FAIRFIELD COUNTY, S.C. — Charles Ugvine Coleman will now spend the rest of his life in prison for killing a woman in 1976.
On Tuesday, Coleman appeared in court in Fairfield County after being arrested and charged in 2020 with the death of Elizabeth Ann Howell Wilson back in 1976.
"It's over now," said Sherrie Mobley, Wilson's daughter. "He’s right where he’s suppose to be. He’s gone, out of our lives, out of our hearts."
Wilson went missing in March of 1976 while she was working as a spinner at the Eureka Plant of Spring Mills in Chester.
Her body was later found in a stolen vehicle in Fairfield County, near the intersection of Ashford Ferry Road and Dave Jenkins Road in Blair. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten, according to the police report.
"I was scared, didn’t know who," Mobley said. "Nobody knows what’s it like until they walk that walk."
According to SLED, 44 years later, in 2009, a forensics breakthrough happened.
"The towel, as well as on the stocking on her body, they determined there was semen, and they were able to develop a DNA profile on that," said prosecutor Riley Maxwell.
Coleman was arrested in 2020 after DNA linked him to the crime. During Tuesday's court appearance, he pleaded guilty under the Alford Plea.
This plea allows anyone to maintain innocence while acknowledging there is enough evidence that could lead to a guilty verdict during a trial.
"I’ve already told the jury, and I’ll tell them again that you are presumed innocent of this charge," said Fairfield County Circuit Court Judge D. Craig Brown. "I’ll tell them the state requires proof that you’re guilty under reasonable doubt."
Judge Brown said Coleman will be eligible for parole in 10 years, due to that being the law when the crime happened.
Friends and family of Wilson said she's never gone nor forgotten.
"She’s always been with us, but you just can’t touch her," Mobley said. "You just have to pray to her."