In the quiet town of Aiken, South Carolina, a tragic event unfolded in the early morning hours of November 22, 2014, shattering the peace of the Cedar Creek subdivision. Inside her home on Ashbury Drive, 44-year-old Teresa 'Missi' Brant Tomac, a female, met a violent and untimely end. A graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in Civil Engineering, she was a dedicated employee at the Savannah River Plant for the Department of Energy.
Her life, however, was cut short in what authorities would later describe as an apparent murder-suicide.
The chain of events began to unravel around 1:30 a.m. when a concerned family member placed a 911 call after communicating with Teresa's husband, 62-year-old James Tomac. When officers from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office and the New Ellenton Police arrived at the residence, they discovered a grim scene. Both Teresa and her husband were found deceased inside the home. The Aiken County Coroner, Tim Carlton, would later pronounce both dead at the scene.
According to the preliminary investigation, it appeared that James Tomac had shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. Authorities noted that there had been a recent history of unspecified domestic issues between the couple, both of whom worked for the Department of Energy. Teresa was remembered as a loving mother to her twin nine-year-old sons and an adult daughter. The incident left a community in shock and a family to grapple with an immense and sudden loss. No other suspects were sought in connection with the deaths, as the case was determined to be a murder-suicide.
