COLUMBIA – A Winnsboro man, missing since Sept. 22, was found dead in his crashed pickup truck last week off Monticello Road.
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Christopher Michael Felder, 53, of 1400 Hinnants Store Road, Winnsboro, was last seen on Sept. 22 and was reported to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office as missing on Sept. 26. On Oct. 15, the S.C. Highway Patrol answered a call of a vehicle that had been discovered upside down off the roadway near the 8700 block of Monticello Road. Officers responding to the scene discovered the remains of a body inside the crashed truck.
Watts said the remains were identified as those of Felder by comparing X-rays from some of Felder’s previous medical procedures. An autopsy conducted last Friday showed Felder died from multiple trauma associated with the crash, which Watts said occurred around Sept. 22, just three days before Felder’s 54th birthday.
Phone calls to the Highway Patrol were not returned at press time, but Watts said the crash went undiscovered for so long for a number of reasons. One, he said, the truck had come to rest down a steep embankment, between 30 and 35 feet off the roadway. Secondly, Watts said, there were no visible signs on Monticello Road of a crash or a vehicle leaving the roadway. The lack of skid marks may indicate Felder fell asleep at the wheel, Watts said, although the Highway Patrol continues to investigate the incident. Toxicology results had not come back from the lab when Watts spoke to The Voice Tuesday afternoon.
