The inmate, Cynthia A. Caron, who died at the Colleton County Detention Center on Jan. 28, was incarcerated on charges in the 2018 murder of Ashley Murdaugh, neglect of a child, armed robbery and assault and battery.
Murdaugh was reported missing on Aug. 6, 2018. For approximately two weeks, Murdaugh had been reportedly staying at Cynthia Caron’s home at 46 Cumberland Rd. where Caron, then 53, lived with her daughter, Martina F. Wolf, then 30.
Murdaugh’s body was found Aug. 22, 2018 about 250 feet into the woods from Caron’s home. An autopsy revealed her cause of death as strangulation.
On Aug. 23, Caron, Wolf and Wolf’s boyfriend Alfred L. Taylor Jr., then 23, were arrested on murder charges in connection with Murdaugh’s death. A fourth person, John Dunigan, then 53, of Walterboro was also charged with accessory after the fact in the murder.
In addition to the murder charge, Taylor and Caron were charged with unlawful neglect of a child or helpless person. The arrest warrants alleged the two had placed a juvenile boy “in reasonable risk that affected the child’s mental health and safety.”
Earlier that same month, on August 7, the three were arrested in connection with an unrelated incident, charged with armed robbery and assault and battery.
Those charges stemmed from an incident at Caron and Wolf’s home on Aug. 2. A deputy interviewed a man at Colleton Medical Center for head and facial injuries. The victim said he was hit on the head, tied up with rope and robbed at gunpoint at the Cumberland Road home. Caron allegedly held a gun on the victim while his cell phone and identity cards were taken. The victim also reported a handgun was missing from the glove compartment of his car.
An ambulance was called after the victim began having a seizure. A deputy sent to the residence said he was told by a female that the victim was assaulted outside the county and arrived at the home injured.
Investigators alleged that Murdaugh was murdered inside the residence three days after that incident.
Also charged in Murdaugh’s death were Wayne Andrew Moore, 55, of Cottageville and Tammy Ann Lott, 40, of Moncks Corner, who were taken into custody on accessory after the fact charges. They too allegedly helped remove and dispose of the body.
Shannon Fisk Steinbronn, 49, of Dorchester was also charged the morning of Aug. 24 on charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer and obstruction of justice in Murdaugh’s death.
