Post by Scumhunter on Mar 1, 2022 12:44:23 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: independentmail.com via Detective Joe Burke via Facebook)
From independentmail.com:
Nearly 25 years ago, someone was looking for fill dirt at a dump site on Old Belton Highway when he stumbled across a body.
A handful of law enforcement officials arrived and scoured the scene in May of 1997 around 11 p.m. and blocked traffic from traveling down the deserted, dimly lit road.
Coroner Greg Shore, who's still coroner today, saw the face-up body buried in rubble and building materials, wrapped in material and behind Michael's, a former ice cream restaurant.
The severely decomposed body was identified as Paula Thomason, 34, a Piedmont woman who had been missing for two months.
She was identified by fingerprints and the clothing she was wearing, since it matched the clothes she was wearing when she went missing.
Thomason's parents saw reports about the body and contacted the police to further identify her, Sgt. Marlene Barnes said, after Thomason's body was found.
At the time her body was found, Shore said "she definitely was placed there after a very unusual death and we suspect foul play."
Cause of death was clear, due to anterior neck trauma, Shore said, as he read through his notes from 25 years ago. That trauma could have reflected being strangled, he said.
Her murder has remained cold, unsolved, for over two decades.
The case has recently reopened and Anderson Police Detective Joe Burke has been working on it for two months, he said in a Facebook post.
Burke has reached out on social media to the Anderson community to gather more information about her death.
"My partner and I are seeking any information that may help solve this case and bring closure to Paula's remaining family members," Burke said in a social media post.
What we know about Paula Thomason
Thomason lived in Piedmont, more than 20 miles away where she was found.
"It's sad that it's still unsolved. Somebody out there took this life and was never accountable for it," Shore said.
He's looked at cold cases since the late 60s; there are around 25 unsolved homicides in Anderson County. But it is unusual for unsolved homicides to be cold this long, he said.
"It could be tied to other homicides that we've had in our county or surrounding counties. Unfortunately people that commit homicides and get away with it sometimes don't stop there," he said.
The Saturday after Thomason's body was found, family gathered at Thomason's parent's home in Piedmont to talk to police, the Independent Mail reported in 1997.
"She was happiest when she was helping somebody else," Thomason's sister Debbie Hipps said in 1997.
Thomason was divorced and did not have children, Hipps said. She was a foster mom of a 6-month-old temporarily and diligently took the baby girl to doctor appointments and church.
When the baby's family was ready to care for her again, Thomason "never got over that," her sister said.
When Thomason initially went missing, she had started a new job at a Greenville bib manufacturer. She had worked with the company for one day before she went missing but was excited about starting the new job, Hipps said.
Thomason's family talked to her on the phone shortly before she disappeared.
"She called us a lot lately," Hipps said at the time, "just told us that she loved us."
Anyone who knows about her death can reach out to Detective Burke at jburke@cityofandersonsc.com
www.independentmail.com/story/news/local/2022/02/28/anderson-county-unsolved-homicide-1997-case-reopened/6879190001/
Thoughts?
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