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As law enforcement officials continue to try to understand the events that surrounded the burning of a Blewer Road home where a woman's body was found Tuesday, new details emerged surrounding the incident and the man charged in connection with it.
The State Law Enforcement Division on Wednesday released an affidavit saying the body of Ruby Rawls Thompson, 31, 261 Blewer Road, Cordova was mutilated before it was burned in the fire. Her live-in boyfriend, Oscar Beecher McDowell, 28, of the same address, has been charged with arson.
The affidavit alleges that, "the defendant mutilated and dismembered his girlfriends' body in the den area of the residence. He then piled available material on top of the victim in the middle of the den floor and poured a flammable liquid on the pile and then set the liquid substance on fire."
On Wednesday, the stench of smoke still lingered at the sooted ruin of the house that stood on Blewer Road.
The property surrounding the burned building was filled with more than 10 law enforcement officers from the State Law Enforcement Division and the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office searching for weapons that might be hidden on the property.
"One weapon, a revolver, still of unknown caliber has been found," Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said. "We've also found some projectiles. So, we're doing a complete grid search of the property. We're going through this whole place with a fine-toothed comb, not leaving any stone unturned."
Williams said McDowell will appear in court today for a bond hearing and to be formally charged with the arson. He said the results of the autopsy on Thompson's body have not yet been received.
This is not McDowell's first scrape with the law, according to SLED documents.
His woes started in 1995 when he was only 17 years old and he was charged with simple possession of crack cocaine. He was sentenced under the S.C. Youthful Offender's Act to one year probation and 75 hours public service work.
In 1996, he was arrested on four counts of passing fraudulent checks; the SLED report does not detail the disposition of those charges.
In 1997, he saw another charge of possession of crack cocaine and he was sentenced under the Youthful Offender's Act.
In 2000, he was charged with failure to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to 91 days. The S.C. Sex Offender's Registry lists a 1994 conviction for criminal sexual conduct, second degree.
In 2006, he was charged with three counts of forgery, more than $1,000 but less than $5,000; one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and safecracking. The charges from 2006 are still pending disposition.
"This is obviously a very troubled young man," Williams said. "But in cases like this, you really have to consider the victim's family, what they must be feeling, how they're dealing with their loss. There's no easy answer to any of this."
One of Ruby Thompson's friends said she witnessed an earlier incident where McDowell's temper got the better of him.
"I think he was obsessed with Ruby," LaToya Edwards said. "I was at her store one day after they closed and he (McDowell) came by. He started pounding on the door so hard, I thought he was going to break it. Ruby wouldn't let him in and you could tell he got madder and madder. He eventually left, but then kept calling back.
"I told her then that I was scared for her," Edwards said. "In fact, I was scared for both of us that day, because I believe if he had gotten in, he would've killed both of us. After that day, I felt that he might kill her. And I told her so."
Edwards remembered her friend, who worked at Mystic Pathways, as a nurturing person.
"She was the kind of person that wouldn't hurt anybody or anything. She was a real down-to-earth, loving person," Edwards said. "She would do anything for her friends. Such a nice person, such a nice person.
"I found out that she had died when I saw the wreath on the door of the store, Mystic Pathways," Edwards said. "I was out of town and went by there to see her. When I saw the wreath, my mind went immediately to her. I felt like he had done something to her. Then one of our friends told me. I'm still in shock. It's so hard to believe she's gone. I last saw her two weeks ago and I didn't get to really say anything to her. She was just so nice."
T&D Staff Writer Thomas Brown can be reached by e-mail at tbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.