A family grieves, waits

Months after Adrienne Clark's death, information is sparse as police continue investigation

Something nagged at Larry Keitt as he mowed the lawn at the rental home he owns on Cambridge Avenue in North Charleston.

The green-and-white house on the corner of Accabee Road was vacant, and he was trying to spruce things up to attract a new tenant. But when he caught sight of a closed door to the shed in the yard, he thought it was odd. He had been leaving the door open and unlocked because someone had broken in several times.

He took a break from his chores and walked over to the little, concrete-block shed.

He tried to open the door, but something was behind it and blocking the way, so he shoved hard to move it. He said he then smelled the unmistakable scent of death and made the shocking discovery.

A woman's body lay just beyond the door, part of her clothing torn from her body.

"There was a little blood, probably from the upper part of her body," said Keitt, 46, a former North

Charleston firefighter. "I didn't want to disturb any evidence, so I just backed right out and called the police."

That was three months ago, and 46-year-old Adrienne "Dina" Clark's homicide remains unsolved.

The homemaker's death certificate says she died of a gunshot wound, but her family knows little more than that.

Authorities are keeping the details of the killing a secret. They won't say whether Clark was sexually assaulted, but her family said they've been given no indication that she was.

Her son Anthony Manigault said his mother had come to visit him for a week at his home in Columbia, where he is co-owner of an urban apparel store. She was drug-free the entire week, the first time he'd seen her like that since he was 10 and she became addicted to cocaine, he said.

At least they had that week, Manigault said.

Clark grew up in downtown Charleston and graduated from the former C.A. Brown High School. Three children survive her: Anthony Manigault, 30; Ashley Manigault, 26, a Mount Pleasant caterer; and Tomeeka Clark, 22, who graduated Dec. 13 from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C. She earned a bachelor's degree in education.

Anthony Manigault is the oldest, so he still can picture what his mother was like before the drugs. Before the addiction, she was a doting mother who raised her children well. But after, she became an absentee parent, and the children soon went to live with their grandparents.

"It changed her. She wasn't around anymore," he said. "They (my siblings) don't remember her before the drugs."

Anthony Manigault said he is convinced that cocaine had something to do with his mother's death.

One night in September, she left her home on Cambridge Avenue to walk to the neighborhood convenience store, and she never returned. Her body was found a week later.

"Even though some time has gone by, we're still investigating the case. We have an idea who may have been involved in it, but right now, we need a little bit more information," North Charleston police Lt. Scott Deckard said. "We do know that there are people out there who know what happened or have heard of what happened, and the information hasn't been coming in as quick as we'd like it."

Clark's father, Samuel Manigault, 77, hopes someone will come forward to help police with the case. The family needs closure, he said. "I can't get over it."

It's been a rough year for the Manigaults. Clark's mother, Vera Manigault, 68, died of kidney failure in June. Anthony Manigault has moved home to Charleston to help his father.

Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postandcourier.com.

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