By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A woman was found dead in her storage unit off of Parris Island Gateway on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) was contacted by the manager of the storage units located at 878 Parris Island Gateway in Port Royal after he found Annette Shelton lying on the floor of a storage unit and unresponsive, according to Maj. Matt Averill with the BCSO.
The manager contacted 911 when he found her and BCSO responded to the scene.
The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office concluded through an autopsy that the 46-year-old woman died from natural causes, although they would not specify beyond that.
Deputy Coroner Shane Bowers said that he could not say if Shelton was living in the storage unit or not based off of the information that they had, but he did know she was from Beaufort.
Averill said that, per the manager of the storage facility, it appears that Shelton may have been “residing” there since Nov. 25.
In the state of South Carolina, it is illegal to live in or use a self-service storage unit for residential purposes, per Section 39-20-20 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.
