Tattoo could hold key to identifying body found in freezer at abandoned SC house
S.C. law enforcement officials are hoping a tattoo holds the key to solving the mystery of a body found in a freezer in an abandoned house last week.
The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office released a photo of a tattoo found on the shoulder of a man’s body, hoping it will help identify the man and how he ended up in an abandoned home in a rural area of the Midlands of South Carolina.
The tattoo shows a man’s face underneath a sun. Orangeburg Sheriff Leroy Ravenell also identified the clothing the man was wearing when he was found; size 34 PacSun blue denim stacked skinny jeans, a short-sleeve t-shirt and a brown Gucchi belt.
“We have a distinct tattoo and also a clothing description that we’re hoping can be used to make an identification,” Ravenell said in a press release Thursday. “If anyone recognizes any part of the description, please get in touch with us.”
The man’s body was found Jan. 3 by a group of teenagers riding all-terrain vehicles who decided to visit what they heard was a “haunted” house in the area. There, they discovered the man’s body inside a freezer on the property.
The mystery deepened on Jan. 5, the house burned to the ground in what law enforcement described as “suspicious” circumstances.
The two-story house had stood for 100 years on Woodview Circle about three miles east of the town of Norway. The home had been empty for a decade.
The sheriff is asking anyone who might have information about the case to contact the sheriff’s office at 803-534-3550 or CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC (274-6372).
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 8:29 AM.
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