Left inset: Charles Antwine (Florence County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Charles Antwine in court on Monday, June 16, 2025, in Florence County, S.C. (WMBF/YouTube). Background: A no trespassing sign on Charles Antwine’s property, where cops found his wife’s human remains on June 14, 2025, after Antwine allegedly murdered her (WMBF/YouTube).
A North Carolina man who was charged with desecration of human remains after he was allegedly found at a home surrounded by “containers” with his wife’s body parts in them is now charged with her murder — with cops accusing him of “cutting up” the woman and “removing her bones, and … her flesh” after killing her.
Charles Antwine, 56, was originally only considered a suspect in the disappearance last month of his wife, Christy Ward, after they were both reported missing in Brunswick County by their relatives in early June, the Florence County Sheriff’s Office reported. Antwine got charged for the alleged discovery of Ward’s remains but nothing else as Ward’s autopsy remained pending.
On Tuesday, authorities extradited Antwine back to North Carolina after he was busted at a residence in South Carolina with the body parts and arrested there. An investigation alleged that Antwine was responsible for Ward’s death, and he was formally charged and booked into the Brunswick County Detention Center on Tuesday, where he is currently being held without bond, per a police press release. Cops detailed how he desecrated Ward’s body following the murder in a July 2 arrest warrant.
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“On or about the date of offense shown and in the county named above the defendant unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did knowingly with intent to conceal the death of Christie Ward, dismember or destroy her human remains by cutting up her body parts, removing her bones, and removing her flesh,” the warrant said. “In doing so the defendant knew or had reason to know the human remains were of person, Christie Ward, and that she did not die of natural causes.”
Antwine is accused of “willfully” killing Ward, whose first name was listed by officials as both “Christie” and “Christy,” sometime in June. Her body parts were discovered on June 16.
“What began as a missing persons report from Brunswick County, North Carolina led FCSO investigators to charge a Lake City [South Carolina] man with desecration of human remains,” the Florence County Sheriff’s Office (South Carolina) said in a press release.
During the search, a patrol deputy who was checking a local boat landing spotted what appeared to be the roof of a “mostly submerged vehicle some distance from the boat access point,” according to an FCSO press release. Authorities responded and recovered the vehicle, but it was unoccupied. The license plates were allegedly registered in Antwine’s name, with cops learning that he had another address in Lake City.
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“When deputies conducted a property check of this location, they detected an unusual smell coming from the residence and there was no response to knocks on the doors,” the FCSO officials said. “A search warrant for the residence was obtained, and upon entry, deputies encountered Antwine who was sitting on a couch. Investigators then discovered human remains in what are described as plastic containers, which were taped shut.”
After the discovery, police said an investigation into Ward’s death was ongoing and that additional charges were “possible” depending on the results of an autopsy.
“This is just wrong,” said Ward’s son, Zachary Ward, during Antwine’s bond hearing last month about his mother’s presumed death.
“She’s overcome so much. And she’s been through so much,” he told the court. “She just lost her father. And he was the only one left that she had other than us.”
