Inquest rules Society Hill woman's death a homicide

The suspicious death of a 64-year-old Darlington woman was ruled a homicide Thursday by a jury of inquest.

Mary Ann O’Neal of Darlington was found dead in her home near Society Hill on May 9, Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee said.

An autopsy performed in Newberry found O’Neal died of a subdural hematoma caused by blunt force trauma to her head.

Pathologists, however, were not able to determine the manner of her death, said Janice Ross, a Newberry pathologist that testified during the inquest.

The manner of death was recorded as pending because examiners found no specific pattern of injury that would indicate she was struck with a specific object, Ross told the jury.

Hardee said the inquest was held at the request of a family member.

A coroner’s inquest is a judicial hearing where evidence and testimony are presented to a jury that will decide how a person came to their demise.

There are five manners of death— natural, accidental, suicide, undetermined or homicide.

Homicide is when a person dies at the hands of another, Hardee said.

A verdict of homicide doesn’t necessarily mean a crime was committed or that charges will be filed against someone — it simply means that someone else was involved in O’Neal’s death, Hardee told the jury.

Darlington County Sheriff’s deputies have been investigating the case since May, Darlington County Sheriff Wayne Byrd said Thursday.

The verdict means that investigators can probe deeper, he said.

Investigators will continue looking into the case and it is unclear if any arrests will be made or charges filed, Byrd said.

Guilt nor innocence is not established during an inquest, but Hardee did inquire about events that took place in the week before O’Neal’s death.

Several witnesses told the jury that O’Neal has been severely injured — possibly during a physical assault— days before her death.

Dana Byrd, a close friend of O’Neal’s, testified that she saw her the night before her death and was “blown away” by her appearance.

Byrd became emotional as she recalled that O’Neal was “black and blue” with bruises all over her body.

Byrd said O’Neal told her that night who had injured her but Hardee asked Byrd to withhold that person’s name during the inquest.

She was so appalled by the bruises, she photographed O’Neal so there would be evidence of the injuries, Byrd said.

Those pictures were turned over to Hardee during the inquest.

O’Neal’s doctor, Robert Elder of Hartsville, testified that he treated her injuries a few days before her death. She told him she’d been assaulted but did not say who was her attacker, Elder told the jury.

Medical officials who responded to O’Neal’s Hartsville Highway home after her death said the injuries were visible that day, but they couldn’t gauge how old the bruises were.

Several of O’Neal’s family members, including two sons of her sons and her nephew testified there had been a huge brawl at her home involving the three men the Sunday before her death.

It is unclear how it started, but all three said they were fighting among themselves and she was not harmed during the altercation even though she pulled two guns on her sons during the incident.

Florence Police Sgt. Julie Duff was asked by deputies to perform a polygraph on some people involved in O’Neal’s case.

When some were asked during the test if they had injured O’Neal, deception was detected, Duff testified Thursday.

“Deception means that person is lying,” she said.