Friend accused of lying about ‘kind-hearted’ man’s drowning death in SC is prison-bound
A “kind-hearted” man drowned — and now, a friend accused of lying about his death has been convicted of murder, South Carolina officials said.
Christopher Chad Duncan, 38, reportedly told investigators his friend fell from a river float in 2019 and couldn’t be saved. But he later changed his story and couldn’t explain why he waited hours to call 911, according to the Seventh Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Now, four years later, prosecutors in a Dec. 20 news release said Duncan has been sentenced to prison in his friend’s death. He’s ordered to serve 40 years behind bars after a Cherokee County jury issued a verdict in the case.
An attorney believed to be representing Duncan didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment on Dec. 20.
The case dates to June 2019, when Justin William Cash was found dead in the Broad River in Cherokee County, roughly 50 miles northeast of Greenville. He and Duncan met up early one morning to float on the river, a journey that should have lasted up to three hours, according to officials.
Prosecutors said Duncan told the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office he couldn’t reach his friend after he fell off the float. But he reportedly changed his story after officials found Cash with bruises and a broken hyoid bone, a sign of strangulation.
“Duncan then claimed that once Cash fell off his float, Duncan was grabbing Cash and pulling him in a headlock to try and assist him,” prosecutors wrote. “Evidence showed that Duncan was not seeking help for Cash and that he lied about going to a nearby house for help.”
Duncan also is accused of misleading officials about the location of the incident and “could not account for the twelve and a half hours that passed from when they arrived at the river until the time he called 911.”
After officials found Cash’s body, his cause of death was ruled a drowning and the manner was homicide, the solicitor’s office told McClatchy News in an email.
Cash is remembered in an online obituary as a “kind-hearted” law school graduate with a dry sense of humor. He loved spending time on his family farm and had helped to run his family’s barbecue business.
“He helped others in need and was a true gentleman,” loved ones wrote in the post on The J.F. Floyd Mortuary website. “He was an avid reader and loved old books and genealogy research.”
The Cherokee County Coroner’s Office didn’t immediately share additional details with McClatchy News as of Dec. 21.
