Hannah Gates, 25, was searching for her missing mother for several months last year, after March 2022, the last time she saw her. She was used to her mother, a drug addict, disappearing and living on the streets, but when the woman had been missing for a long time, she reported her disappearance to the police in June 2022.
Police finally found the woman’s body in a donation bin near the Camden West Inn located at 850 US 1 South in Kershaw County, South Carolina.
After an autopsy, the skeletal remains were identified as that of 47-year-old Lesley Lemoine, according to the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office.
It was Hannah Gates’ mother.
“Every day, every week that passed in those nine months, I got less and less hopeful,” she said. “I’m 25 years old and I’m planning a funeral. Not something I ever really thought I would have to do at this point in my life. Especially, not for a parent.”
A passerby near the donation bin noticed a foul smell, took action and called authorities, who discovered the decomposing body.
Although the finding of her mom raised many new questions, Gates hopes the discovery will give her and her family some closure. Speaking to the media, Gates said that she had driven past the motel many times, but never had a clue that her mother was buried there.
The family hopes to learn how the woman died and how she ended up in the bin, left there for months, without anyone knowing or reporting it.
Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan says that Lemoine was probably dumped in the bin after she died. The body appeared to be there for several months and was mostly skeletal. Deputies are undergoing an investigation to see if they can find out how she got there.
The medical examiner initially said that the identification of the body would take six months, but the daughter recognized a tattoo on Lemoine’s calf, which helped identify her.
According to her daughter, Lemoine was a drug addict and could have died from a drug overdose. Gates last saw her mom on March 29, 2022, after Lemoine was released from jail. Gates said she drove her mother to a McDonald’s in Lugoff, and that was the last time she saw her. The mother and daughter were not getting along, and Gates said she was used to her homeless mother disappearing for a long time and refusing assistance.
Lemoine also leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter that Gates and her family are caring for. They have been working toward getting legal custody of the child.
