He tried to cover the smell of a corpse in a closet. Now, he’ll serve decades in prison.
A Little River man will spend three decades behind bars after pleading to a manslaughter charge for killing his girlfriend and storing her body in a closet while children lived in the home.
On Monday, Leon Collier pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of unlawful neglect of a child. He will spend 30 years in prison, according to Senior Assistant Solicitor Josh Holford.
The plea happened as Collier was scheduled to have his case presented to a Horry County jury this week.
Police arrested Collier in December 2015 in connection with the murder of his girlfriend Christian Hope Phipps, of Little River. Police learned about her killing after reports of a suicidal man at the residence.
The man, later identified as Collier, talked about harming himself and made reference to possibly injuring his girlfriend.
Officers responded and smelled a “foul odor” in the home.
Holford previously said police found Phipps, 29, in a bedroom closet, with charcoal and cat litter to cover the smell. Phipps’ children, a 6-year-old and 10-year-old, were at the residence when officers discovered her body.
A coroner stated her manner of death was strangulation, and she was dead for up to a week before she was discovered.
This story was originally published March 4, 2019 at 11:37 AM.
