Sun City man charged with suffocating wife in a botched murder-suicide, police say
Authorities have charged a 77-year-old Sun City man with suffocating his wife in an attempted murder-suicide, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Shortly after responding to a Penny Creek Drive home Saturday morning, Beaufort County deputies found John K. Rounds “suffering from several minor lacerations” and the body of his 77-year-old wife, according to a sheriff’s office release.
Rounds had called 911 at 7:28 a.m. to report he and his wife were planning to kill themselves.
Rounds was treated at the scene by Beaufort County EMS teams and taken to Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville. Following his discharge, he was booked at the Beaufort County jail and charged with murder.
The couple’s home is in the Deer Haven neighborhood on the western end of Sun City. It’s a 55-plus planned community of about 10,000 residents in the Okatie area.
Saturday morning’s incident comes just over a year after John and Marcella Caravello, another elderly couple from Sun City, were found dead in their home after a murder-suicide in early March 2023. The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office ruled Marcella, 69, was shot three times in the head, while Robert, 71, suffered a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest.
The Caravellos’ former home on Sundance Lane is less than two miles from Penny Creek Drive, where Rounds’ wife was found dead Saturday morning. Court records indicated the Caravellos had a history of financial issues. Little information was available on Rounds and his wife that could point to a potential motive.
Under South Carolina law, bond hearings for offenses that carry the potential of a life sentence must be held before a circuit court judge. Rounds’ bond hearing likely will be scheduled for the second week of April, when Beaufort County General Sessions Court enters its next session.
