Published: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 / Updated: Saturday, Dec. 05, 2009 11:12 PM
Slain women were acquainted, friend says
A woman whose body was found severely burned in Kings Mountain State Park on Sunday was acquainted with another woman found dead in York County in late October, the boyfriend of the most recent victim said.
Authorities have not said whether the deaths of Randi Dean Saldana, 30, and 17-year-old Heather Marie Catterton are related.
Both cases are being investigated as homicides, but authorities will not say how either woman died, citing the ongoing investigations. An autopsy was performed Tuesday on Saldana's body at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Saldana's body was spotted in an open area of the park Sunday afternoon by a woman on horseback, authorities said. The York County Sheriff's Office is investigating the case as a homicide but has not said how Saldana died.
The park is in York and Cherokee counties, adjacent to the Kings Mountain National Military Park.
On Oct. 29, the body of Catterton, of Gastonia, N.C., was found near a bridge on Robinson Yelton Road, near Clover, about 16 miles from where Saldana's body was found. Authorities also are investigating that case as a homicide.
Saldana's boyfriend, Tim Gause, told Charlotte TV station WCNC that Saldana knew Catterton but did not have much in common with her because of the difference in their ages.
The Sheriff's Office said Wednesday morning that authorities received phone calls in Saldana's death investigation after information about the discovery of the body had been released to the media. But they are not saying exactly what they were told.
Saldana was mostly raised by her grandparents, the late R.B. and Edna Moore, said her great-aunt, Willa Mae Martin, of Gastonia.
“She was a very, very sweet and pretty girl,” Martin said. “She got messed up with drugs and the wrong people. I don't think she was into hard drugs.”
Martin said she and the family took the news of Saldana's death hard.
“We feel bad and it hurts us deeply,” she said. “Young girls out there don't realize the danger. They need to stop and think about that.”
Saldana had a lengthy record of arrests dating back 10 years, according to N.C. criminal records. The charges included several felonies, such as robbery with a dangerous weapon in February 2008 and larceny of a firearm in February 2007.
She was convicted of only a handful of the 30 charges and served short jail sentences. Nearly 20 charges had been dismissed, and the felonies were reduced to misdemeanor offenses.
Efforts to reach the Gaston County District Attorney's Office for comment on those dismissals were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Saldana had no criminal record in South Carolina, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.
Catterton also had a criminal past that included drug charges and identity theft, records show.
Anyone with information in the cases is asked to call the York County Sheriff's Office, 803-628-3059, or York County Crime Stoppers, 877-409-4321.
Herald staff writer Kimberly Dick and Joe DePriest of The Charlotte Observer contributed.
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