Months after body found in burned vehicle, homicide victim identified, SC coroner says

Nearly six months after a body was found inside a burning vehicle, a South Carolina man has been identified as a homicide victim, the Aiken County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.

Freddie Powell III’s body was discovered on July 28, 2022, the coroner’s office said in a news release.

DNA testing was required to confirm the identity of the 33-year-old Aiken resident, Coroner Darryl Ables said.

Ables said the cause of death was “homicidal violence.” Further information on the nature of the homicide was not available.

Back in July, at about 10 a.m., Aiken County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call about a burned vehicle on Boggy Gut Road, according to the coroner’s office. That’s about a mile off of Williston Road, not far from the New Ellenton area.

Deputies found the burned remains of an individual inside the vehicle, but the thermal injuries were so severe authorities could not immediately determine the race or sex of the victim, the coroner’s office said.

Although an autopsy was performed in Newberry last July, Powell was only publicly identified Tuesday.

Information about how Powell ended up in the torched vehicle, and if that was the place of death, was not available.

There was no word on a motive for Powell’s death.

No arrests have been reported, but the homicide is still being investigated by the sheriff’s office.