A 15 year old girl is found beaten and burned to death less than 5 miles from home In the spring of 2004, the life of 15-year-old Silene Eaddy, a female from Columbia, South Carolina, was tragically cut short in a brutal and still unsolved crime. On the evening of April 15, 2004, Silene, who was also known as Erica, was last seen leaving her home on Fountain Lake Road between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. She had told her adoptive mother, Brenda McCoy, that she was going for a walk to a neighbor's house.
It was the last time her family would see her alive.
Two days later, in the early morning hours of April 17, firefighters responded to a brush fire in a wooded area near the intersection of Pincushion Road and Montgomery Lane in southern Richland County. Amidst the smoldering embers, they made a gruesome discovery: the body of a young woman who had been severely beaten and set on fire. The remains were later identified through dental records as those of Silene Eaddy. An autopsy would reveal the horrifying detail that soot was found in her airways, indicating that she was likely still alive when she was set ablaze.
The investigation into Silene’s murder was launched immediately, with law enforcement believing that the fire was intentionally set to destroy evidence and that she likely knew her killer or killers. Tire tracks were found at the scene, but they did not yield enough information to identify a vehicle. Despite extensive efforts by the Richland County Sheriff's Department, including going door-to-door, conducting checkpoints, and appealing to the community through local churches, the case grew cold. Investigators have stated they believe people in the community hold information that could solve the case, but a code of silence has hampered their progress.
Over the years, Silene's case has been featured in various cold case initiatives, including a deck of playing cards distributed in South Carolina prisons, with her story on the three of diamonds, in hopes of generating new leads. However, despite these efforts and occasional statements from law enforcement that they were close to a breakthrough, her murder remains unsolved. No arrests have ever been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified. Silene's mother, Brenda McCoy, passed away in 2020 without ever knowing who was responsible for her daughter's death. The case remains an open investigation with the Richland County Sheriff's Department's Cold Case Unit, a painful reminder of a young life violently extinguished.
