SC Teacher Charged with Having Sex with Student Found Dead

Donald Blair

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCIV) — Authorities confirm that Donald Blair Sr., a mechatronics teacher at Goose Creek High School, was found dead in Cypress Gardens Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Berkeley County Coroner’s Office, Blair died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

His body was found in the woods off Bushy Park Road by K-9 officers near a blue Dodge Charger parked at the boat landing.

Deputies went to the boat landing after receiving a call from the security team of the Berkeley County School District. Officials with the sheriff’s office say Blair missed a scheduled appointment, and there was concern.

Deputies began searching areas Blair was known to frequent, and that is where they say his body and Dodge Charger were found.

On Monday, Blair was arrested and charged with third degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and sexual battery of a student. He was released on $10,000 bail.

Detectives with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said they got a complaint from a student in reference to a consensual sexual relationship between Blair and the student.

In a release issued Monday, officials with the sheriff’s office said there was reason to believe a sexual relationship happened between Blair and a student who was 15 at the time, during the 2014-2015 school year.

Officials said the relationship “took place in the grounds of Goose Creek High School.”

Goose Creek High School was placed on a lockdown at around 10:15 Wednesday morning. It is not known if the two incidents are related. The school and surrounding schools in the district were on lockdown for about an hour due to what district officials described as a “potential threat in the area.”

After learning of Blair’s death, officials with Berkeley County School District announced the will be grief counselors available to faculty members and students at Goose Creek High School.

“We will continue to offer support to them as they process this news,” district officials stated in a press release.