Full Notification

On 11-01-1987, shortly after 8pm, Margit Schuller (34-years-old) was found shot to death in the laundry room at Palmetto Apartments on Harding Street in Beaufort.   The investigators developed several suspects, but forensic science of the time could not establish any firm link.  Robbery or sexual assaults were two of the possible motives, but neither was accomplished.  Blood evidence was found and collected along the same route believed taken by the suspect to flee the laundry room.  It was apparent during the struggle with Schuller, the suspect’s handgun discharged travelling through her upper body and wounding him on ricochet.  At the time, blood typing was the industry standard and could only exclude or include a suspect in a criminal case, it would not serve as standalone as conclusive involvement of a crime.

Months later, a handgun was recovered by workers clearing a lot on Highway 21, over a few miles from the scene.  The handgun was identified as the one used to shoot and kill Margit Schuller through forensic examination.  The owner of the handgun was never identified, as it was a foreign brand and may have been brought to the United States unrecorded. 

In 1999, the blood evidence from the scene was resubmitted to the forensic laboratory for DNA analysis.  A profile was developed by the laboratory and submitted to the FBI DNA database, which to this day has yet to return a match.