GREENVILLE — A Simpsonville woman has died four days after firefighters pulled her from her burning home.

Mary E. Owens, 41, died at 6:45 p.m. Saturday at the Augusta Burn Center in Georgia, Greenville County deputy coroner Kent Dill said.

Owens suffered third degree burns over 45 percent of her body and her lungs were damaged from breathing in hot, smoky air, Dill said.

Deputies are investigating what caused the fire.

Owens shared the house with two roommates who were not home at the time of the blaze.

Slaying case

goes to grand jury

ANDERSON — An Anderson County grand jury will hear the case of a 19-year-old man who said he shot and killed his father after his father tried to choke his mother.

A magistrate ruled Friday there is enough evidence to consider a case against William ‘‘Bo’’ Stone forward.

Stone shot Allen Dale Stone, 45, twice in the back on April 15, sheriff’s investigator Mike Arflin said.

In a statement to deputies, Stone said he meant to shoot his father in the legs so he would stop trying to choke his mother to death, Arflin said.

Stone’s father and mother, Angela, had been arguing all day about whether she should go to the hospital for injuries she said her husband inflicted on her earlier in the day, Arflin said.

Deputies had been called to the home several times because of fights between the parents and between father and son, Arflin said.

Stone felt threatened all the time, his attorney Steve Krause said.

On the day of the shooting, Stone’s father told his son the only way he would leave the house was in a body bag, Krause said.

Company won’t

rehire workers

FLORENCE — Thirty workers laid off from a Pee Dee pecan company have found out they won’t be getting their jobs back.

Young Pecan moved the 20 production and 10 administrative jobs lost during a layoff in February to Las Cruces, N.M., facilities.

The company has spent 60 years shelling pecans around Florence, but in recent years, farms out west have provided more pecans, said James Swink, chief executive officer of Young Pecan.

‘‘The western region of the U.S. and northern Mexico have been increasing over the years and are now producing over 75 percent of the total world supply,’’ Swink said.

The move puts all of the company’s manufacturing facilities in Las Cruces.

The corporate offices will stay in Florence, where the company was founded in the 1920s.

Traffic deaths

prompt meeting

BLUFFTON — The state Highway Patrol and local police have called a first-of-its-kind town meeting to try to figure out why traffic fatalities have increased so rapidly in Jasper County.

The meeting will focus on the importance of wearing seat belts and staying aware while driving, Hardeeville Police Chief James Hubbard said.

The county at the southern tip of the state has had 14 traffic deaths so far this year, compared to five fatalities in the same period last year, South Carolina Highway Patrol Lt. Tommy Collins said.

Last week, six people died in a two-car wreck on a highway near Levy.

‘‘We want the community to know we care and do the best we can to curb the fatality rate,’’ Collins said. ‘‘But it won’t work without the community’s support.’’

The meeting will be 5 p.m. Friday at Hardeeville Town Hall.

Coastal Carolina

raises tuition

MYRTLE BEACH — Students hitting the books at Coastal Carolina University will have dig a bit deeper for tuition during the 2005-2006 school year.

The university’s board on Friday approved a 12.5 percent tuition increase for in-state students and a 6.3 percent increase for out-of-state students.

The increase raises in-state tuition by $380 a semester to $3,430. For nonresidents, tuition rises by $450 per semester to $7,550. Room, board and health service fees also rise $155, or 5 percent, to $3,140 a semester.