A month after the bodies of two South Carolina women were found in a wooded area, Tiamo Henry Mitchell Drakeford, 29, of Camden, was arrested and charged with murder and related crimes, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Drakeford faces charges including possession of a weapon during a violent crime and desecration of human remains. The charges relate to the deaths of 35-year-old Christine Marie McAbee and 38-year-old Kristen Grissom.
The women, both from Charleston County, were discovered on August 8 in a rural part of Rembert, near Richbow Road, approximately 111 miles from Charleston County. McAbee was from Walterboro, and Grissom lived in North Charleston.
An autopsy revealed that McAbee died from a gunshot wound, while authorities await additional tests to determine Grissom’s cause of death.
Deputies were initially dispatched after a landowner found the bodies placed in a clearing. No other injuries were reported.
Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said Drakeford’s arrest does not end the investigation and more arrests are expected. He described the killings as targeted, not random acts of violence.
