Deputies found human remains Tuesday afternoon buried behind a home on Broadway Lane in the small Laurens County town of Waterloo, setting off a tense back-and-forth between two county coroners over whether the body belongs to 87-year-old Edwin Geer, a Newberry County man who vanished from his home on Oct. 6. One coroner says the case is essentially solved. The other says it is nowhere close.
A Grave Behind a Waterloo Home
The remains were discovered in a shallow grave behind the Broadway Lane residence, according to WSPA. Deputies responded to the scene Tuesday afternoon, and the remains were later exhumed and taken to Greenville for an autopsy conducted Wednesday morning, according to WIS News 10. Geer had been missing from his home since Oct. 6, and the Newberry County Sheriff's Office launched its missing-person investigation after a concerned neighbor noticed his mail piling up and reported that he had not been seen, the station's report states. Geer's 2002 tan Chevrolet pickup truck had also gone missing and was later found near, but not on, the Broadway Lane property, per the same account.
Following the Wednesday autopsy, Laurens County Coroner Patti Cannup announced that investigators had determined the body belongs to Geer, saying the identification came after reviewing available evidence and consulting with the family. The Laurens County Coroner's Office said it handed jurisdiction over to Newberry County because evidence suggests the incident began at Geer's home, which sits about 15 miles from where the remains were found. Cannup acknowledged that additional testing is still required but said she stands by her office's preliminary findings, the WIS report notes.
Newberry Coroner Pushes Back Hard
Not everyone agrees the case is settled. Newberry County Coroner Laura Kneece issued a statement calling the identification announcement premature, saying the remains have not been positively identified through scientific testing, according to WKDK. Kneece said releasing a missing person's name as the confirmed identity of remains before that confirmation is “premature, inaccurate, and irresponsible.”
Kneece said identification requires reliable scientific evidence and proper notification of next of kin before any public announcement, and that scientific confirmation of the individual's identity remains pending, per the same outlet. She added that her office will not compromise the identification process or families' dignity to release information first. Officials have not released additional details regarding a cause of death as forensic testing continues, the WIS report states.
An Active, Multi-Agency Investigation
The case remains active and involves the Newberry County Coroner's Office, the Newberry County Sheriff's Office, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, according to WKDK. The Newberry County Sheriff's Office was expected to provide a case update Friday at 10:30 a.m., per WIS News 10's report. Under South Carolina law, the agency that ordered a medical examination is responsible for returning a deceased person's body to next of kin residing in the state, a provision that also applies to coroners and solicitors, according to the South Carolina Code of Laws.
For now, the two coroners' offices remain at odds over a case that has drawn statewide attention to a quiet corner of Laurens County. Cannup's office maintains its preliminary identification while Kneece insists the public deserves certainty, not speculation, before a name is attached to the remains.
