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 has been arrested after allegedly using her SUV to deliberately run over a man, resulting in his death. The woman then reportedly returned to the scene, according to local authorities.
Identified as Phoebe Grace Armstrong, 28, she faces a murder charge as recorded in Charleston County court documents.
The incident in question occurred on the evening of November 30, as detailed in a press release from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office.
It wasn’t until the following day that law enforcement became aware of the tragic event, as noted in an affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime. Deputies were called to North Edenvale Road on Johns Island—the state’s largest island—after reports of an unresponsive man found lying on the street.
Upon arrival, authorities discovered the victim, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, along with Armstrong shortly thereafter.
“The victim had what appeared to be tire marks on his body and was clearly deceased,” the affidavit stated. “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.
