Columbia woman charged in veteran’s beating death over Memorial Day weekend

A Columbia woman has been charged with murder in connection with the beating death of a 76-year-old veteran over Memorial Day weekend, according to deputies.

Nikki Price, 38, of Columbia, was arrested Wednesday and is charged with murder, according to Aiken County jail records.

Price is charged in the beating death of 76-year-old Kenneth Carlisle Goodwin, whose body was found under a tarp at his home in the Wagener area of Aiken County on Memorial Day, according to Capt. Eric Abdullah of the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office. She remains jailed without bond.

Goodwin’s body was found under a tarp in the front yard of his home, about 35 miles southwest of Columbia, officials have said. The coroner said an autopsy determined Goodwin died of blunt force trauma to the head and body.

Just over a month after Goodwin’s killing, in July, Christopher Wayne Trueblood, of Gaston, was arrested by Lexington County deputies and charged with murder in Goodwin’s death, The State previously reported.

Investigators have not yet released a motive for the killing or said how Price and Trueblood knew Goodwin, but Abdullah said Price and Trueblood were in a relationship at the time.