Authorities in South Carolina declared that the body they discovered inside a donation bin had most likely been dead for at least several months.
According to Hannah Gates, who spoke with WACH news, her mother was last seen in March 2022, and she has been missing ever since. After finding out that her mother, 46-year-old Lesley Lemoine, was the woman discovered severely decomposed in a clothing bin in Kershaw County, she was relieved to have closure but still struggling.
Gates claimed that on March 29, her mother requested to be dropped off at a McDonald's in Lugoff. On May 7, Lemoine was reported missing.
"It’s going to be hard for my children to not know her. I have a 4-year-old, a 1-year-old and another on the way," Gates said.
According to investigators, someone who noticed a foul smell checked the rusty bin far away from U.S. Highway 1 and discovered the body.
According to Kershaw County Coroner David West, the bin contained VHS tapes and appeared to have gone years without being emptied.
The death is being treated as a homicide by the investigators.
