Posted on 11/22/2013 8:56:06 AM PST by Gamecock
ROCK HILL — A heavily tattooed man is accused of killing a father who had been missing for a month and then hiding his body under a pile of brush in Lancaster woods, deputies said on Friday.
David Adam Pate, 24, has been charged with murder and remains at the Lancaster County Detention Center without bond, according to a Lancaster County Sheriffs Office news release. He had been in jail on a public disorderly conduct charge since Nov. 11.
Last Saturday, a group of children playing in the woods near Mullis Circle found the decomposing body of Rickey Wesley James, a 33-year-old man who family members said had been missing since Oct. 18, deputies say.
Authorities say Pate and Rickey James went into the wooded area alone. There, Pate killed Rickey James, deputies say, and hid his body under a pile of brush.
James, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., had been living with his brother in Bennettsville but spent his weekends in Lancaster, said his brother, Antwan James. On his most recent trip, he left his brothers home early in the morning and never returned. Attempts to reach him on a cell phone were unsuccessful.
His brother, Antwan James, said Rickey James last sent a text message to his girlfriend saying he was with an acquaintance drinking Moscato wine.
Antwan James on Monday said his brother had been found only 20 feet away from his house. He claimed that there had been a persistent foul odor in the air. Once his brother was found on Saturday, he realized he was smelling his brothers decomposed body.
He said attempts to initiate a search for his brother were unsuccessful after police said Rickey James disappearance did not meet the criteria for a missing persons case because nothing appeared suspicious. Rickey James had also disappeared in the past without telling family only to resurface days later.
Lancaster County Coroner Mike Morris said the way Rickey James died is still under investigation. Autopsy results have not returned, and officials still have not determined a preliminary cause of death.
Coroners are planning more tests, he said, and will send Rickey James body to an anthropologist at North Carolina State University who might be able to help officials discern how he died.
He was so badly decomposed, you couldn't tell, Morris said, adding that forensic pathologists would be unable to really determine a manner of death because there was little evidence that could be recovered from the body.
The anthropologist, Morris said, will look at Rickey James bones to determine if they had been hit by a bullet or cut by a knife.
Deputies have not released a motive.
Our deepest condolences go out to the family of Mr. James, Sheriff Barry Faile said in the news release. We suspected Pate almost immediately but had to wait on lab results to prove it. We are thankful he is in jail where he belongs.
Cuddly-wuddly ping.
"Hi! I'm your ObamaCare navigator!"
*Begin gravel tongue voice*
“Hi.. I’m yer new babysitter!”
Obama voter
Has the rat party contacted him yet about running for Congress? POTUS? Obviously he has all the qualifications: ....No, but he has been extradited to Canada to replace the Mayor in Toronto. Obama felt it was a step up for them.
His parents must be so proud.
Let me guess...
He has no job?
Wonder what the eyelid tatts say.
“Satan” above his right eyebrow, an upside down Iron Cross beside the left eyebrow, just generally a creature with little to no human vibe at all, not so much pure evil as stupid, utterly lacking morals and very, very suggestible.
Just goes to show: you never know how the High School Valedictorian is gonna turn out.
South Carolina Ping
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**Wonder what the eyelid tatts say.**
*Don’t Leak*
I knew it — another son of Obama.
looks like “fear me”.
Obviously a graduate of an Ivy League school and on his way to the top. He needs to step us his meth dosage though.
You shouldn’t go into the woods with that thing unless you are an alligator at least ten feet long.
Leni
What is the deal with his tongue ?
They can protect them all they wish. When I go to a place of business and see one of them working there, I will turn around and leave.
Is that ‘thing’ of the human race?
My guess is demonic possession.
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