‘Check on your family.’ Two sisters dead for years found mummified inside Clover home

York County deputies walked through an open side door at a home near Clover, S.C., on July 31, 2019 and immediately found a dead body.

It was Thomas Stephen Gardner Jr. Gardner, 45, had shot himself, coroner and sheriff’s officials said. Deputies also found a gun and two letters he had written.

Gardner had known for several days that law enforcement officers and social services agents were coming to the house at 331 Griggs Road in York County. They were coming for a wellness check on an elderly woman.

Deputies found the woman, 77-year-old Ruth Olivia Allred. They also found 69-year-old Susan Gardner. Both women were dead.

Susan was Thomas Gardner’s mother. Allred was Susan’s sister.

The bodies had been wrapped in plastic, and appeared to have been dead for years, sheriff’s officials said.

No one knew the women had died. There is no evidence that neighbors, friends or family members had checked on them. Attempts to reach family members of Allred or the Gardners for this story have been unsuccessful.

According to the National Council on Aging, one in 10 Americans aged 60 or older experiences some form of elder abuse. That abuse can be physical or emotional. It also can be exploitation, neglect or abandonment. The abusers often are family members, according to the council.

York County Sheriff’s Office Detective Pete Branham described in a report what he saw when he went in the back bedroom where the women’s bodies were found. Other deputies also gave details in their reports.

“They appeared to be female and mummified,” Branham wrote.

“The house was in complete disarray and heavy with cob and spider webs. There was little coolant in the home and it appeared that dogs at the residence had destroyed most of the home, with feces and urine on the floors .... Boards were nailed closing off areas of the house and electrical wiring was just laying on the floor or wrapped around door handles,” Branham wrote.

A plywood partition, plastic and other barriers blocked the back of the home, lead detective Sgt. Walter Beck and York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said.

Coroner officials took the bodies from the home and testing was done over months. The letters that Thomas Gardner left said Susan Gardner had died in 2015, and Allred had died about six months later, according to sheriff and coroner officials.

“The condition of the remains were consistent with the time frame given by Mr. Gardner,” York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said in a written statement.

It was determined that Allred had died from arterial disease, Gast said. The cause of death for Susan Gardner is undetermined, Gast said. The coroner’s investigation showed there was no evidence of trauma or injuries to either woman, Gast said in the statement.

Finding the women’s bodies led to a months-long investigation by the sheriff’s office. The case has prompted Tolson to urge York County residents to consistently check on neighbors and family.

“We are such a busy society now, more reliant on social media.,” Tolson said. “If you suspect something is going on, you can check on your family, you can check on your neighbors. Knowing your neighbors, knowing what their habits are, knowing what seems out of place, all is helpful.”

Tolson said society, himself included, are less likely to know their neighbors. He said a physical check by a family member, friend or neighbor is a good idea if it can be done safely.

“This incident was rare, almost unheard of, and we hope that we never have another one like it,” Tolson said.

Determining what happened

Sheriff’s office dispatch and case records obtained by The Herald through a S.C. Freedom of Information Act request show that on June 26 and July 5, 2019, two calls were taken by dispatchers from an extended family member of Allred. The caller said no one had been able to contact Allred. The caller expressed worry about Allred, according to sheriff’s office dispatch records.

But the calls did not allege criminal activity, Tolson said.

He said law enforcement officials can’t go in a home without reason to believe someone is in danger. The calls did not meet that level, Tolson said.

“We had no probable cause to check inside the house or go in,” Tolson said. “There were no signs outside of problems. There were no 911 calls, no calls from the house, no unusual issues that could be seen.”

Thomas Gardner regularly mowed the lawn, said Beck and Capt. Carson Neely of the sheriff’s office. Neely runs the detective division and was incident commander after the bodies were found.

Electrical power was on in the home, deputies said. Dogs at the home were seen outside by neighbors and were not malnourished or without water or care, Beck said.

Officials at the department of social services first received a call on July 15, 2019 asking agents to check on Allred for potential elder abuse or neglect, said Pam Bryant, S.C. Department of Social Services communications director. Bryant said the York County DSS agent, who asked for a police escort, was responding to that July report.

Bryant confirmed that on July 16, DSS agents talked by phone with a person at the home. Bryant and other DSS officials declined further comment.

A Freedom of Information Act request by The Herald for DSS records in the case was denied, citing confidentiality laws in abuse and neglect investigation cases.

However, sheriff’s office records from the investigation show that on July 16, a DSS agent called deputies to set up security for DSS to make the in-home visit. The DSS agent told deputies that Susan Gardner and Thomas Gardner were believed to live in the house with Allred, records show.

According to sheriff’s office investigative records, after the bodies were found a DSS agent told deputies that he had spoken to Thomas Gardner on July 16 -- but not in person. The agent also was not able to see Allred, deputies said.

Thomas Gardner told the DSS agent on July 16 that Allred, Susan Gardner and he lived in the house but no one was at home. The investigation by deputies revealed that Gardner told DSS officials through an outside speaker device at the home that the two women were in Florida, Neely said.

“That claim that the other people were on a trip to Florida clearly was found out later not to be true,” Neely said. “He (Thomas Gardner) was lying about the status of the other two people.”

So the DSS agent called sheriff’s office deputies to set up the July 31 in-home visit.

How did no one know for years?

Thomas Gardner wrote that he had not contacted authorities because he was afraid he would be blamed for the women’s deaths, Gast said in the statement.

Deputies interviewed people connected with Gardner, his mother and his aunt. Deputies also reviewed state and federal records, and other documents.

“We spent hundreds of hours in this investigation trying to determine what happened,” Tolson said.

Detectives determined that Susan Gardner owned the house and her older sister, Allred, had stayed with her. Detectives discovered that Allred had been disabled, Tolson said. Both women received government benefits, Tolson said.

Investigators also determined that Thomas Gardner had for years used Food Stamp and Social Security benefits sent to his aunt and mother, Tolson said.

Financial exploitation is a form of elder abuse, according to the National Council on Aging.

Thomas Gardner listed the Griggs Road home as his mailing address, according to S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and other records. However, deputies said they don’t believe he lived at the house during the years his mother and aunt were dead and undiscovered.

Detectives interviewed a woman who lived in Gaffney, S.C. The woman told officers that Thomas Gardner moved in with her in 2015 and stayed until a few days before the bodies were discovered, according to detectives and sheriff’s office investigative case records.

Thomas Gardner had told the woman his mother was in a nursing home after a stroke.

Beck, Neely and Tolson said that claim was not true.

Detectives also found out during their investigation that on July 23 -- after the phone call from DSS where Thomas Gardner lied about his aunt and mother being on a trip to Florida -- Thomas Gardner broke up with the woman he had been living with.

The woman told detectives Gardner had been “acting funny for a little while,” according to a transcript from the interview.

The woman told detectives that Gardner said on July 23 she was better off without him, records show. Gardner then broke off the relationship, the woman told officers.

No reports of concerns

Because there had been no calls for service at the house until weeks before the bodies were discovered, Tolson said deputies had no knowledge of what was inside and had no cause to check.

Tolson said the best way to avoid a similar situation is for families, neighbors and concerned people to regularly check on each other.

“There’s probably a portion of the population shaking their heads, why didn’t police find them before,” Tolson said. “But before then we had no authority to go in the home. A family member can go in a house, but law enforcement has to have probable cause or a warrant to go in.”

A neighbor told detectives at the scene on Griggs Road on July 31 that he believed an older woman lived in the house, but hadn’t seen her in at least three years.

“Everybody in the neighborhood thought something weird was going on,” the neighbor told detectives, according to case interview reports.

However, no neighbor had ever reported any concerns to police, Tolson said.

Danielle Belton, caregiver advocate for the Catawba Area Agency on Aging, said it’s important for residents to note the basic routines of their neighbors and to call police for a welfare check if something seems amiss. Examples include: an individual no longer leaves the house for routine appointments; or no longer does tasks such as checking the mail or walking a pet.

Belton said it is also crucial that people as they age continue to keep in contact with those outside their home, even if they can no longer leave it.

“It’s important for people to build a community around you even as you age,” she said.

Tips for older adults:

Elder abuse can be emotional or physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment. Elder abuse can be prevented in a number of ways. Here are some tips for older adults to stay safe, from the National Council on Aging:

• Older adults should seek a power of attorney or living will to address health care decisions ahead of time. This limits confusion later. Before signing documents, you should seek independent advice.
• Older adults can decrease social isolation and the related risks by staying active in their community and remaining connected with friends and family.
• If possible, seniors should send and open their own mail.
• Never give personal information over the phone. Older adults should have their own phone if possible.
• Use direct deposit for all checks.
• Seek professional help for depression, drug or alcohol concerns.
• Take care of your health and voice any concerns with your caregiver.

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 12:25 PM with the headline "‘Check on your family.’ Two sisters dead for years found mummified inside Clover home."

Andrew Dys

The Herald

803-329-4065

Andrew Dys covers breaking news and public safety for The Herald, where he has been a reporter and columnist since 2000. He has won 51 South Carolina Press Association awards for his coverage of crime, race, justice, and people. He is author of the book “Slice of Dys” and his work is in the U.S. Library of Congress.