Lancaster County man charged with shooting, killing his mother

A Kershaw man has been charged in connection with the shooting death of his wheelchair-bound mother, whose decomposed body was found inside her home Wednesday, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

Robert Allen Hypes, 36, of 7248 Flat Creek Road, was charged with murder and placed in the Lancaster County Detention Center, sheriff’s spokesman Doug Barfield said. He is accused of shooting his mother, Carolyn Marie Taurino, 57, multiple times at the home they shared.

Deputies were called to a Kershaw bank Wednesday after employees reported a suspicious man had made inquiries about Taurino’s account, Barfield said. He left before deputies arrived, and officers went to Taurino’s home but did not get an answer at the door.

Bank employees were able to give deputies surveillance photos of the man who entered earlier and the red 2003 Ford Econoline van he drove to the bank, deputies say. A deputy saw the van traveling on East Hilton Street about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and stopped it for an equipment violation. They determined the driver, Hypes, was the man who had been asking questions at the bank.

While speaking with Hypes, deputies obtained a number for Taurino’s sister, who told them she hadn’t spoken to Taurino in several days, Barfield said. She asked deputies to conduct a welfare check.

Deputies did not get an answer when they knocked at the home about 5 p.m., so they entered and found Taurino dead on the floor at a bedroom doorway, Barfield said. She appeared to have been dead “for some time,” he said. Crime scene investigators obtained a search warrant and were processing the home until about 5 a.m. Thursday.

An autopsy revealed Taurino died of multiple gunshot wounds, Barfield said. The case remains under investigation.

“It’s kind of scary because everybody out here minds their business,” Cheryl Lusardi, who lives on a street behind the crime scene, told The Herald’s news partner, WSOC-TV. “It scares me because I’m here a lot at night by myself.”

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Lancaster County man charged with shooting, killing his mother."