A man has been charged with murder in the death of an 87-year-old Newberry County man whose body was found buried behind a mobile home in Waterloo, according to the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Lee Foster said Richard Lewis Cribb is charged with murder, first-degree burglary, armed robbery and grand larceny in the death of Edwin Geer.
Missing since early October
Geer was last seen Oct. 6 at his home in the Somerset Bay community in Chappells, a Lake Greenwood retirement community in Newberry County, the sheriff said.
The investigation began Oct. 17, when a neighbor contacted the sheriff’s office after noticing Geer’s mail piling up and no activity at his home. Because Geer lived alone and his pickup truck was missing, investigators from Newberry, Greenwood and Laurens counties began working the case together.
How investigators say the case came together
According to the sheriff, investigators learned that several people had been going in and out of Geer’s home, and Cribb became the main suspect.
Investigators said evidence showed Cribb began using Geer’s credit cards, van and pickup truck on Oct. 6, and pawned some of Geer’s belongings in Greenwood County. Cribb then went to Horry County, where authorities said he kept using Geer’s cards and pawning items.
With help from local police, Horry County deputies, SLED and federal agents, investigators tracked Cribb down and arrested him.
Excavator led to the grave
The sheriff said investigators learned that Cribb had rented a mini-excavator and taken it to a property on Broadway Lane in the Waterloo area of Laurens County.
Laurens County deputies found signs of fresh digging and land clearing at the property. Geer’s missing truck was found several miles away on Whitten Road.
Using underground detection equipment from Laurens County Public Works, crews excavated the site and found Geer’s body in a grave about four feet deep behind a mobile home.
After the autopsy, the 8th Circuit Solicitor’s Office determined there was enough probable cause to charge Cribb.
The charges are accusations, and Cribb is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Identification dispute between coroners
Earlier this week, the Laurens County Coroner’s Office publicly identified the remains as Geer. The Newberry County Coroner’s Office, which has taken over the case, later issued a statement that publicly disagreed with how the identification was handled. The sheriff’s office has since named Geer as the victim in announcing the charges.
“Ed” remembered
The sheriff described Geer as a quiet man who loved woodworking. He built birdhouses and small wooden lighthouses for his neighbors and sold his crafts at a crossroads store in Chappells.
Foster called the case “a heartbreaking reminder of the vulnerability of our senior citizens.”
Source: Newberry County Sheriff’s Office, as reported by FOX Carolina
