Just 24 hours after a coroner's inquest found that a Darlington County woman didn't die of natural causes, police have arrested her nephew for the murder.
Just after 2 o'clock Friday, deputies took 30-year-old Gerald Byrd, Junior into custody for the murder of his aunt, 64-year-old Mary Ann O'Neal. In May, she was found dead at her home near Hartsville.
Initially, Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee ruled that she died of natural causes, but was bothered by that ruling. "I did have a suspicion of something not being quite right. I had a gut feeling that things just weren't adding up."
After an autopsy found O'Neal died as a result of blunt force trauma, the coroner became even more unsettled. But medical examiners couldn't find a specific pattern of injury that showed O'Neal was struck with an object. So, Hardee ordered a coroner's inquest.
"That's what we were trying to do in the inquest is find out where that blunt force trauma came from," said Hardee.
The inquest jury ruled that O'Neal died at the hands of another. At that point, the sheriff's office got involved and began looking into an assault on O'Neal at her home a week before she died.
Darlington County Sheriff Wayne Byrd said, "The question initially was- was it possible that she was injured in that altercation and didn't die until a week later. We didn't think that was the case."
Instead they believe O'Neal was assaulted again, resulting in her death.
Police say information gathered at the inquest led them to Gerald Byrd, Junior.
Byrd remains at the Darlington County Detention Center, where he awaits a bond hearing.
