SUMMERVILLE — The arrest this week of a man in a suspected arson-homicide may have also solved a 2022 Moncks Corner cold case killing, police announced in a press conference Sept. 19.
Roger Lavar Smalls, a 35-year-old North Charleston resident, was arrested and charged on Sept. 18 in connection with an arson-homicide that occurred on Sept. 17 at 109 Halcyon Road in Summerville. He has since been charged in connection with a Sept. 22, 2022, burglary that morphed into a fatal stabbing and arson.
Summerville Police Chief Doug Wright called Smalls a “diabolical archcriminal.”
“I can’t underscore enough that if this man had continued his path without being apprehended that he probably would do this again,” he said.
Dorchester County Coroner Paul Brouthers identified the victim in the arson as Priscilla Ann Yager, 71. Yager went by Ann, he said. An autopsy with the Medical University of South Carolina was scheduled for Sept. 19 to determine if she died of wounds or the fire. He did not say what kind of wounds Yager suffered.
Summerville police on Sept. 18 charged Smalls with murder, first-degree arson, first-degree burglary, grand larceny between $2,000 and $10,000, desecration of human remains and possession of knife during the commission of a violent crime.
He faces similar charges for the 2022 death of Susie Kochever, 65. Moncks Corner police charged Smalls with murder, first-degree burglary, second-degree arson, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and desecration of human remains on Sept. 18.
Wright said he is asking 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe to pursue the death penalty against Smalls. The other murder occurred within the 9th Circuit.
Pascoe said it’s too early for him to comment about seeking the death penalty. He said he is evaluating the case closely.
Wright said Smalls knew Yager through work.
“There had been some type of interaction in the past or maybe some work that had been done at her property,” Wright said.
Tuesday morning Summerville arson gives way to Johns Island police chase
Smalls is accused of breaking into Yager’s home through her back door as the sun was still rising on Sept. 17.
A green SUV picked up Smalls at a laundromat near Yager’s home at 6:55 a.m. The driver of the SUV dropped him off at Yager’s home soon after. Wright said Smalls told the driver it was a jobsite.
Wright declined to say if anyone else will be charged in Yager’s death.
At 10:47 a.m., Yager’s 2015 Ford Escape was captured on camera as it traveled near Central Avenue and Parson Road.
Back on Halcyon Road, Dominion Energy workers saw smoke coming from Yager’s home at 11:05 a.m. They knocked on the door, heard no response and called police. Police arrived five minutes later as the smoke thickened. The smoke was too heavy for police to enter, Wright said.
The Summerville Fire Department arrived at 11:14 a.m. and entered the home. They put out the fire and found Yager’s body by 11:25 a.m.
Meanwhile, Yager’s car was seen traveling to the town of Ravenel, then toward Johns Island, according to police.
Police put out an all-points bulletin for Yager’s Ford Escape to Lowcountry law enforcement around 12:30 p.m. Charleston police, Charleston County Sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Marshals and the South Carolina Highway Patrol swarmed Johns Island looking for Yager’s vehicle.
Charleston County Sheriff’s deputies spotted the victim’s vehicle and pursued it after the driver refused to stop. Vehicles were moving at speeds in excess of 100 mph. It ended with Smalls crashing Yager’s vehicle into a tree, Wright said.
Starting at 6:12 p.m., detectives questioned Smalls for several hours. Wright said Smalls implicated himself in both the arson-homicide that had occurred earlier in the day and a 2022 case.
“He was very cooperative,” Wright said.
Police said Smalls told them he broke into Yager’s house to steal from her, used a kitchen knife to stab Yager and started the fire to cover up her death, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Police said he told them he also removed her smoke alarm.
Wright said officers recovered “critical evidence” after someone told them Smalls disposed of something near the town of Ravenel. A police dog unit recovered the murder weapon on Sept. 18, according to police.
Smalls was a person of interest to Moncks Corner police
Moncks Corner Police Chief Steve Young told reporters that his officers noted several similarities with the 2022 cold case as soon as details of the arson and the Halcyon Road homicide developed.
“I’m thankful and I’m grateful that we’re finally able to give Susie and her family the opportunity to seek justice,” Young said.
Smalls was a person of interest in the 2022 case, but police could not definitively connect him to the homicide, Young said.
Smalls has an active bench warrant in a case of disseminating obscene material to a minor, a case that stemmed from Moncks Corner police’s investigation of Kochever’s death.
“We never gave up hope that we would finally make an arrest,” Young said.
On Sept. 22, 2022, firefighters in Moncks Corner responded to an early morning suspicious fire at the Woodlocke Apartments off Bonnoitt Street near Whitesville Road.
Inside, they found a small fire in a second-story bedroom closet and the body of Kochever. Her body was found in the room between the bedroom and the closet near a pool of blood and with burn marks on it, The Post and Courier reported at the time.
In arrest warrants two years later, police said Smalls broke into Kochever’s home, stole her firearm and then beat her unconscious with it. Police then said he smothered her to death with a pillow before setting some clothing on fire. He left her home with the gun and some coins, according to the arrest warrant.
Young said police believed there was a confrontation between Smalls and Kochever after Smalls broke into her apartment.
Wright and Young issued a public call for other other police agencies or victims of unsolved arsons and burglaries to contact them. Young said police continue to pursue additional leads in the cases. But Young said they do not have evidence or reason to believe he was involved in additional crimes at this time.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)