'She was always there for him': Son charged with strangling mom after an argument

Left: Terry Lee Self, Jr. (Lexington County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Office). Right: Regina Arroyo (GoFundMe).

A man in South Carolina is accused of killing his mother, strangling her to death and throwing her body in a river.

Terry Lee Self Jr., 37, is charged with the murder of his mother, Regina Arroyo, 56. According to a statement from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, investigators had been searching for the woman’s killer for months.

“A canoer found the body of the suspect’ smother in the Edisto River Dec. 3,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in the statement. “Detectives confirmed the suspect and his mother were at the suspect’s house and left there together after an argument.”

Evidence indicates that Self, who is from Columbia, is believed to have “used a ligature to strangle Ms. Arroyo,” the statement says. Investigators had apparently been working on the case for seven months.

“We hope to give her family members and loved ones some sense of closure,” the statement says.

Mindy Chrysler, Self’s sister and Arroyo’s daughter, had noticed inconsistencies with her brother’s personality for months, local NBC affiliate WIS reported . She said he had a history of criminal activity and that her family was alarmed by his recent personality changes. She grew suspicious of Self when she saw him driving Arroyo’s new rental car shortly after her disappearance.

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“There was no doubt in my mind. I didn’t want to believe it though, like, who would kill their mother, you know, like my brother wouldn’t have done that,” she told the station. “But I denied it, up until [an investigator] told me he had done it.”

Chrysler said that Arroyo’s steadfast efforts to help her son ultimately led to her own end.

“She was always there for him,” she said. “My mom would always do for him, no matter what he did. She forgave him and would try to help him the best that she could, and she would say, ‘He is my son, what am I to do?'”

A GoFundMe organized by a friend described Arroyo as “one of the kindest, selfless, and undoubtedly loyal people” she had ever met.

“She dedicated her life to help save dogs from countless shelters,” the fundraiser says. “She didn’t have an easy life, but she certainly made the most of what she had. Regina’s family was her first and foremost … Her children are suffering an indescribable loss. Please let’s give back to Regina the care and compassion she gave to all she met!”

Self is from Columbia, South Carolina, the sheriff’s statement says, while Arroyo lived some 60 miles south in Barnwell. He was charged on July 1 and is currently being held without bond in Richland County on an unrelated charge.

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