Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

Video released in I-26 slaying

Law officers hope images of young mother in convenience store will jog memories

Authorities on Thursday released surveillance video from inside a convenience store on Bush River Road that might offer clues into what happened to a Columbia woman found dead in her car Sunday.

Natasha Warren, 23, wearing a white shirt and jeans, is seen walking into the Sunoco convenience store and gas station Aug. 22. There are at least two other customers in the store when she enters and stands in line at the counter.

She went into the store four times for a total of 10 minutes between 10:15 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said.

Warren twice got change from clerks, likely to use an outside pay phone. The video the department released is of her last trip into the store.

She called the post office’s processing and distribution center on Dixiana Road in West Columbia where she worked as a mail handler.

Warren also called a family member. Investigators know who Warren called, but have declined to release the name or say whether she reached anyone, citing the ongoing investigation.

Lott said he hopes the video will jog someone’s memory. Police are looking for anyone who might have seen someone with Warren or approach her .

Police said Wednesday that Warren went to the gas station to call for help with a flat tire because her cell phone was not working.

Warren was found shot once in the upper body inside her car on the Interstate 26 exit ramp at Bush River on Sunday afternoon.

The mother of two also worked at Providence Hospital as a patient care assistant, sometimes called a nurse technician. She had started the job nine days earlier, hospital spokeswoman Jeanna Moffett said.

Warren had been with the post office since November 2006, said Harry E. Spratlin, postal service spokesman.

A funeral is tentatively set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Calhoun County High School, her sister, Adrian Warren, said. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the H.J. Jenkins Funeral Home in St. Matthews.

Reach Tate at (803) 771-8549.