that has surfaced since his arrest.
Hawes told his landlord he was a financial consultant and had clients across the Southeast. He drove a Range Rover, a luxury SUV that police now say he doesnt own.
Hawes also made a show of guns with silencers, intimidating at least one of Wilsons neighbors.
It wasnt long before someone sent Wilson an email to warn her about Hawes.
Wilson broke off the relationship; no one has said when.
On Sunday, Aug. 28, police allege Hawes stabbed Wilson to death, sometime between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.
A neighbor called police to say he heard fighting in the Shandon duplex where Wilson lived and a woman shouting, No. No. No.
But police arrived to find a dark, quiet house.
Now, investigators believe the killer was hiding inside, with Wilsons body.
Police have been tight-lipped about why they went back to Wilsons home several hours later and what led them to arrest Hawes at a local hospital.
But testimony during Hawes September bond hearing indicates he made several phone calls between 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., when he was arrested.
Since then, women from Hawes past have begun reading online news articles, talking to each other, comparing notes, expressing sorrow at what happened to Wilson.
At least one of them a first name at the other end of a Florida cell phone said she had contacted Dolly Justice Garfield, the solicitor whos handling the case against Hawes.
Another woman from Hawes past said she doesnt hold out much hope that anything will change when it comes to laws to stop abusers.
To be honest, she said, unless something tragic happens, I really dont feel they take this stuff very seriously.
Several people who talked to The State worry that Hawes will get out of jail. And theyre afraid of him.
An all-too-common story
Domestic violence is made up of a whole range of tactics designed to exert control over a victim, experts said. Financial control is a common one.
Cindy Southworth, with the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said financial abuse can back victims into a corner so they no longer have the money to leave a relationship.
Its all about power and control, she said. Controlling the money, you never have to resort to a physical punch, but its just as devastating.
Pam Jacobs, executive director of the S.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, said Hawes pattern pulls back the curtain on a misperception that domestic violence is a problem only among low-income women.
Actually, professional women are targeted a lot, Jacobs said. Its common for batterers to go after someone who is established. A lot of people see him as greedy, but its more about continuing to dominate than it is to get money.
Jacobs bristles whenever someone on the outside of these relationships accuses the woman of poor judgment.
I can see a lot of people saying, What was she thinking? Jacobs said. Because people are so quick to question the victim, they dont see that its a crime. Its not uncommon for very intelligent women who are making good decisions in their lives to believe these batterers, because they are just that good.
Southworth tells women to trust their instincts and look for patterns of controlling behavior, whether they meet men through friends or online.
The best abusers out there are never held accountable. They are so good, they know how not to get arrested, she said. Anyone can be abusive, and often there may not be any paper trail. There may not be a conviction on record because he may not cross the line, or the victim may be afraid to call the police.
At least two of Hawes victims said they called eHarmony to report he was conning women out of money.
A spokeswoman for eHarmony, Whitney Standring-Trueblood, cited privacy reasons when declining to say whether the company had removed Hawes profile from the site.
She said the company relies on members to report suspicious or harmful behaviors, which are investigated. When eHarmony receives a credible complaint, other users who have communicated online with that person are notified. However, Standring-Trueblood would not say how frequently that occurs.
Domestic violence experts also said an abusive man may threaten to ruin the career of a successful woman.
In the complaint involving the FBI, the Greenville doctor reported that whenever she attempted to end the relationship, Hawes would intimidate her and threaten her with her job, reputation, professional licenses and the custody of her children.
Theres another thing all domestic violence experts agree on: The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is when the woman decides to leave.
Jennifer Wilson had made up her mind to do just that.
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