Decomposing body discovered when deputies open barrel found at SC lake, coroner says
UPDATE: Eric Shawn Fetzer, 25, of Chesnee, S.C., has been charged with “destruction, desecration or removal of human remains regarding the body being placed in a barrel and dumped into Lake Thicketty,” the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said in a June 30 update. “Investigators expect to make additional arrests regarding this incident in Cherokee County in coming days,” officials said.
The original story is below.
A decomposing human body was found stuffed in a barrel at Lake Thicketty in Upstate South Carolina, according to Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler.
The body was found shortly before noon Thursday, June 29, in the Macedonia Community near Gaffney, officials said in a news release. Gaffney is about 55 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Deputies found the barrel near the shore and upon opening it found human remains. It appears the body had been in the container for a number of days,” Fowler said.
“Since the discovery, investigators were able to confirm late Thursday that the death occurred in Spartanburg County. ... I transferred the remains to Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger who will assume the death investigation as is protocol.”
An autopsy is planned to help with identification of the body and to find a cause of death, officials said.
Details of how the barrel was discovered and who reported it to authorities were not released.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office reports it was located near the boat ramp off Trout View Road, a two-lane road that reaches a dead end at the lake.
An interview with “a person of interest” led county investigators to conclude the death happened in Spartanburg County, the sheriff’s office said.
As a result, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office has assumed control of the death investigation, while Cherokee County detectives intend to pursue “charges for the disposal of the body in Cherokee County,” officials said.
Lake Thicketty is a 100-acre public fishing lake that is open 24 hours a day, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. It is largely surrounded by forest land, maps show.
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