Missing SC woman’s body found with dead man, who cops say was a person of interest
The search for a missing South Carolina woman came to a sad end Monday when her body was found, along with a dead man who was considered a person of interest in her disappearance, the Charleston Police Department said.
Celia Marie Sweeney was found dead days after she was reported missing, police said. The 28-year-old Charleston woman’s body was found at an Inman home and her death was called a homicide, according to Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger.
At the request of Charleston police, Spartanburg County sheriff’s deputies investigated the Inman residence of a person of interest, identified as Buddy Allen Carr.
Deputies found the bodies of Sweeney and Carr at the home, police said.
Sweeney was beaten to death, with 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.
There has been nothing official that Carr killed Sweeney, but Clevenger said none of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation feel like there is any danger to the community.
Information on how Sweeney and Carr knew each other was not available. His 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.
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.
Investigators identified Carr as a person of interest and reached out to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for assistance.
SLED is leading the investigation into Carr’s death, while Charleston police lead Sweeney’s investigation, with continued assistance from the sheriff’s office and coroner’s office in Spartanburg County.
With Sweeney’s death still under investigation, police are asking anyone with information to call 843-743-7200, or Lowcountry CrimeStoppers at 843-554-1111.
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This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 6:12 AM with the headline "Missing SC woman’s body found with dead man, who cops say was a person of interest."
