Woman found shot to death in West Ashley bedroom

Charleston police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 59-year-old West Ashley woman in her bedroom.

The victim, whose identity was not immediately released, was found shot to death at 958 Orange Grove Road Sunday night, according to police spokesman Charles Francis.

According to Francis, the woman’s parents live in Columbia and usually talk to their daughter every day by telephone. They called police about 5 p.m. Sunday saying they had not spoken to their daughter in a couple of days and were worried.

The woman’s parents drove from Columbia and met police at the house. Officers went inside and discovered the woman had been shot to death, Francis said.

Investigators believe the woman knew the person who shot her, Francis said.

The house is in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood on the marsh end of Orange Grove Road. A group of neighbors standing in a yard near the crime scene Sunday night said they had never seen anything like this in the 12 years they had lived there.

The Charleston County Coroner’s Office is expected to release the woman’s identity today, Deputy Coroner Scott Ramsey said. He could not immediately say how long the woman might have been dead when she was found.

Reach Dave Munday at 937-5553