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Woman charged as accessory to murder

EASLEY — Just 10 days after a man was charged with murder in the shooting death of a woman at a boat ramp near Easley, police arrested another woman for her alleged role in the aftermath of the crime.

Mary Joann Kelley, 30, of 134 Latham St. in Easley, is charged with two counts of accessory after the fact — one for murder and one for grand larceny — after police allege she helped paint a car stolen from the murder victim to help the suspected shooter “avoid the consequences of his crime,” according to warrants.

Kelley, who is being held on a combined $25,000 surety bond at the Pickens County Detention Center, was arrested last Thursday, a little more than a week after Pickens County sheriff Rick Clark announced the arrest of Kasey Clayton Waldrop, 22, on murder and weapons charges in the death of 35-year-old Reza Farah Kahn.

The body of Kahn, a mother of four from Townville, was discovered by two men who had gone to launch a boat at a Salude Lake ramp on Buckskin Road shortly before 9 a.m. on Feb. 21, according to police.

Sheriff’s office detectives received information the followign day that Kahn’s 2014 Dodge Charger was parked at an apartment complex in West Greenville on Monday evening, and when officers traveled to recover the vehicle, Waldrop was arrested after a short foot pursuit at around 7:30 p.m.

Clark said a gun that matched the caliber of the weapon used to kill Kahn was found in the vehicle, which was partially spray painted to try to cover up evidence, the sheriff said.

Chief deputy Creed Hashe said in a news release announcing Kelley’s arrest that the investigation surrounding the events before and after Kahn’s death determined that she had helped Waldrop try to conceal evidence knowing he had murdered Kahn.

Police said a motive had not been determined in the killing through the early stages of the investigation, although Clark said Waldrop and Kahn knew each other and were friends.

“It is hard to believe that a life can be taken by some of the evil we see today in our society,” Clark said.