Blaze might have been set to cover homicide

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The Aiken County coroner says a Saturday fire in Wagener appears to have been an attempt to cover up a homicide.

According to a statement released Sunday by Coroner Tim Carlton, firefighters who responded to a fire at a mobile home on 226 Buckboard Road discovered the body of George Griffin, 57.

An autopsy Sunday indicated that Griffin died before the fire started. He had several suspicious injuries that were discovered by pathologists in Newberry, S.C. Even though the body was seriously burned, Griffin was identified.

The death is being investigated by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office and the coroner's office, Carlton said.

Golfer statues go on display at museum

Six bronze statues of golf greats will emerge today after nearly three years in storage.

The statues, property of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, will make their reappearance at 10 a.m. in the rotunda of the Augusta Museum of History, museum Executive Director Nancy Glaser said.

The museum negotiated a deal to house the statues after the hall of fame's downtown gardens closed in 2007.

The life-size statues of Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Ray Floyd will be part of the museum's exhibit "Celebrating a Grand Tradition, the Sport of Golf," which opens Friday.

Police make arrest in Luckey Street killing

Authorities have arrested a man wanted in connection with a fatal shooting Saturday in the 1600 block of Luckey Street.

Curtis Lemont Carter, 18, of the 2300 block of Lumpkin Road, was arrested Sunday and charged with murder, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, according to Richmond County jail records.

Carter was arrested in the Meadowbrook area off Deans Bridge Road, according to Investigator James Kelly. He was wanted in the shooting death of Scotty Mathis, 40, of Stapleton, Ga.

Saluda woman killed in single-car wreck

A Saluda, S.C., woman was killed in a single-car accident on Old Chappell Ferry Road in Edgefield on Sunday.

Cusonya Patterson, 39, overcorrected when her car ran off the road. She then came back across the road and struck a tree, according to Edgefield County Coroner Thurmond Burnett. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman's teenage daughter, a passenger in the car, was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital with injuries, Burnett said. The daughter's name and condition were not available.