Hanahan homicide victim’s Toyota pickup found at Goose Creek Walmart

The pickup truck belonging to a man who was slain last weekend in Hanahan was found abandoned this afternoon in a Goose Creek Walmart parking lot, according the police.

Lt. Michael Fowler of the Hanahan Police Department said the silver Toyota Tacoma caught the eye of a Goose Creek patrol officer just after 3 p.m. outside the store at 605 St. James Ave. The officer ran the license plate and found that it was 71-year-old Roy Bennett’s vehicle, according to Fowler.

Fowler said the discovery will be helpful for investigators trying to catch who killed Bennett, who was found around 2 p.m. Sunday on a bed inside his home at 2 Lombardi Lane. His limbs were bound with duct tape and a bag was placed on his head, according to the person who reported the death.

An autopsy did not immediately indicate how he died.

The neighbor who found the body around 1 p.m. Sunday said two men were seen in the Toyota earlier in the day, which he said was out of the ordinary.

The neighbor, who was returning a lawn mower he had borrowed from Bennett, also reported finding several empty alcohol bottles inside the house.

Detectives found no sign of forced entry at the home, and Fowler said Bennett’s killers likely knew him. Neighbors said that at least two men might have been living at the home and that several other people were in and out of the house last week.

Bennett was an Army veteran and retired electrical engineer.

He had been the focus of an investigation after state agents found child pornography on his home computer in 2009. The case was still pending and likely headed toward trial.

Bennett last had contact with the police Friday, when officers inquired about a man who had cashed $10,000 worth of his checks. Harry Shane Dupree, 39, of Vine Street in Goose Creek, was arrested July 10 on forgery charges.

Fowler, the Hanahan police official, said it’s not known whether Bennett’s past played into his death.

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.