A man dies of a heart attack while burying a woman who strangled him

TRENTON, SC –

A 60-year-old man who strangled his girlfriend died of a heart attack while burying her body in their backyard in South Carolina, investigators said.

Deputies found the body of Joseph Anthony McKinnon on Saturday after neighbors called and reported an unconscious man in a backyard in Trenton, a statement from the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office said.

While investigating McKinnon’s death, law enforcement officers found a body wrapped in garbage bags in a freshly dug hole and identified it as his girlfriend, Patricia Ruth Dent, 65, investigators said.

Dent’s autopsy found she had been strangled, and neighbors told police they saw McKinnon dig a hole in his yard the day before, lawmakers said.

McKinnon’s autopsy found he had died of a heart attack. Deputies said he seemed almost done filling the grave when he left the shovel, walked away and collapsed.