Joseph McKinnon Trenton, South Carolina man dies of heart attack after strangling girlfriend Patricia Dent he buried in the backyard.
Define poetic justice? A South Carolina man accused of strangling his girlfriend died of a heart attack while burying her in their yard according to reports.
Joseph McKinnon, 60, killed Patricia Dent, 65, at their Trenton home Saturday, the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies responded to the residence following reports of ‘an unresponsive male lying in his yard,’ Sheriff Jody Rowland said in a news release.
When they arrived, they found McKinnon’s body. Medical crews were called to the scene and tried to revive him, Fox Carolina reported.
But there was more to come.
During their investigation, deputies found a second body in a freshly dug pit, Rowland said. The body was identified as Dent, who lived with McKinnon.
‘Didn’t see this coming…’
He had a ‘cardiac event’ while covering the pit, authorities said. Investigators believe McKinnon attacked Dent in the home. An autopsy determined she died by strangulation.
‘Mr. McKinnon then bound her and wrapped her in trash bags before putting her in the previously dug pit,’ the sheriff’s office stated.
Speaking to the victim’s twin sister, the sibling told WRDW that the family ‘didn’t see this coming.’
‘I’m shocked. I didn’t see any of that coming,’ Pamela Briggs told the media outlet.
While adding there were no signs of any of this happening.
“Everybody who ever met her liked her. She was just full of energy. She was 65 and working,’ the sibling added.
On the day she was strangled, Dent was supposed to be at work at the Mount Vintage golf course but had yet to show up. Workers trying to reach her said she didn’t answer calls or respond to text messages. They would find out later that day why…
