LITTLE RIVER, SC (WBTW) – Judge Larry B. Hyman, Jr. set bond for accused murderer Leon Collier at $250,000 Tuesday morning.
Bond for the murder charge was set at $230,000 and each of the two child neglect charges were granted a bond of $10,000.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Collier was still in jail at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.
Collier is accused of killing Christian Hope Phipps, 29, of Little River. Officers found her body Dec. 1 inside an apartment at Pinehurst Circle. The coroner says Phipps died several days before her body was discovered by Horry County Police.
Arrest warrants state that Collier placed a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old child in “unreasonable risk of harm affecting the child’s physical and mental health and safety” due to “unsanitary home conditions and lack of food in the residence.”
On Dec. 3, the magistrate judge denied bond for Collier because according to the State of South Carolina, bond in murder cases must be set by circuit court judges.
