Authorities found a man’s decomposing body in the basement of the house after neighbors reported a foul odor.
Adeodoyin Babafemi Odutola, 36, was arrested on Tuesday at Hephzibah, Georgia, and is jailed in Augusta awaiting extradition. South Carolina officials charged Odutola with murder, kidnapping, and first-degree burglary in the death of Ledford.
Eldon. W. Ledford, 61, the victim, was found in November in a home in Jackson, South Carolina, which is in Aiken County. Police found the man’s decomposing body inside a basement with his hands and feet tied after neighbors reported a foul smell coming from the house.
Local CBS affiliate WRDW-TV reported that police visited the South Carolina home where Ledford was found for a well-being check. Police found Ledford’s body after a neighbor reported a foul odor coming from a house where there had been no activity for several weeks.
One of Ledford’s acquaintances asked police to check on him because no one had seen or heard from him in days. Police then called Fresh Market in Augusta, which is where Ledford was looking for a job at the time.
An employee says Ledford went there for a meat-cutting test and he was offered a position, but he never came back. No one could find Ledford until police got the call about the foul smell.
Police said when they got to his house, his car was in the driveway, and when they went into the home, they saw drawers had been pulled out in all rooms.
Officers said they found the back door open, a bloody shirt on the floor, open cabinets in the kitchen and burned documents on the stove and in the sink, and other rooms ransacked.
According to investigators, a piece of furniture was blocking a door and once officers cleared the way and entered the basement, they found the body of Ledford.
Aiken County Coroner Darryl M. Ables ruled in February that Ledford, whose hands and feet were tied, had died of blunt force trauma. According to the Associated Press, it’s unclear if Odutola has a lawyer to speak for him. Police said the death is an ongoing investigation.
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