David Pate
LANCASTER, S.C. — Lancaster sheriff’s deputies have made an arrest after children found a body in the woods on Saturday.
Upon arrival, deputies found a badly decomposed body that was later identified as Rickey James, 22, from Wallace, S.C.
Police arrested David Pate, 24, in connection with the killing.
The two men went into the woods behind Mullis Circle on or about Oct. 17 and that’s when Pate killed James and concealed his body under a pile of brush.
James family reported him missing on Oct. 19, but they said a search was not started for him.
Pate has been charged with murder.
He has been in jail since Nov. 11 when he was arrested for disorderly conduct.
No motive for the killing has been released.
