Dara Watson - South Carolina - LOCATED DECEASED

[LadyBlue]

Updated: Feb 11, 2012 9:17 PM EST
MT. PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) -
The fiance of a missing Mt. Pleasant woman was found dead in his home Friday afternoon and police are trying to locate the missing woman.

The Charleston County Coroner's Office confirmed that the body of David Hedrick was found in his home Friday around 12:45 p.m. The cause of death is still under investigation.

Neighbors say he is the fiance of Dara Watson, a 30-year-old Mt. Pleasant woman reported missing. According to neighbors, Watson lived in the home with Hedrick.

Multiple agencies are searching a wooded area near Halfway Creek Road after they found Watson's car burned Friday night in the same area. Authorities say Watson's car was set on fire.

Mt. Pleasant police, The Charleston County Sheriff's Office and the SWAT team are all involved in the search.
www.live5news.com/story/16913803/authorities-searching-for-missing-mt-pleasant-woman-in-wood

[LadyBlue]

The Charleston County Coroner pronounced David Hedrick dead at 12:45 Friday afternoon. The fiance of missing person Dara Watson, was found in the couple's shared Mt. Pleasant home three hours before MPPD released the official missing person's report.

Mt PleasaCharleston County Sheriff's deputies, the Department of Natural Resources, Forensic Services and K9 units to search the Francis Marion National Forest on Saturday.



On Tuesday, the Forestry Commission found Watson's silver Envoy in the woods off Halfway Creek Road between Highway 41 and Steed Creek Road. It took several days for authorities to identify the burned SUV.

"At this point, it's an active investigation and we're really trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together," Mt. Pleasant Chief of Police Harry Sewell said.

The pieces fall into this timeline.

According to the missing person's flier, Watson was last seen Monday in Boone, North Carolina.

Forestry workers found her burned SUV Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday was the last time her cell phone was used. The flier said, "Watson's boss received a text message on Feb. 8 stating she was fine, but she has no been heard from since."

Then on Friday, Hedrick was found dead in the couple's Rivertowne Subdivision home. Authorities are now focused on searching the area around where Watson's burnt SUV was found.

"Nothing is more important than this young lady's life," Sewell said. "That's what our resources are poured into, so we're looking for evidence on that so we can try to locate her."
www2.counton2.com/news/2012/feb/11/6/search-continues-missing-mount-pleasant-woman-ar-3211581/

[LadyBlue]

Missing Boone woman's cellphone found in pond

Divers found Dara Watson’s cellphone in the bottom of a pond near Mount Pleasant on Thursday.

They spent hours searching her home and the Francis Marion National Forest where her SUV was found burned last week.
www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/missing-boone-womans-cell-phone-found-pond/nJGX3/

[LadyBlue]

Map of areas of interest
www.postandcourier.com/photos/2012/feb/16/102036/

A note from me. This map is a perfect indication of a geographic profile location of where to locate a person of interest in the case of a missing person. Always look within a 5 mile radius of a POI's home, then begin moving outward.

[LadyBlue]

Body found in forest could be Watson's


MOUNT PLEASANT --


Watson's cellphone was found Thursday in one of several small ponds near the North Creek Drive home.

A week of searching for 30-year-old Dara Watson ended Friday when crews scouring the Francis Marion National Forest discovered a body. Mount Pleasant Police Chief Harry Sewell announced the recovery around 1:30 p.m., but said the Charleston County Coroner's Office still must identify the person found.

Positive ID of the body could take several days, he said.


"We have suspended our search today," Sewell said. He declined to take any questions after the announcement but added, "We continue to pray for the family."

The body was found off Halfway Creek Road, among tall pines and about 150 yards from where Watson's sport utility vehicle was found badly burned on Feb. 7. Sewell said details of the discovery would not be released immediately.

Watson's former fiance, 34-year-old David Hedrick, fatally shot himself in the head Feb. 10 in the North Creek Drive home the couple shared. Watson reportedly had called off the wedding they had planned.

Watson was last reported seen Feb. 6, when she left her mother's residence in Boone, N.C., heading back to Mount Pleasant. Text messages sent from her phone on Feb. 8 stated that everything was fine, but authorities said later they believe Hedrick sent those messages to deceive Watson's family and employer.

Police said witnesses told them of seeing Hedrick emerge from the forest carrying a shovel, and hitching a ride home days before the search for Watson began.

More than 80 volunteers from 10 law enforcement and volunteer rescue squads joined in the search for Watson. Authorities focused on a two-mile-radius area off Halfway Creek Road near Guerins Bridge Road.

A Red Cross van and volunteers provided food and water to search crews. Portable toilets were set up beside the road.

Search volunteers carried sticks to sift through leaves and debris in the woods. Charleston County sheriff's Maj. Jim Brady said those searching felt for anything that gave resistance along the ground.

photo

The search team also used dogs and divers, even aerial surveillance over the last several days, Brady said. On Friday, they brought out a forensics trailer, ready to collect and store any evidence they found.

Before and after the body was found, motorists on Halfway Creek Road slowed or stopped to ask reporters and photographers what was the latest in the search. When told that a body had been found, some motorists expressed sorrow but said that at least some closure might now come.

Kellie Gandy, a Guerins Bridge Road resident, said that although the forest is sparsely populated, a lot of activity takes place.

"All kinds of people come out here to hide and to do whatever they want to," she said. Gandy said vehicles are burned in the forest often, and she speculated that the burns are linked to insurance frauds and "chop shop" parts-stripping operations.

According to their friends, Watson and Hedrick began dating in April 2008 and became engaged last month.

Hedrick served as owner and CEO of Daniel-Island-based bail bond company Palmetto Surety Corp., and Watson worked as an accountant for Verge Solutions in Mount Pleasant.
www.heraldonline.com/2012/02/18/3752988/body-found-in-forest-could-be.html