Exclusive: Police documents reveal details of $1.15 million break-in at Hilton Head school

Nearly a year since Hilton Head Island Middle School was ravaged overnight in two separate incidents while under construction, causing over $1 million in damages , four people were charged for breaking in and vandalizing the building after one suspect came forward to law enforcement and social media posts made during the crime surfaced.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office charged four people — Brandon Neduasa, 23, his brother Daniel, 18, their 14-year-old neighbor, and a 17-year-old — with second-degree burglary and malicious injury to property over $10,000, stemming from the July 3, 2023 event. The Neduasa brothers and the 14-year-old garnered the same charges again for a subsequent event on July 17, 2023.

The Neduasa brothers attended Hilton Head Island High School but didn’t graduate, according to school district spokesperson Candace Bruder. The Neduasa brothers and the 14-year-old lived near the school.

Police did not name the brothers’ 14-year-old neighbor and the 17-year-old because they were charged as minors. Because he turned 18 between the two incidents, Daniel Neduasa was charged as a minor for the first burglary and as an adult for the second.

In the early morning of July 3, 2023, the two minors and the Neduasa brothers entered the middle school through a propped-open door, according to the sheriff’s office police reports. It’s alleged they spray-painted and discharged fire extinguishers, damaging electronics, furniture and hallways. Later that morning, Principal Clinton Austin reported the crime and alerted the sheriff’s office of a TikTok video of Daniel “messing around” inside the school. No cameras were inside the school following the first incident and law enforcement didn’t immediately install cameras.

Two weeks later, on July 17, police reports say the brothers and the 14-year-old vandalized the school again, gaining entry through the same door. The second time, they caused more destruction, entering the brand-new section of the school and discharging extinguishers, pouring paint thinner on floors, spray painting “random items” and squirting shampoo in the auditorium. Between the two incidents, the vandals racked up $1.15 million in needed repairs by damaging more than 75 classrooms, locker rooms, bathrooms, the gym, the cafeteria, the auditorium and hallways, according to the clean-up contract.

Beaufort County Schools Chief Operations Officer Robert Oetting described it as a “fire without a fire,” as if a fire damaged the building. After the second incident, the sheriff’s office installed temporary surveillance cameras inside the school for two weeks, which captured nothing remarkable.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office took almost a year from the first break-in to make the final arrest of the four vandals. Through the Freedom of Information Act, The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette obtained police reports piecing together the 11-month investigation that revealed the office did not collect evidence, including video proof and fingerprints. The office failed to interview Daniel, or any suspect, about the crimes until nine months after the events despite having immediate evidence, including security footage of Daniel outside the school at the time of the second incident and incriminating social media photos. All of the evidence used was given to the office by outside parties.

“We always want to try to do as thorough of a job as possible,” office spokesperson Master Sgt. Danny Allen said as to why the case took nearly a year to yield arrests.

He said the case was complicated by the suspects not being caught in the act, the school being under construction and multiple people having access to the building, making evidence collection more challenging. He said there were also delays in receiving information from insurance companies and the school district. And, “if other cases come up, sometimes other things get put on hold for a little bit,” he said, explaining that the office prioritizes victim-based crimes like murder and assault.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office closed the case. Responding to The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette’s Freedom of Information Act request, the sheriff’s office redacted social media photos and video, surveillance photos and video, images of the damage and body cam footage of interviews.

The Neduasa brothers’ public defenders didn’t immediately respond to Aug. 12 phone calls and voice messages.

Every case is different, but eleven months from the first incident to arrest is a normal timeline for this case and the office is satisfied the proper procedures were followed, Allen said.

Investigation after the first incident: July 3, 2023

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office’s actions after the first crime didn’t prevent the Neduasa brothers and 14-year-old from vandalizing the school a second time two weeks later.

Hilton Head Island Middle School Principal Clinton Austin said that one of the sports coaches or construction workers “forgot to lock a door and left it propped open” overnight from July 2 to July 3, 2023, according to the report. The reports said when staff entered the next morning, they thought the fire extinguisher residue was dust from construction, that was until they found multiple empty extinguishers. The investigating officer documented that he “was not able to collect evidence due to the building and area being cleaned and moved around at the time.”

There is no mention of fingerprints or attempts at fingerprinting in the report, which Allen said was partially because fire extinguishers were sprayed everywhere, which prevents fingerprinting.

“It’s a school that’s also under construction,” Allen said. “It’s multiple different people in and out, touching multiple different things, so fingerprints won’t really help.”

On July 3, 2023, a tipster told Austin that he saw the TikTok video of Daniel “inside the school messing around” with a 2:34 a.m. timestamp. Austin and the officer were “unable to view the TikTok due to neither one of us having the application,” and the tipster was “unable to send the video,” according to the report.

“We’re not on TikTok. We’re not on Snapchat,” Allen said. The office’s Instagram is “not used for investigative purposes.”

Also on July 3, 2023, the investigating officer “attempted to contact” Daniel and wasn’t successful, according to the report. The report didn’t detail any further investigation or interviews until after the second incident.

Similarly, the office waited to set up cameras.

The principal told the officer that the cameras inside the building were shut off due to construction, according to the reports. Despite this, the office didn’t put cameras inside the school until after the second vandalism case.

Investigation after the second incident: July 17, 2023

Investigators waited nine months to confront Daniel — the immediate suspect based on the TikTok video — and the case’s breakthrough didn’t come from evidence collected by the office. The turning point was the 14-year-old coming forward weeks after Daniel’s first interview.

Daniel, who was 17 during the first incident, spoke with police for the first time in March 2024, when officers showed him a Snapchat photo placing him at the school on July 3, 2023, at 2:34 a.m., according to reports. It was a photo the principal gave officers in July 2023.

In this interview and following interviews, law enforcement used evidence available in July 2023, not documenting any new evidence in the nine months between the second incident and the first interview, according to the reports. During Daniel’s first 25-minute interview with police, he denied involvement with the second incident.

About one month after the office’s first interview with Daniel, the 14-year-old suspect came forward to law enforcement in April, naming the Neduasa brothers as suspects in both break-ins, setting a timeline and providing a narrative of the incidents. The one-hour police interview led to the office “speaking with” Daniel again and with Brandon for the first time, according to the reports.

Here is what the 14-year-old said happened during the July 3, 2023 incident:

• He and Daniel connected remotely over the Fortnite video game and then walked to get snacks and drinks at the nearby gas station around 1 a.m., where they met up with Brandon.
• They walked to the middle school, where they noticed a door was left propped open.
• They called two friends, at least one of which the police haven’t identified or arrested.
• They entered and passed around the school’s fire extinguishers, spraying the building.
• They didn’t access the newer section of the building because “a doorway between the older and newer sections was secured.”

Here is what the 14-year-old said happened during the July 17, 2023 incident:

• Daniel, Brandon and the 14-year-old were walking around at night and found the same door, near the lunchroom and building’s backside, open.
• They threw shampoo, conditioner and cleaning products throughout the school auditorium.
• They spray-painted graffiti inside and outside the school with spray-paint containers they found inside the school.
• The 14-year-old denied smashing electronics, although staff found computers broken and smashed.

One month later, in early June 2024, police interviewed Brandon for the first time. Brandon corroborated the 14-year-old’s story during the 10-minute police interview. Brandon said he found out about the school from a Snapchat video and that people were already spray-painting and vandalizing when they entered. It was unclear in the interview whether he referenced the first or second incident. He identified himself in a 3 a.m. security camera picture from the backside of the school on July 17, 2023, according to the records. The police obtained the surveillance footage shown in May 2024.

Also in June 2024, the family of the 17-year-old charged only in the first incident told police about his involvement. In a first interview a few days later, the 17-year-old admitted to spraying a first extinguisher but didn’t name anyone. In a subsequent interview, he named the Neduasa brothers and two others.

Arrests

The destruction didn’t push back Hilton Head Island Middle School’s renovation completion date, according to the project reports, which say the $30.7 million project is set to finish in 2025 .

The school paid $50,000 as an insurance deductible for the necessary $1.15 million in repairs, said school district spokesperson Candace Bruder. The disaster recovery team, Servpro, contract predicted it would spend about 20 days cleaning up the damage.

The Neduasa brothers, the 17-year-old and the 14-year-old were arrested in June 2024, more than 11 months after the first incident. The brothers were released without posting bail based on a written agreement promising they’d appear in court. A court date hasn’t been set.

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• In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
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