Police called to Gilbert home before murder-suicide

GILBERT, SC (WIS) - Lexington County officials say they have no motive in what they're calling a murder-suicide that occurred this weekend.

Maj. John Allard of the sheriff's department says the murder took place somewhere between 11:18pm Saturday and 12:38am Sunday at a home on Hayride Road.

Allard says 30-year-old Lisa Marie Bacon was shot in the head with a handgun by her live-in boyfriend, identified as 32-year-old Jason Wayne Strickland.

Investigators believe Strickland rolled Bacon's body up in a sheet, and placed it in the back of his pick-up truck.

Officials say they received a call about his wreckless driving and chased him until he stopped at the Saluda River near the Riverbanks Zoo.

Officers from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Columbia Police Department and Richland County Sheriff's Department found Strickland in the parking lot where he abandoned his truck and started walking toward the Saluda River.

Despite verbal commands that he return to officers, authorities say Strickland then killed himself in the river.

According to Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts, "The individual got of the truck, went towards the river, wouldn't stop and went in the river, told the officers that he couldn't live with what he had done, pulled a gun, shot himself."

After executing a search warrant, deputies say they found evidence that Bacon was killed by Strickland in the kitchen of the home on Hayride Road.

As for motive, investigators say they are unsure why Strickland shot Bacon.

Authorities in Lexington County say Strickland has previous domestic violence charges and that police had actually been called to their Gilbert home earlier in the night.