Police: Restaurant owner killed, left in own home for days

COLUMBIA (AP) — Authorities say a 64-year-old South Carolina restaurant owner has been killed by the boyfriend of a woman he was letting stay in his apartment.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says the couple left Lawrence Gaugenbaugh dead in his apartment for a few days before dumping his body near an abandoned home north of Columbia on Tuesday.

Coroner Gary Watts says Gaugenbaugh was strangled.

Lott said at a news conference that Stacie Rose was letting her boyfriend Erick Young stay in Gaugenbaugh's apartment without his permission and investigators think he was killed after fining Young in his home.

Gaugenbaugh was the owner of Carolina Wings in Blythewood.

Young is charged with murder and Rose is charged as an accessory after the fact. It wasn't known if they had lawyers.