Woman repeatedly stabbed with comb found with metal pick lodged in chest, SC cops say
A dispute over $10 spiraled into a dangerous situation when a woman stabbed another woman with a metal pick, South Carolina police said.
A McLeod Regional Medical Center security guard called the Florence Police Department about a potential stabbing at about 4:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 15, according to the department’s news release. The woman was looking for medical help, police said, and she was discovered in the parking lot with a sharp, metal object protruding from her chest.
Officers then traced back the incident to a dispute that broke out at a nearby residence, the department said.
Initially, the stabbing suspect told a witness that she was going to kill the woman for stealing $10 from her, according to a Florence Police Department arrest affidavit obtained by McClatchy News.
The two — who were acquaintances, Florence Police Department public information officer Stephen Starling told McClatchy News in an email — had been “arguing all night” inside the home, a witness said to police, per the affidavit. At one point, the witness told police they heard a “loud crash.”
Then, the two’s quarreling escalated into violence, according to the warrant.
During the stabbing, the suspect pierced the woman with a metal spike repeatedly in the left hand and her chest, according to the affidavit. The suspect then left the object in the woman, which remained stuck in her chest when police arrived, the affidavit said.
Police determined the metal object lodged in the woman’s chest seemed to be “the metal pick from a comb.”
The steel pick was removed from the woman’s chest at the hospital, according to the affidavit. She was in stable condition as of 1:43 p.m. on Dec. 15, police said.
The suspect was later identified as Tecolia Hough, 59, who was found in the area and arrested, police said.
Hough was charged with attempted murder and booked at the Florence County Detention Center later in the afternoon Dec. 15, jail records show.
Florence is about 85 miles northeast of Columbia.
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Woman repeatedly stabbed with comb found with metal pick lodged in chest, SC cops say."
