The main sign for Vulcan Materials Quarry, where two USC students have been found dead in the past five years. (Photo by Cait Dee/Carolina News & Reporter)
While there are many safety risks for college students living in cities like Columbia, quarries can be an unexpected deadly hazard.
Since 2020, three University of South Carolina students — Samuel Laudon, Michael Keen and Tyler Boose — have died in quarries.
Laudon and Keen were both found in the Vulcan Materials Quarry off Bluff Road, according to news reports. Boose died after an incident in an abandoned quarry near Stoneridge Drive, according to the Columbia Police Department. Both quarries feature deep pits used for mining and are near apartments complexes or rental homes frequently used by students.
The young men were all trespassing on private property, according to Columbia police. But after multiple deaths in under five years, authorities are issuing stern warnings about quarry safety.
October 2020: Samuel Laudon
Samuel Laudon, a 19-year-old sophomore at USC, was found dead at the Vulcan site near USC’s Williams-Brice Stadium just south of downtown Oct. 11, 2020, according to WLTX News 19. He had been reported missing to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Laudon was walking home in the early morning hours of Oct. 10 with a group of friends but split from his party when they decided to call a ride service to take them home. Instead, Laudon hopped over a fence near the quarry to take a route home through the quarry property, which was where he was last seen alive, according to WLTX News 19.
Allie Salrin, a master deputy and spokesperson for the sheriff’s department, said a missing person’s report was placed by Laudon’s friends several hours later, after they feared he was in danger.
“He was reported missing by some people that he had been out with that were kind of aware of the circumstances and were aware that potentially something bad had happened to Samuel,” Salrin said.
Shortly after taking the missing person’s report, the sheriff’s department launched a search, armed with the knowledge of Laudon’s final moments before he went missing.
“In this case, the specific facts were that he had jumped the fence,” Salrin said.
During the search, the sheriff’s department used multiple units, including K-9s and a helicopter.
“So, in a case like this, where the facts suggest that this person is probably in the quarry, we know that the quarry is not a big place. That likelihood that they’re either injured or might have died, that’s going to put a lot more pressure on the time of response for first-responding agencies,” Salrin said.
Michael Keen: November 2021
A little over a year after Laudon’s death, senior finance major Michael Keen was also found dead in the Vulcan quarry.
Keen was last heard from at 8 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2021, when he called his father in South Carolina’s Upstate and told him he was planning to walk home from J’s Corner Restaurant & Bar at Rosewood Drive and Bluff Road, not far from the quarry, according to The State newspaper.
Keen’s parents filed a missing person’s report the following day with Columbia police, The State reported.
While the quarry falls under the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s department, Columbia police conducted the investigation and search because of where the report was filed.
“Having the jurisdictional boundaries is a big part in any investigation, so it matters where the person was reported from and then where they were last seen and so depending on that, it can look very different for different cases,” Salrin said.
Keen’s body was found Nov. 22, according to USC’s Daily Gamecock.
Requested incident reports for the case of Michael Keen were not provided to Carolina News & Reporter by the city of Columbia.
Tyler Boose: March 2024
Tyler Boose, a 21-year-old senior business management major, died after an incident in a pond at an abandoned quarry on March 31, 2024, according to a Columbia police report.
Boose and five friends were swimming in the pond near the Acasa Tropical Ridge apartment complex on Stoneridge Drive, according to the report.
Boose did not resurface after jumping in the water, leading his friends to swim over to him and pull him to a bank before Columbia Fire Department first responders arrived. Boose was later pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.
CFD spokesman Mike DeSumma said swimming in quarries is hazardous and can lead to unexpected danger.
“What can you do to keep yourself safe?” DeSumma said. “Don’t go to them. When it comes to swimming and stuff like that, you jump into a quarry, you don’t know what’s beneath the surface of the water, how deep it is, what’s on the bottom of it, what could catch in terms of materials.”
Emergency services were on the scene in four minutes, according to the report.
“Even if we get there in a quick amount of time, if something happens catastrophic to you, your life is still in danger,” DeSumma said.
Legality and safety
Local lawyers say the responsibility for the deaths likely does not fall on the companies involved.
“Nobody would have any business being out there unless they were just wanting to get into the property,” said Bert Louthian, an attorney with Columbia’s Louthian Law Firm who is not connected to any of the deceased or to the companies. “They’ve got it pretty well protected.”
Because the men trespassed, they were not guaranteed the right to their safety by the companies, according to Jones Andrews, an attorney with the Law Offices of Jones Andrews in Columbia.
“As far as a trespasser, I don’t think you really owe anybody much duty at all unless there’s an obvious danger to them, and if it’s an obvious danger, they’re going to argue that the person that trespassed should have known about it just as much,” Andrews said.
Vulcan Materials told Carolina News & Reporter in an email that the site has increased security measures around the quarry for a 48-period before, during and after games.
“Our site has fencing, signage and vegetation buffers to promote public and operational safety, and we actively engage with the local neighborhoods and the university,” said Jack Bonnikson, a Vulcan Materials spokesman.
Considering the multiple quarry–related deaths in the past five years, local emergency responders are urging residents and students to stay away from these dangerous areas.
“It’s very important for people to realize that these are not spots you should be hanging out in,” DeSumma said. “These are not spots you should be trying to get into.”
