South Carolina
Columbia
Police seek clues in homicide
Richland County law enforcement authorities are investigating the apparent killing of a person whose body was found Sunday morning in a wooded area off U.S. 321 about seven miles north of downtown Columbia.
“We believe the victim was shot,” said Deputy spokeswoman Arielle Riposta.
“We are investigating it as a homicide.”
Coroner Gary Watts said he had no identity on the victim, whose body was found shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday.
An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, he said.
Riposta said the two people clearing a path along a woodline near Boswell Road and Wessinger Lane found the body. The area is behind Oak Hills Country Club and off Fairfield Road, which becomes the Winnsboro Road. It is a main route from Columbia to Winnsboro, the county seat of Fairfield County.
Deputies, crime scene analysts and investigators were on the scene Sunday collecting information, Riposta said.
The body was that of a white male.No further information was available Sunday.
Columbia
Woman slips to death from trestle
A North Augusta woman died early Saturday morning after falling into the Savannah River from the railroad trestle near the 5th Street Bridge, according to several local media reports.
Rebecca Lord Hagler, 23, was pulled from the river by the Richmond County dive team about 7 a.m.
Repeated calls from the Aiken Standard to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office were not returned on Saturday.
Witnesses said they saw Hagler walking across the trestle with friends when she fell, apparently attempting to climb a ladder on the edge of the trestle, and slipped. Deputies said the call came in about 3:30 a.m.
Just hours after the body was found, thousands of spectators descended on the banks of the river near the trestle for the Augusta Southern National boat races.
Hilton Head Island
Hit-and-run driver sought
The South Carolina Highway Patrol is searching for the driver of a hit-and-run vehicle that struck a Hilton Head Island man early Saturday after the man was ejected from his pickup in a separate accident on the Cross Island Parkway.
Jimmy Hedrick, 45, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 3 a.m. accident just west of the toll booths, according to Cpl. Bob Beres of the Highway Patrol. He said Hedrick was driving in the westbound lane when his 2006 Ford Ranger veered off the right side of the road. Hedricks then over corrected and hit the median, causing the truck to overturn eight to 10 times, Beres said.
Hedrick, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected and landed in the eastbound lanes, according to Beaufort County deputy coroner David Ott.
Hedrick was then struck by a light colored car or SUV, Beres said. That driver did not stop.
The body was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for an autopsy, Ott said.
The cause of the first accident is unknown and the Highway Patrol said an investigation into both incidents is ongoing.
CHARLESTON
Citadel plans outside look into sex abuse claims
The Citadel plans an independent investigation into how it handled a sex abuse complaint against a former summer camp counselor who went on to molest several children in the Lowcountry.
Citadel President John Rosa told The Post and Courier of Charleston (http://bit.ly/QohLFS ) that the military school has always planned an outside review of how it handled allegations made in 2007 against Louis “Skip” ReVille.
ReVille pleaded guilty in June to nearly two dozen child sex charges and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
ReVille was a counselor at a Citadel summer camp in 2002. A former camper told school officials in 2007 he had been molested by ReVille five years earlier. The Citadel conducted an internal investigation, but never told police about the allegations. ReVille was arrested last year.
COLUMBIA
Suspended lawyer faces lawsuits over $500,000
A lawyer suspended last month by the South Carolina Supreme Court now faces two lawsuits that he took more than $500,000 from his clients.
The suspension order signed against Richard J. Breibart gave no indication why he was suspended from practicing law indefinitely.
But lawsuits obtained by The State newspaper (http://bit.ly/LGYy0y ) accuse Breibart of taking more than $500,000 from his clients and spending the money in unauthorized ways.
The newspaper couldn't reach Breibart for comment, and a friend says he has suffered health problems and has been in and out of the hospital.
Breibart is a Lexington lawyer who has handled a number of high profile civil and criminal cases in his long career in South Carolina.
