Myrtle Beach man charged in laundromat death of woman

Crime scene tape stretched around the outside of a laundromat in a Socastee strip mall where a 65-year-old woman was found dead under “suspicious circumstances” Friday morning.

One man has been arrested for murder.

Horry County police investigated the slaying of Wanda Wohnig of Myrtle Beach, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Darris Fowler, Horry County Deputy Coroner. She was stabbed to death, Fowler later confirmed.

Jon Paul Joseph Marston, of Myrtle Beach, has been arrested and is facing charges of murder, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Marston was identified as the suspect by police early Friday.

Police released a photo of a “person of interest” who they wanted to question, a photo of a possible witness, and a surveillance photo of a “vehicle of interest” in the case; however, police declined to comment on what time they were called out to investigate the death within the Socastee plaza at 4505 Socastee Boulevard.

Most of the storefronts within the Socastee Plaza strip mall where Wohnig was found are vacant. But employees at the businesses that are there were shaken by the death happening so close to their shops, and said they thought it could hurt their business.

“It was chaotic. There was no way you could have even gotten into the parking lot,” Damion Colclough, barber at The Nyborhood Barbershop and Styling Salon near the laundromat said of when he arrived for work around 8 a.m. Friday, the area teeming with police and first responders.

Barbershop Owner Robyn Wilson said she just hung out her shingle in February and worried about the crime she was seeing in the area, was concerned for her own safety, and how the death investigation would affect her business.

“I just opened and people ride by and I want them to ride by and visit my shop to come get services here, but they drive up and see a crime scene. It’s bad,” Wilson said.

She also said she felt terrible about someone being found dead.

Arsenio Mendez, owner at La Casita Mexican Restaurant, is just a few spaces away from the laundromat, and was at his restaurant working late with his wife until about 1:30 a.m. Friday. He said his wife saw a van in the area, but nothing else, and noted the lights were turned out at the laundromat then.

He returned to work the next morning to find a police presence and crime scene tape.

The doors to his business will officially open Saturday, and he also worries about the affects the investigation will have on his new business. He, too, questions the safety of the area.

Jimmy Register, a maintenance worker at Nikki’s Bar and Grill located at the tail-end of the strip mall, said he arrived to work about 8:30 a.m. to find swarms of police.

“It’s a little upsetting. A woman can’t do her laundry in the morning without something happening to her,” he said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach man charged in laundromat death of woman."