LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. () – A Columbia man was charged July 1 for allegedly killing his mother, 56-year-old Regina Arroyo, in December 2023.

Terry Lee Self Jr., 37, was charged with Murder, according to an arrest warrant and the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.

“A canoer found the body of the suspect’s mother in the Edisto River Dec. 3,” said Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon. “Detectives confirmed the suspect and his mother were at the suspect’s house and left there together after an argument.”

Arroyo, a Barnwell County woman, was reported missing on Dec. 1, 2023.

“The evidence in the case indicates the suspect used a ligature to strangle Ms. Arroyo,” Koon said. “After he killed Ms. Arroyo, Self then dumped her body in the river and left.”

Koon added, “Detectives have been working on this case for seven months zeroing in on the person responsible Ms. Arroyo’s death. We hope to give her family members and loved ones some sense of closure.”

In a press release sent by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, Self is being held in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County on an unrelated charge.

Self was denied bond when he appeared before a magistrate judge on Monday.