YORK COUNTY, S.C. -- The men accused of setting two bodies on fire tried to burn the evidence as well, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.
Donald Creswell Jr., 45, and Steven Parker, 33, are each charged with murder in this double homicide case, which crosses county lines. At least three agencies are investigating what the Cherokee County sheriff called a "drug deal gone bad." Two bodies were found in the back of a burning pick-up truck in rural, western York County late Thursday night.
Those victims have been tentatively identified by the sheriff's office as Aron Lucas Young, 35, and Jerry Dwayne Farmer, 43. Their bodies were scorched to the point that DNA samples will be needed to confirm those names.
Neighbor Michael Blackwell said, "There have been drug issues up the hill in the past."
The Cherokee County sheriff said Friday evening that their portion of the investigation started the night before. Deputies were tipped off to a possible shooting at 411 Jumping Branch Road. Detectives said they arrived to find Creswell burning carpet outside the house. Police believe this was an attempt to destroy evidence of a violent crime.
"He saw the subject outside with a large debris pile burning. And saw the carpet, matching the story from the tip," said the sheriff.
After executing a search warrant, the sheriff's office took the man into custody for possession of meth.
The York County residents who discovered the truck noticed flames in the woods, where there are now charged trees and dirt, just hours after deputies went to the house in Cherokee. They thought someone had just thrown a cigarette out the window of a car on this secluded road, as sometimes happens. They came out with extinguishers and water to put out that fire, and made the gruesome discovery.
The woman who alerted police is one of the few people who lives off of rural dirt Bonner Horton Road near Scenic View Road. The land near there is hunting land and very secluded. The truck was located a bit off the roads, not far from a gate of one of the hunting lodges. The woman tells NBC Charlotte the bodies she found were tiny, basically just bones, and positioned head to head in the bed of the truck.
York deputies arrived on scene just before midnight. The two sheriff's offices spoke about the two scenes, and Cherokee deputies immediately believed the bodies were their victims.
Hours after the investigation started, it was turned over to the Cherokee County sheriff. Deputies say the two victims were killed at the Jumping Branch Road House and their bodies dropped off on the York County road. The boyfriend of the woman who found the bodies, who didn't want to identify himself, says they're all shocked and a little scared.
"You don't expect that out here. Maybe people drive by, throw some fireballs out the window or something, but nothing like this," he said.
Cherokee deputies arrested Parker off of Norman Boulevard in Gaffney on Friday afternoon.
Additional charges are expected against both suspects.
