Woman confesses after body of homeless man found buried in Ladson
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The woman responsible for killing a man and burying his body in Ladson has confessed to committing the crime, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Duane Lewis walked News 2’s Raymond Owens through what has happened since the body of Jonathan Michael Jones was first discovered by Berkeley County deputies behind a location of Highway 78 last Friday evening.
“A passerby stopped the deputy who was doing a traffic stop and said “hey, I know where a body’s at…,” he said.
Sheriff Lewis said Shannon Bonilla was at a home where she rented a room when authorities arrived. But she left before a body was discovered buried in the backyard.
“Crime scene technicians and detectives were able to uncover the body of Jonathan Michael Jones, a white male, 35 years old. He was from Walterboro but he had been homeless for some time.”
Detectives determined Jones was murdered.
The Berkeley County Coroner’s Office shared new information about his death following an autopsy that said the cause of death was blunt and sharp trauma to the head, neck, and back.
Sheriff Lewis said they learned that Bonilla, “was responsible for the murder and had told several people that she murdered him.”
He went on to say, “Based on physical evidence we found at the scene, I think some of your reporting indicated some of what transpired there.”
Sheriff Lewis was referring to what sources told News 2 this week, that apparently Banilla cut a hole on the floor of the room that murdered Jones in and then took his body out of the home through that hole.
Sheriff Lewis says that did happen.
He said Banilla was located and arrested in a hotel in Summerville Monday night after she had cut and died her hair, in an attempt to disguise herself before she was planning to flee on a greyhound bus.
“She has confessed to the detective about what transpired, and she was responsible for that murder,” he said.
Bonilla will appear in bond court Tuesday evening.
