A South Carolina man died of a heart attack while burying the body of a woman he had killed, it has been reported.
The body of Joseph Anthony McKinnon, 60, was discovered by Edgefield County police in his yard on Saturday and upon further investigation, the body of Patricia Ruth Dent, 65, was located in a "freshly dug pit," authorities said, according to the Washington Examiner.
An autopsy listed Dent's cause of death as strangulation and based upon this, and after gathering evidence and speaking to witnesses, police pieced together how events unfolded over the weekend.
The pair lived together, and it is believed that McKinnon attacked Dent in their home, strangled her then "bound her and wrapped her in trash bags before putting her in the previously dug pit,” the county sheriff said, according to the Examiner.
McKinnon then dug a pit and was in the process of burying Dent's body when he suffered a "cardiac event" that resulted in his death, the outlet reported.
"I’m shocked. I didn’t see any of that coming," Dent’s sister, Pamela Briggs, told media. "Everybody who ever met her liked her. She was just full of energy. She was 65 and working."
One of Dent's co-workers reported her missing after she failed to show up at work at Mount Vintage Golf Club and did not reply to calls or respond to texts.
"She wanted to know if I knew where my sister was, and I said, ‘No I have no idea,’ and then it just started to play out from there,” Briggs explained.
"I would say a nightmare, and I want to wake up, and it’s a dream," she continued. "I know it’s not. This is reality and life, and a big part of me is gone, and now I’m going to have to live with that."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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