Man was looking for girlfriend in abandoned motel. Instead he found a body, SC cops say
A man’s body was recently found inside an abandoned motel in Columbia, according to Lexington County officials.
The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said the body was discovered Monday inside the former Motel 6 at 1776 Burning Tree Drive, according to an incident report.
The former motel was permanently closed on March 1, according to the Lexington County Coroner’s Office. It’s near Exit 106 on Interstate 26, which is the junction with St. Andrews Road in the part of Columbia that falls in Lexington County.
The coroner’s office was among the emergency agencies called to the scene by the sheriff’s department, but it has not publicly identified the victim because of the condition of the body when it was discovered. No cause of death has been indicated.
A 38-year-old man told deputies he found the body in a third-floor room in the former motel while he was looking for his girlfriend, according to the incident report. Information about why his girlfriend was believed to be in the building was not available, and there was no word if anyone else was in the former motel when deputies went inside.
The man told deputies he couldn’t remember which room the body was in, but said they could find it because it was next to a room where lots of mattresses were inside, the incident report said.
Two deputies found the room and when they tried to push open the bathroom door they saw a hand, according to the incident report.
The body was leaning against the door, making it impossible for the deputies to gain access, so they called the Lexington County Fire Service to force open the entrance, the incident report said.
The body appears to have been in the motel bathroom for possibly two to three weeks, according to the coroner’s office.
“The age and race of the male are unable to be identified due to the condition that the body was found in,” Coroner Margaret Fisher said Wednesday in a news release.
An autopsy was performed Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, according to the coroner’s office.
Preliminary autopsy results found the man suffered no apparent injuries, Fisher said Thursday. The cause of death remains undetermined pending toxicology results, according to the coroner’s office.
More information following the autopsy shows it’s probable that the John Doe was white man, about 6-feet tall, with long hair that could be brown or gray in color that could possibly have been pulled back in a hair tie, the coroner’s office said. He also had facial hair that was long and unkempt, in addition to teeth that were in poor repair with decay — but intact, according to Fisher.
The coroner did say that the John Doe was wearing jogging type pants, a blue T-shirt that had a Batman symbol on the front with skulls, and gray and white Adidas athletic shoes.
There was no word if foul play was suspected in the death, but it continues to be investigated by the sheriff’s department and coroner’s office.
Anyone with information about the death is asked to call the sheriff’s department at 803-785-8230, or the coroner’s office at 803-359-8439 during business hours, or call CrimeStoppers at 888-CRIME-SC or submit an online tip.
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This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 11:06 AM.
