Beaufort County cold case murder suspect out on $100,000 bond
The man who was charged with murder in a 38-year-old cold case last month has since bonded out of jail.
On Nov. 19, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office announced that Cortez Sabino Lake, 76, was charged with murder in connection to Margit Schuller’s 1987 death.
The cold case dates back to Nov. 1, 1987, when, around 8:30 p.m., Schuller was shot in the head with a .22 caliber pistol in the laundromat at Palmetto Apartments on Harding Street in Burton. She then crawled out of the laundromat and 12-year-old daughter found her body underneath a tree.
Nearly a month after his arrest, Lake bonded out of jail on Friday.
His bond was set at $100,000 by circuit court judge Robert J. Bonds, according to court records. The bonds were paid in part by an individual and in part by a local bonding company.
As conditions of his release, Lake must remain under house arrest from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., have no contact with the victim’s family and is prohibited from possessing firearms.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19, according to court dockets.
Lake, an Illinois native, lived in the same apartment complex as Schuller at the time of her death, according to the sheriff’s office. His apartment was located between 600 and 800 feet from Schuller’s apartment at the time of her death. Investigators noted that he was likely not questioned when the original detectives canvassed the apartment complex.
Investigators said that limitations in forensic science prevented investigators from making any definitive link to a suspect until recently, when they were able to match Lake’s DNA to a blood trail separate from the victim’s that was left near the crime scene.
