The Item from Sumter, South Carolina • 1

iTUESDA WEATHER JUNE 12 2007 TODAY COOLER i A couple if afternoon I Details on pagolOA jJ jt HIGH: 84 LOW: 62 Ml Acr rV 44 444 1 VOLUME 112 NUMBER 237 FOUNDED OCTOBER 15 1894 SUMTER SC 50 CENTS HITTING THE LINKS Practice under way for 107th VS Open SPORTS IB For more than 30 years authorities have tried to identify two people brutally murdered and eventually found dead near the Florence County line Now that their bodies have been exhumed and their DNA has been extracted authorities hope they can finally give its Evaums iresiges Master-in-equity return to office after 1-year suspension By MARY DOLAN Item Staff Writer Judge Linwood Evans has resigned his post as master-in-equity effective last Friday after a suspension by the state Supreme Court and Sumter County is unsure who will be his permanent replacement Last year Evans was suspended after master-in-equity office former employee Shirley Holloman was charged with embezzlement The Sumter County Office announced in May of last year that the State Law Enforcement Division was investigating the master-in-equity office for the misappropriation of at least $500000 After more than three months of investigation Holloman was indicted on embezzlement charges Evans was suspended exactly one year ago He became eligible to resume his position today but said in light of recent events he chose to resign Just last month the Sumter County Master-in-Equity office was removed from the Sumter County Courthouse Sumter County Clerk of Court Jamie Campbell said because Sumter master-m-equity office is a part-time operation it will be the responsibility of the appointed judge to handle cases out of his al office SEF EVANS PAGE 9 A TOXIC? Water at Camp Lejeune suspected in death illness of military families NATION 5A SUMTERSIX Summer music 4 series continues Thursday with The Fantastic Shakers PANORAMA 6A rrrmiH DOWNERS GROVE 111 (AP) It was a one-in-a-mil-hon find Literally Most of the 17-year cicadas that have emerged in recent weeks in parts of the Midwest have red eyes But a 6-year-old boy in this Chicago suburb found a rare blue-eyed one'in his back yard Friday Nicholas mother Maria said her son learned about the blue-eyed bugs in kindergarten so he decided to go out and hunt for one himself I found a blue-eyed he yelled upon the discovery his mother recalled been looking for a long nmmn James Blyther Sr Viola Bradley Charles Cabbagestalk Mary Emma Choice William Commander James Davis Julia Dwyer Lucille Garcia Julian Rembert PAGE 9A 2 SECTIONS 20 PAGES Sumter County Coroner Verna Moore holds a femur bone Monday as Dr Keene Garvin it to obtain a DNA sample of one of two victims of a 30-year-old murder Photos by Keith Gedamke The Item of Newberry Pathology Associates cuts and SC 341 about 25 miles east of Sumter near the Florence County line They were buried side by side after their bodies lay airtight coffins with glass lids for a year in a building behind the former Shelley-Brunson Funeral Home on East Liberty Street in the hope that someone would recognize them Travelers from all over the country who were missing their loved ones stopped by to look at the two but all left with their prayers unanswered Dr Keene Garvin an assistant pathologist and senior morgue technician at Newberry Pathology Associates who helped perform the autopsy on the man and woman in August 1976 said at the time fingerprints and photos of the two were taken and sent all over the country but that generate any leads Garvin who volunteered his time to the case was able to take bone and dental samples from the bodies on Monday The samples were not the best condition SI DNA PG1 9 4 By CRYSTAL OWENS Item Staff Writer nr II he bodies of an unidenti- fied man and woman who were killed more than 30 years ago in Sumter County were exhumed on Monday allowing authorities to extract DNA samples that they hope will help to locate a living relative The case is one that has plagued Sumter County Coroner Verna Moore for years is my job the job to identify she said Moore has never lost hope that one day she will find someone been missing the two But even if a full DNA profile is extracted from the samples taken on Monday it could take years to find a match Authorities will be comparing the samples to DNA databases at the State Law Enforcement Division the FBI and Interpol If a relative has ever submitted a DNA sample the databases can match it to the unidentified man and woman is it What else can you Moore asked Monday as she watched volunteers with Elmore" Hill McCreight Funeral Home pull one of the concrete coffins from the grave at Bethel United Methodist Church cemetery least we can rule out whether or not they were brother and The two were buried in plots donated by the church on Aug 14 1977 Their bodies were found on Aug 9 1976 lying face up on the shoulder of Locklair Road a dirt road between Interstate 95 Keith Gedamke The Item Steven Galloway listens as opening arguments in his trial for the 2005 shooting death of a Lakewood High School student begin Monday afternoon at the Sumter County courthouse Testimony begins in Galloway trial Man accused in shooting death of high school student By CRYSTAL OWENS Item Staff Writer1 A man accused in the 2005 shooting death of a Lakewood High School student said he intend to kill the teen but he did intend to shoot him a witness for the prosecution said Monday Steven Galloway 38 of 55 Harmony Court is facing a Sumter County jury on charges of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the Sept 4 2005 death of 16-year-old De-Andre Cover If convicted he faces 30 eais to life in prison Cover died from a gunshot wound to hiS back Galloway is being represented by Arthur Wilder Jr a Sumter County public defender who submitted a motion for a continuance Monda based on his lack of time to prepare for the trial Thirteenth Circuit Judge James Few denied the motion Court officials said Galloway had dismissed the public defender as his attorney before he was reappointed to the case on Monday see GALLOWAY pvge 9 ABOVE: Dr Keene Garvin of Newberry Pathology Associates examines the skull of a man killed in Sumter County more than 30 years ago County Coroner Verna Moore and the Sumter County Office exhumed the two bodies to obtain DNA samples and more advanced dental records in hopes of solving the case RIGHT: After exhuming the bodies of the two unidentified victims authorities were able to extract DNA samples that they hope will help them locate a living relative The samples will be compared to DNA databases at the State Law Enforcement Division the FBI and Interpol wwwtheltemcom To contact altera call GLNFRAL 774 1200 CLASSIFIEDS 774 1244 DELIVERY 774 1258 NEWSSPORTS 774-1226 QSfllBBNl ISHINC COMPANY n'h I 4 20 North Magnolia Street Suimer South Carolina 29 1 SO (ISPS S2S-900) I i4.