Brad Zinn

bzinn@newsleader.com

CHURCHVILLE - A Churchville woman, nine months pregnant, was on the phone with authorities and trying to hide during a 911 call Wednesday night while she was being attacked by her live-in boyfriend, according to the Augusta County Sheriff's Office.

Less than 20 minutes later, the body of 29-year-old Susan M. Clifton was discovered inside a bathroom at 1329 Jerusalem Chapel Road in a home she shared with 31-year-old Shawn L. Carter.

Carter, still barely alive and suffering from what appeared to be a self-inflicted stab wound to the chest, was found on top of Clifton, according to Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith. Shortly after deputies took Carter out of the home, he died.

Clifton's unborn child also was killed.

A baseball bat and knife were recovered from the home, but Smith was reluctant to speculate on how Clifton died.

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"I don't want to confirm, or put anything out there, until we are able to figure out exactly ... what happened," he said.

Seventeen minutes lapsed between Clifton's 911 call and the discovery of her body, Smith said. Nobody else was at the home during the incident.

Asked if drugs or alcohol played a role, the sheriff replied, "We don't know."

Autopsy results are pending.

In September, court records show sheriff’s authorities arrested Carter and charged him with assaulting Clifton. In that case, the couple were arguing inside a car when Carter punched and then dragged Clifton across their driveway, an arrest report said. He was convicted of domestic assault and battery and given no jail time, according to Augusta County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court records. A second charge of damaging a phone line was taken under advisement.

Carter was involved in several domestic disputes in the past, records show, some resulting in short jail stints. He once threatened to kill his ex-wife and their children in December 2011. According to a report filed by Carter's ex-wife, she said he called and informed her he would no longer be paying child support.

In her written report, the woman said Carter told her, “I’m just going to come over there, and shoot everyone in the house and then kill myself."

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Carter was also charged with numerous protective order violations, according to court records. In an alleged 2007 assault on another woman, the charge was dismissed.

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During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Smith indicated that Wednesday night's incident weighed heavily on the deputies, investigators, first responders and the dispatcher who handled the 911 call.

"It's not easy. We're human just like you all are, and it takes its toll," he said.

The sheriff said any woman suffering from domestic abuse should leave that relationship.

"We have resources here in the community. We'll do whatever we have to to help you," he said.