Three arrested in death of woman who was found strangled, burned

<p>Authorities have arrested three people in the death of a woman whose body was found strangled and then burned.</p><p>Ernest Bussey III, 21, and Cardale D. Gibbons, 22, have been charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of Shanequa Carpenter, Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength said. They were also charged with two counts of cruelty to children.</p><p>A 15-year-old boy has been charged as a juvenile with two counts of kidnapping, cruelty to children and concealing a death. His name was not released.</p><p>Bussey and Gibbons were arrested Tuesday and the 15-year-old was arrested Wednesday, Strength said. He said authorities did not reveal the arrests Tuesday because they did not want to risk the 15-year-old fleeing.</p><p>Strength said investigators are not sure why Carpenter, a 24-year-old mother of three, was killed.</p><p>"We have ideas about that, but we don't want to speculate," he said about a possible motive.</p><p>Strength said the men knew Carpenter but would not specify their relationship with her.</p><p>Strength said Carpenter and two of her children, Alyssia, 11 months, and Isaiah, 2, went to Bussey's home Friday night.</p><p>Carpenter was strangled inside, while her children were in the same room, Strength said. Investigators did not know who strangled Carpenter.</p><p>Investigators say Carpenter was then put in the trunk of her 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Then the two men, with Carpenter's children in tow, drove to the 15-year-old's home, picked him up and disposed of Carpenter's body off a road.</p><p>The teenager was told to drop the children off somewhere and burn the car, Strength said. But the 15-year-old abandoned the children and dumped the vehicle.</p><p>Gibbons is believed to have set Carpenter's body on fire, Strength said. Gibbons has been charged with an additional count of first-degree arson.</p><p>Carpenter's burned body was found Sunday afternoon after firefighters received a call about a fire. An autopsy found she was pregnant when she was killed.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2866890)</p>