The search for a young mother last reportedly seen in Berkeley County has come to a sad end.
On Saturday, Dorchester County Coroner Chris Nisbet and his team recovered a body off of Brown Town Road–just outside of Harleyville.
This morning a forensic autopsy was completed, the coroner stated.
“The autopsy revealed many interesting facts, that lead me to rule the cause of death for the person as Homicidal Violence, with the manner of death being a Homicide,” added Nisbet.
On Saturday night, Nisbet says that he was able to obtain a CT of the person’s head that he believed to be that of Ashley Pegram, a Summerville mother of four, from a local hospital.
“I compared it to X-rays taken at the autopsy this morning which gave me a positive ID on the person. That person is, in deed, the 28-year- old lady that has been missing since April 4th,” stated Nisbet. “The
family has been notified of the identification and can now finally put their loved one to rest properly.”
Last week, Dorchester Co. investigators charged 30-year-old Edward Bonilla of Hanahan with murder. They say he was the last one with her.
According to investigators with the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, traces of blood in the trunk of a vehicle prompted them to obtain a murder warrant for the young man who was already in jail for obstruction of justice.
“This blood has been forensically examined and is consistent with the DNA profile of the victim, Ashley Pegram. Due to this evidence and other factors, it is probable that Ashley Pegram is deceased,” read a statement from the Dorchester Co. Sheriff’s Office.
On April 4th, Pegram’s sister reported her missing. The missing woman’s family said they had not been able to get in contact with her since her date with Bonilla—which is unlike her, they told deputies.
According to family members, Pegram was last seen on April 3rd. On that day, they say she left the house to go on a date with Bonilla, a young man she met on a social media dating site called ‘Kik.’
Bonilla allegedly told Pegram’s sister that during their date, Pegram became heavily intoxicated and that he “could not handle her.”
As a result, he stated that he kicked her out of his car around midnight on some “cut through street” possibly between the Kangaroo gas station and Piggly Wiggly on Main Street in Moncks Corner.
