CLEMSON — A Clemson mother of two was found dead in her home Friday night with a gunshot wound to her chest.

Melissa Wylie, 50, was pronounced dead at her 209 Maple Blvd. home shortly before 9 p.m., Pickens County Coroner Kandy C. Kelley said.

An autopsy conducted at Greenville Memorial Hospital confirmed the victim died after being shot in the chest, she said.

According to an incident report filed by officers with the Clemson Police Department, law enforcement officials went to Mrs. Wylie’s home at 8:55 p.m. after receiving an emergency 9-1-1 call about a domestic violence disturbance involving a weapon.

They were met at the residence’s door by Clifford Austin Wylie, the victim’s husband, the report said.

When officers entered the home, they found the victim’s body on the floor in the living room and immediately requested emergency services, the report said.

Wylie was pronounced dead at the scene, Kelley said.

Clifford Wylie, 52, has been charged with murder, a spokesperson with the Clemson Police Department said in a press release.

Wylie was an active member of the Clemson community, and will be deeply missed, Mark Conrad, owner of Colombo’s Pizza, on Pendleton Street, said.

“There’s an entire dossier on Missy,” he said. “You could write a book on who she is and what she has meant to everyone.”

An employee of Colombo’s Pizza for over 23 years, Mrs. Wylie was a member of not just that staff’s family, but she was also considered a valued member of so many other

families, Conrad said.

“She was a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, and I was amazed to discover just how deep she was into that organization,” he said. “She worked with the youth and taught

Sunday school.”

As a survivor of breast cancer, Mrs. Wylie also reached out to people suffering from that disease, rendering her support and encouragement to those facing some difficult and frightening times, Conrad said.

“Some people knew Missy in five different ways,” he said, adding that because of the active role she took in the community, church work, and support for cancer patients and survivors, her life crossed the paths of others in a variety of avenues.

When first employed at Colombo’s Pizza, Mrs. Wylie was the mother of a young son who she brought to work with her, Conrad said.

“Her son stayed right here with us in a crib,” he said. “Her husband didn’t want her working at night, and she couldn’t afford a babysitter.”

The little boy who Colombo’s customers watched grow up is now 23 years old and a student at Clemson University, he said.

“Missy has two sons, a 23-year-old and another who is eight,” he said. “Now the 23-year-old is trying to get custody of the younger one.”

The Clemson community, which Mrs. Wylie loved and served for so many years, is now stepping in to help her sons, he said.

Donations are assisting the elder son in obtaining an apartment more suited to an eight-year-old child’s needs than the college student apartment the young man can afford, Conrad said.

“He just needs a decent place so DSS won’t step in and take (the child),” he said.

Just last week, Conrad said he visited Mrs. Wylie in her home for a few moments when he stopped by to pick up his own grandson who the woman was babysitting while the family attended a funeral.

“My own son, who is 31, took this real hard,” Conrad said. “We were all together – we were family.”

The woman’s murder will have a lasting impact on the community, he said.

“This is such a great loss,” he said.

Wylie has been charged with the murder of his wife and is currently being held in the

Pickens County Detention Center with no set bond pending a hearing by a circuit court judge.

The murder of Mrs. Wylie marks the first homicide to occur in Pickens County in 2009.

Last year, South Carolina was recognized as leading the nation in the number of women per capita murdered by men.