Inset: Phoebe Armstrong (Charleston County Sheriff's Office). Background: The road where a man was found dead on Johns Island, S.C. (Google Maps).
A South Carolina woman is behind bars after intentionally running over a man with her SUV, killing him, and then driving back to the scene of the crime, law enforcement in the Palmetto State say.
Phoebe Grace Armstrong, 28, stands accused of one count of murder, according to Charleston County court records.
The underlying incident occurred on the night of Nov. 30, according to a press release issued by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.
Law enforcement was apprised of the situation the next day, according to an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. That's when deputies were dispatched to North Edenvale Road on Johns Island – the largest island in the state – after receiving calls about an unresponsive man lying in the street.
There, the victim – whose name has yet to be released – was found, and, soon enough, the defendant was found, too.
"The victim had what appeared to be tire marks on his body and was clearly deceased," the affidavit reads. "While on scene the defendant suspiciously drove by the crime scene in her white 2019 BMW X3."
And the SUV had another telling characteristic, authorities say.
"Dried blood was located on the exterior of the defendant's vehicle that later showed to be tested presumptive for human blood," the affidavit goes on.
After being pulled over, the defendant consented to an interview with detectives. During the interview, Armstrong said she was with the victim the night before but dropped him off at someone's house, "and then went straight home," according to the charging document.
"Further investigation showed the defendant was untruthful," the affidavit alleges.
After executing a search warrant for Armstrong's cellphone and vehicle, law enforcement obtained GPS data showing the defendant drove down a connecting road and ultimately left the area where the victim's body was found sometime between 8 p.m. and 8:33 p.m. the night before, according to the charging document. In tandem, video from Armstrong's own cellphone showed "her in the driver's seat facing the victim who was outside of the vehicle and walking away from it" between roughly 8:25 p.m. and 8:28 p.m. that same night, authorities claim.
"The defendant and victim were engaged in a domestic dispute when the video was taken, and they have an extensive history of domestic violence where they have both been victims and defendants in different incidents," the affidavit continues.
Additional video casts further suspicion on Armstrong, authorities say.
After the dispute, Armstrong traveled to a Circle K gas station where surveillance footage showed her "walking around her vehicle with her cellphone flashlight activated," the charging document alleges.
Forensic investigators would go on to test the "presumptive human blood" collected from the "driver side undercarriage and inside of the driver side rear wheel" and determined the blood belonged to the victim, according to the charging document.
"An autopsy from the Medical University of South Carolina ruled the victim's cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the thoracic cavity that is consistent with being crushed by a motor vehicle," the affidavit reads.
The defendant was arrested on a murder warrant on Tuesday. Armstrong is being detained at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center with no bond, jail records show. She is slated to make her first court appearance on Feb. 6, 2026.
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