Bond denied in double SC slaying

FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — Bond has been denied for a Florence man charged with stabbing his wife and mother-in-law to death.

Thirty-three-year-old Hiralkumar Gopaldas pleaded not guilty Thursday to two counts of murder in the deaths last month of his 31-year-old wife Punam and his 56-year-old mother-in-law, Vinaben Patel.

Attorney Rose Mary Parham says her client was working in a hotel at the time of the stabbings.

Prosecutor Ed Clements says the wife was stabbed 27 times and the mother-in-law five times. The couple was going through a divorce and their 2-year-old son was found lying next to his dead mother.

Clements says the child is a potential witness but is traumatized. He says the motive for the slaying may have been that the wife was seeking full custody of the boy.