South Carolina authorities are searching for clues in the early morning slaying of a sheriff's deputy in Colleton County.

Roadblocks have been set up in and around the town of Smoaks, where the body of Deputy Dennis Compton was found outside a home.

Sheriff George Malone says the 39-year-old law officer had responded to an early morning alarm at a vacant house. Authorities found out Compton had been shot when the son of the homeowners used the deputy's radio to report that the officer was wounded.

Malone did not offer many details of the shooting and said authorities don't have any suspects. Some 100 officers using bloodhounds and a helicopter are involved in the search.

Smoaks is just west of Interstate 95, about 70 miles northwest of Charleston.