AIKEN - Aiken County authorities have charged a one-time bootlegger with murder after a man she allegedly shot in an argument at her Ceder Drive home Tuesday died early Wednesday.
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Rose Lee Ross, 62, is charged in the shooting death of boyfriend Ronald Patterson, who died at about 1:10 a.m. Wednesday at Aiken Regional Medical Centers from a single wound to the chest, Chief Deputy Coroner Tim Carlton said.
It was Aiken County's first slaying this year. There were nine homicides in the county in 2001 and eight in 2002; homicide figures for 2003 were not immediately available. Ms. Ross remains in the Aiken County Detention Center with no bond set.
Wednesday's charge marked the second time Ms. Ross has been accused of shooting a man in her mobile home in Nicholson Village. Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank said Ms. Ross faced a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill in connection with the April 1989 shooting of 40-year-old Abe Toole, who survived the attack. The case was later dismissed by prosecutors for lack of evidence.
Aiken Sheriff's officials said Ms. Ross, who uses a walker, retrieved a .38 caliber snubnose revolver Tuesday night and shot Mr. Patterson once after he struck her in the chest. She called 911 for an ambulance shortly after the 6:30 p.m. shooting.
According to Aiken County court documents, Ms. Ross pleaded guilty in 1994 to unlawful manufacture, storage and sale of alcoholic beverages after selling a gallon of moonshine to an undercover sheriff's investigator at her home on two occasions.
Ms. Ross told authorities she and Mr. Patterson, who at 34 was 28 years her junior, were dating.
Authorities were called to Ms. Ross' home in February 2002 to respond to a nonfatal shooting that might have been self-inflicted, Lt. Frank said. Additional details of that incident were not immediately available. Deputies have also been to the house on domestic disturbance calls; one in May 2000 and another in April 2001.
HOMICIDE STATISTICS
There were eight homicides in Aiken County in 2002; in 2001, there were nine. Figures for 2003 were not available.
Source: Aiken County Sheriff's Office
Reach Stephen Gurr at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or stephen.gurr@augustachronicle.com.
