On a quiet Sunday in the late winter of 2015, the peaceful facade of a Wadmalaw Island home was shattered by a burst of violence that would leave a family and a community reeling. Inside, 33-year-old Kennitha LaBoard, a mother of three, found her life cut tragically short. The events of that day, February 8th, unfolded within the confines of her family's residence, a place that should have been a sanctuary but instead became a scene of unimaginable horror.
An argument had reportedly broken out, the final, fatal chapter in a history of domestic turmoil that had been simmering beneath the surface.
The alarm was raised when a concerned relative, unable to reach the family, contacted the authorities. Responding to the call for a welfare check, deputies from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office arrived at the home on Old Pond Road. There, they made a grim discovery. Kennitha LaBoard and her 54-year-old mother, Althea Goss, were found dead, both having suffered from gunshot wounds. The search for a suspect was tragically short; also inside the home was the body of George Edward Goss Sr., Althea's husband and Kennitha's stepfather.
The investigation soon confirmed the dark reality of what had transpired. Authorities concluded that George Goss Sr., 61, had shot and killed his wife and stepdaughter before turning the gun on himself in a horrific double murder-suicide. The motive was determined to be a domestic dispute that had irrevocably escalated. With the perpetrator deceased, there would be no arrests or trial, leaving the community to grapple with the senseless loss and the devastating impact of domestic violence.
In the wake of the tragedy, friends and family mourned the loss of two beloved women. Kennitha, known affectionately as 'Kupie,' was remembered as a fun-loving and caring person, devoted to her children. The incident left an indelible scar on the tight-knit Wadmalaw Island community, a somber reminder of the hidden struggles that can exist behind closed doors and the catastrophic consequences when they are left unaddressed. The home on Old Pond Road stood as a silent monument to the lives that were lost that day, a place where a family was destroyed by a final, terrible act of violence.
