Coroner: Woman’s body found, then ex-boyfriend turns up dead

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — The body of a woman previously reported as missing was found this week in a South Carolina marsh, and her ex-boyfriend at the crux of the investigation was found dead hours later of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, authorities said.

Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal on Friday identified the body pulled early that day from marshes off of Clark Sound Bay as Megan Rich, 41, of Summerville, The Post and Courier reported.

Rich was last seen Aug. 12 in the James Island area.

Rich’s ex-boyfriend, Brian Curtis Baker, 59, was suspected in a Charleston police investigation into Rich’s disappearance. The coroner said it appears that the Charleston man killed himself just hours after the woman’s body was found. He was found dead after 5 p.m. that Friday, O’Neal said.

Baker, who has a child with Rich, had been arrested Thursday on a charge of obstruction of justice. Authorities said he provided inconsistent statements into the woman’s disappearance. He was released after posting $100,000 bail.

Baker allegedly killed himself before Charleston police could execute an arrest warrant charging him with Rich’s murder, investigators said in a news release.

Both deaths remain under investigation.