Investigators say a welfare check grew into a 14-month homicide inquiry involving financial records, forensic evidence and remains recovered from the family property.

ANDERSON, S.C. — A South Carolina man has been charged with murder and destruction of human remains more than a year after his 52-year-old mother disappeared, a case that began with an employer’s request for a welfare check and eventually led investigators to human remains in a burn pit at her home.

Justin Queen, 32, is accused in the death of Christy Dunn, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say detectives spent roughly 14 months assembling evidence from Dunn’s property, her financial activity, cellphone information, surveillance footage and witness statements before the 10th Circuit Solicitor’s Office determined there was sufficient probable cause to seek charges. Queen was already incarcerated on an unrelated child-neglect matter when the new warrants were served in August. The murder accusation remains an allegation, and investigators have not publicly announced a motive.

The case began June 27, 2025, when Dunn’s employer contacted deputies after she had not been seen for about a week. Deputies went to Dunn’s home on Standridge Road in the Anderson area but were unable to locate her. Authorities opened a missing-person investigation. The circumstances inside and around the home soon gave detectives reasons to look beyond the possibility that Dunn had simply left voluntarily. Her vehicle and personal possessions remained at the residence even though she could not be found, according to the sheriff’s office.

Investigators also focused on what happened to Dunn’s property after she disappeared. The sheriff’s office said her vehicle was moved only when Queen drove it, and Dunn’s debit card continued to be used after she had been reported missing. Queen and his son, Dunn’s grandson, lived at the residence with her before she vanished, authorities said. Those facts did not by themselves establish what had happened to Dunn, but they became part of a larger record detectives continued to develop as they examined her disappearance.

The investigation moved into a forensic phase in July 2025. Detectives and forensic investigators from the sheriff’s office searched Dunn’s property with the Anderson County Coroner’s Office and a forensic anthropologist from Clemson University. During that search, investigators located what appeared to be human bones in a burn pit. A later search under another warrant produced additional remains. Local reports citing the sheriff’s office said the Clemson specialist confirmed the remains were human, and the recovered material was sent to a DNA laboratory in Texas for further testing.

That timeline differs from an Aug. 29 Law&Crime report, which placed the discovery of the bones in July 2026. Multiple Anderson-area reports based on the sheriff’s office announcement, however, place the property search and discovery in July 2025, soon after Dunn disappeared. Those local accounts also say the case continued for more than a year after the remains were found as detectives pursued other forms of evidence and sought to establish whether the remains belonged to Dunn.

Authorities have said they believe the burned remains are Dunn’s, but the public accounts reviewed for this report did not show a later announcement of final DNA identification. Investigators did not rely solely on the material found in the burn pit. The sheriff’s office said detectives studied financial records, cellphone records and surveillance video while interviewing witnesses. Some witnesses told investigators Queen had previously been seen with his mother in the woods, according to authorities. The precise timing and context of those reported sightings have not been publicly detailed.

As the evidence accumulated, investigators developed a theory about what happened inside Dunn’s home. The sheriff’s office said detectives determined that an assault occurred inside the residence and that Dunn’s body was later taken to the burn pit on the property. Officials have not publicly described the alleged assault in detail or identified a weapon. They also have not announced a motive. The restraint in those disclosures leaves important questions for later court proceedings, where prosecutors would have to prove the criminal allegations beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain a conviction.

The case then moved from investigation to prosecution. The sheriff’s office said the evidence was reviewed by the 10th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which concluded there was sufficient probable cause to seek charges against Queen. Probable cause is the threshold for bringing a criminal case; it is not a finding of guilt. Queen was charged with murder and destruction of human remains. Court and law-enforcement reports available after his arrest did not indicate that he had entered a plea to the new charges or that the case had reached trial.

Queen was not free when investigators obtained the warrants. He was being held at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia in connection with a child-neglect case. Law&Crime, citing prison records, reported that he began serving that sentence two days after deputies conducted the June 27, 2025, welfare check for Dunn. The homicide investigation therefore continued while Queen was already in state custody, giving detectives time to pursue forensic testing, records and witness accounts before prosecutors authorized the additional charges.

Authorities served the new warrants at Kirkland on Aug. 27, 2026, and Queen was transferred to the Anderson County Detention Center. FOX Carolina reported that he was denied bond on the murder charge and received a $10,000 surety bond on the destruction-of-human-remains charge. The distinction meant that the separate bond on the remains count did not provide a path to release while he continued to be held on the murder case. The sheriff’s office said the investigation remained active after the arrest.

Some details that could become important at trial remain outside the public record. Authorities have not disclosed a motive, a complete account of the alleged assault, the precise evidence they say ties Queen to Dunn’s death or a final publicly reported DNA result identifying the remains. The available reports also did not establish whether Queen had retained an attorney for the homicide case. Those unresolved points are significant because investigators’ account is an allegation that will be tested through the criminal court process, not a judicial finding that Queen killed his mother.

The arrest transformed a missing-person case that began with an employer’s concern into a homicide prosecution, but it did not end the investigation. As of Oct. 17, no later public development located in the reviewed sources changed the charges or the sheriff’s office’s stated position that the inquiry remains ongoing. Queen remains accused, not convicted, in Dunn’s death, while forensic identification and the evidence underlying the prosecution may receive further scrutiny as the case moves through court.

Author note: Last updated Oct. 17, 2026.