TRENTON, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – In a bizarre twist that some might call karma, a Trenton man died of a heart attack after burying the body of his girlfriend after he strangled her, Edgefield County authorities say.
The Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office says evidence shows Joseph McKinnon, 60, strangled Patricia Dent, 65, inside the home and was burying her in the backyard when he died of a heart attack.
While covering the pit, McKinnon set the shovel aside and tried to walk away, but experienced a heart attack and died on the spot at 102 Tanglewood Drive.
Emergency medical crews were called to the scene by someone who found the man’s body just before 10 a.m. Saturday, tried chest compressions, and called 911.
We talked to Dent’s twin sister, who said the family didn’t see this coming.
“I’m shocked. I didn’t see any of that coming,” said Pamela Briggs.
She says there were no signs of any of this happening.
“Everybody who ever met her liked her. She was just full of energy. She was 65 and working,” said Briggs.
Dent was supposed to be at work that day at Mount Vintage Golf Club but didn’t show up, call or respond to texts, an employee at the golf course told deputies.
“She wanted to know if I knew where my sister was, and I said, ‘No I have no idea,’ and then it just started to play out from there,” said Briggs.
Dent and McKinnon both lived at the home, according to authorities.
“I would say a nightmare, and I want to wake up, and it’s a dream. I know it’s not. This is reality and life, and a big part of me is gone, and now I’m going to have to live with that,” she said
The bizarre incident comes as the entire CSRA sees a rise in violent crime.
Just Tuesday, a stabbing was reported in Edgefield County at 101 Trailside Drive at 3:33 a.m. Deputies say they found one victim with a stab wound at the home just outside Murphy Village. The injuries were minor.
In adjacent Aiken County, there’s been a fatal shooting in the past week as well as a road rage incident the ended in gunfire. Both of those events came on the heels of a hostage incident an shoot-out with deputies in the county.
But the bulk of the crime wave has been across the Savannah River in Richmond County, where there’s been an outbreak of shootings that have left a trail of injures and deaths.
Just this week, a man was shot Monday on D’Antignac Street, a few blocks from Laney High School and a shooting Sunday night at the Dogwood Terrace Apartments left one person with arm injuries. On Sunday, a vehicle passenger shot at deputies during a street chase.
In addition to Dent’s death, CSRA slayings since April 14 include these incidents:
- Late May 3, Charles L. Bradley, 49, of Aiken was found shot dead inside a car at Hampton Avenue and Assembly Street in Aiken. The shooting was one of three gunfire incidents that night in Aiken. No one was hurt in the other incidents.
- A shooting just before 7:30 p.m. April 23 claimed the life of Rodriquez Dunn, 31, at the Olmstead Homes in the 2100 block of B Street in Augusta. Dunn suffered at least one gunshot wound and died at the scene.
- On April 19, Brittany Dougherty was found slain outside a vacant home in the 1500 block of Conklin Lane. Her death was considered suspicious from the start, but within hours the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office ruled her death a homicide.
- On April 18, Johnnie Coleman was found shot dead in the 1900 block of Old Savannah Road. Authorities released a photo of a car suspected to have been linked to that slaying. Kelvin Lewis, 33, has been arrested as a suspect in the murders of Coleman and Dougherty.
- Jenefer Holt Herron, 52, of Augusta, died late April 18 after being shot during an argument outside the Circle K at 1739 Walton Way in Augusta. Suspect Yelena Buckner, 33, of Augusta, was later found and arrested on charges of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, deputies reported.
- JaJuan Russell, 21, of Augusta, was fatally shot early April 17 in the 3700 block of Oslo Road in Augusta. Russell was taken to Augusta University Medical Center.
- Sandersville police found the body of a man April 16 inside a home on Gwendolyn Street while responding to a report of a domestic dispute at the address. Santavious Louis Roberts, 35, of Sandersville, was arrested.
- Brandon Peebles, 24, of Girard, was shot around 10:45 p.m. April 14 in the 2300 block of Prague Court. He was pronounced dead at 11:23 p.m.
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