News from around The Carolinas

South Carolina

SPARTANBURG

Woman, child killed in house fire

Authorities say a woman and child died in an early morning house fire in Spartanburg County.

Coroner Rusty Clevenger says 38-year-old Shirley Leannetta Hill and 5-year-old Gradyun Vashone Lijuana Hill were killed in the fire just before 7 a.m. on Sunday.

Two people who live at the house were able to get out and tell authorities that there were still people inside.

Investigators are still trying to figure out what started the fire. Autopsies are also scheduled to determine the cause of death.

GREENVILLE

Woman returned in boyfriend’s death

A woman arrested in Louisiana last year in connection with the murder of her boyfriend has returned to South Carolina.

Elvira Seay was being held Sunday in the Greenville County jail on charges of murder and weapons possession.

Seay was arrested in November in New Orleans after she was pulled over for a cracked windshield and broken turn signal.

The body of Juan Luis Tafoya-Gonzalez was found on a dirt road in Woodruff in May. Authorities say he had been shot several times about four days before in a Greer home he shared with Seay.

Detectives say Seay told them she left Greenville the day of the crime and went to New Orleans.

Seay was denied bond Friday night. It wasn’t known if she had an attorney.

AIKEN

Suspect in officer’s death to be in court

A 26-year-old man charged with killing a South Carolina officer is expected to appear in court Monday.

Magistrate Judge Tracey Carroll said Sunday that Joshua Tremaine Jones was scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge Monday in Aiken.

Jones was arrested Saturday after police said he killed his girlfriend in Georgia, then fatally shot a South Carolina officer responding to a report of suspicious activity.

Aiken police Master Cpl. Sandra Rogers died Saturday. She had been with the Aiken Public Safety department for nearly 28 years.

Police found the body of 21-year-old Cayce Vick in her apartment Saturday after she didn’t show up for work. She had been shot in the head.

Jones’ father told reporters his son had past run-ins with the law and “was going through some mental problems.”

MONCKS CORNER

5 years later, monks grow mushrooms

Almost five years after an animal rights group complained about the treatment of chickens by a Roman Catholic abbey in South Carolina, the monks are now earning their daily bread with mushrooms.

It hasn’t been easy for Mepkin Abbey north of Charleston. Brother John Corrigan oversees the growing of oyster and shiitake mushrooms and says there were times he wanted to give up.

Now, he says they’re making almost as much from mushrooms as they did from eggs.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals accused the abbey of running a factory egg farm. The abbey said there was nothing wrong and state and federal officials took no enforcement actions.

But the publicity was a distraction for the monks who settled on mushrooms as a new way to support the abbey.

North Carolina

GREENSBORO

Man: State drained bank account

A Greensboro man says the state of North Carolina drained his bank account because officials mistakenly believed he owed them $5,000 in taxes.

WGHP-TV in Greensboro reports that Tommy Marx got a letter recently saying he owed North Carolina taxes from 2008.

But Marx says he moved to Oregon in 2008 to find a job.

Marx says his bank account is completely empty. Revenue officials say that, if an auditor thinks the state is owed money, an automated garnishment can be put into place.

Officials would not comment on Marx’s case but said auditors review federal tax records to see if people are up to date on those payments.

Marx says auditors tell him they are working to put the money back into his account.

RALEIGH

Police: Funeral director swiped money

A former North Carolina funeral director who left a body in a hearse for nine days has been accused of taking a woman’s life insurance money after her husband’s death.

The Times-News of Burlington reports that Graham police charged 57-year-old David Lawson on Friday with obtaining property by false pretense.

Authorities say a woman signed over $24,000 in life insurance policies to Lawson to pay for her husband’s funeral. But Ella Troxler says Lawson never gave her money left over after taking out more than $8,000 for the services.

Lawson lost his license in December for illegally selling pre-need services but lacking money to repay refund-seeking customers.

In 2010, Lawson left a woman’s body in his hearse while he waited for documents allowing him to have her body cremated.

From wire reports