On December 12, 2024, 38-year-old Susan Marie Gonzalez was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds inside a room at the Hometown Studios on Mobile Drive in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She and 32-year-old Sherman Armand Sims were discovered together in the late afternoon after a 3:45 p.m. distress call to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.

The caller was identified as 30-year-old Kayla Michelle Benton, who reported she had shot two people. Investigators say Benton, Gonzalez and Sims had been staying in the same motel and had spent the prior 24 hours together; those interactions reportedly included several verbal and physical altercations and involved alcohol. Benton was taken into custody, questioned, and then arrested on two counts of murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. She was denied bond and is being held at the Spartanburg County Detention Center.

Does anyone who knew Susan or saw activity at the Hometown Studios around December 11–12 have information that could help investigators?