Missing,

Willie Toomer

By: H. Havelock

Willie Toomer from Huger, South Carolina has been missing since May 14th, 2017 after getting a ride home from church.

Huger, South Carolina is a small town with a population of a little over 2,000 according to the U.S census. The community is located just 30 miles south of Charleston, SC.

"He'd be walking the road, and (if) a car came he used to move all the way in there and let that car go by, he would never walk while that car is passing and he will go wait until that car passes and then he'll start back walking," Mrs. Singleton said.

Singleton's Convenience Store has been open for 40 years, Toomer stopped by the convenience store daily, according to Mrs.Singleton.

Carolyn opened the store with her husband who has been nicknamed " the bouncer" over 40 years ago. Located off of Cainhoy Road in Huger,  South Carolina.
Carolyn runs a " tight ship" a customer said while she rang up a beer.

"Toomer, that's my buddy, no matter how much money or where he found it he would come into the store," Carolyn said.

"This you money?” he would ask Mrs.Singleton.

"No, Toomer you found it, this is your money" she would respond.

But Toomer always wanted to do what was right, and he insisted that Mrs. Singleton should keep the money. She would place the change that Toomer would bring into a cup to save for when Toomer wanted to buy his favorite snack, Hunny Buns, and a Pepsi.

Mrs.Singleton and Toomer became close over the years, she would often invite him inside when it was raining to watch television. According to Mrs. Singleton, he would refuse, citing that she was a married woman, and Toomer feared that would disrespect her husband.

"You a married woman, I'll just stay outside" Toomer would say.

Huger is located in the bible belt–the type of town where everything is closed on Sunday, except for Singleton’s convenience store which opens after the last church service of the day,

Carolyn rings up a beer for her regular customer, Derek. 

“How many years has it been now, two?” he asks. 

“Six,” she states. 

It has been almost 6 years without an explanation as to what happened to Toomer. 

"I saw him going to Church that morning because when I going to church, he walking to his church.." recalled Mrs. Singleton.

She received a call after getting out of service from her husband.

“ Nobody seen him after church’ her husband told her. 

The next morning, Mrs.Singleton was coming from a meeting at her church when she saw a crowd of cars and people near Toomer’s house. 

“ So, I got my cellphone and I called my husband…he said ‘nobody knows where Toomers (been) they say that Toomer is missing.’ I say that can’t be that Toomer is missing. And that's the way it's been from then on.,”

Toomer was a member of Stewart Chapel United Methodist Church and was last seen getting a ride home from one of his fellow church members. 

"That was a Sunday afternoon, they know that he came home because the clothes that he wore to church were laying across the bed and everything," said Mrs.Singleton.

According to Toomer's missing person report, he was last seen wearing his Sunday suit, a black suit, but may be seen wearing a light color shirt and khakis. 

“Everybody is intrigued by Toomer. Well, that's a mystery, it's a real mystery, no trace, no nothing.” Derek said.

If you have any information regarding Willie Toomer’s disappearance please contact Berkeley County Sheriff's Office. 

“Everybody knows everybody, and everybody knows Toomer, because when he is not sitting here, he’s walking up and down the road. He’s walking up and down. And everybody knows him, even the people that work up at the plant know Toomer,” said Carolyn Singleton, owner of Singleton’s Convenience Store.

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