Charleston man arrested day after missing SC woman’s body found, police say
A day after a missing South Carolina woman’s body was found, a man has been charged in her death, the Charleston Police Department said Wednesday.
Mark Dwayne Walton was charged with accessory to murder for his role in the death of Celia Marie Sweeney, police said in a news release.
Information on the 36-year-old Charleston man’s specific role in Sweeney’s disappearance and death was not available.
Walton was arrested Tuesday night and is being held at the Al Cannon Detention Center, jail records show. Police say he’s scheduled to have a bond hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Sweeney, 28, was found dead days after she was reported missing, police said. Her body was discovered in a Spartanburg County home, along with a dead man who was considered a person of interest in her disappearance, according to police.
Police identified that man as Buddy Allen Carr, the resident of the Spartanburg County home.
Sweeney was beaten to death, with Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger saying she was killed after suffering blunt force trauma to the head.
The coroner’s office said an autopsy has not yet been performed on Carr, 32, and no preliminary cause of death was given.
Information on how Sweeney, Carr and Walton knew each other was not available. Carr’s Inman home is more than 200 miles away from where Sweeney was last seen.
Sweeney’s co-workers and friends reported her missing to Charleston police Feb. 28.
The Charleston resident hadn’t maintained contact with them, or showed up to work, which was out of the ordinary behavior for her, police spokesman Charles Francis told The State.
Police said officers did a welfare check at Sweeney’s residence and found she was missing along with her car, a 2010 dark colored Audi S5. The abandoned vehicle was located late Saturday night, according to police.
Sweeney’s death is still under investigation, police are asking anyone with information to call 843-743-7200, or Lowcountry CrimeStoppers at 843-554-1111.
