Chester woman was raped, killed 46 years ago, now SC man to face trial based on DNA
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A South Carolina man charged with the 1976 rape and murder of a Chester woman, a case that went unsolved for decades, is scheduled for trial this week.
Charles Ugvine Coleman, 66, of Union, was arrested in October 2020. South Carolina law enforcement officials said his DNA linked him to the death of Ann Wilson of Chester, officials and arrest warrants said.
“Forensic evidence has identified the defendant in the crime,” warrants obtained by The Herald state.
Wilson, 45, was found beaten to death, sexually assaulted and strangled in Fairfield County just south of the Chester County line in March 1976 after she left her shift at a Chester textile plant, State Law Enforcement Division agents said in 2020.
The crime went unsolved until 2020 when police and prosecutors said in a statement Coleman’s DNA matched crime scene evidence from 1976. Coleman had a September 2020 conviction for pointing and presenting a gun where his DNA was taken by state officials, according to South Carolina court and police records.
Coleman has convictions dating back to 1975, according to SLED and court records. In 1977 Coleman was sentenced to 12 years in prison for Chester County convictions of assault and battery with intent to kill, larceny, and other charges, records show.
The trial is scheduled to start Tuesday after a jury is picked at the Fairfield County Courthouse, in Winnsboro, between Chester and Columbia.
Coleman is represented by 6th Circuit Public Defenders Robert FitzSimons and William Frick.
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 12:31 PM.
