‘Bring him home’: Family unable to rest until Belmont man’s body returns home

Ken Lemon
·2 min read

A mother is pleading for answers as police search for her son’s body.

Andy Tench was reported missing last month out of Belmont. Now, a testimony that his body was in an Anson County landfill is being called into question.

PREVIOUS STORIES:

D’Shaun Robinson was charged with concealing Tench’s death. He was supposed to face a judge Wednesday but the hearing was postponed.

Now, Channel 9′s Ken Lemon has obtained a newly public search warrant. Court documents from last month said Robinson told police that Tench died at Robinson’s apartment.

The documents allege Robinson put Tench’s body in a dumpster, but a search warrant made public Monday casts doubt on that claim.

‘We want to bring him home’

It’s been five weeks since Tracie Blanton last saw her son.

“It’s been hell,” she said.

Tench had gone to Charlotte to celebrate his birthday. Early court documents indicated Tench and Robinson were at Robinson’s apartment when Tench died. Then, Robinson said he put Tench’s body in a dumpster.

A new warrant says waste collections officials believe a body would have been revealed when trash was sorted.

Tench’s family believes he is dead and wants to find his body.

“We want to bring him home,” Blanton said. “‘Cause I know myself -- until I bury my son, I don’t believe he can rest in peace and I can’t at all. I can’t rest in peace at all.”

This is the same family that spent weeks looking for Tench until they learned he died.

‘There’s more to it’

Tracie Blanton believes Robinson should face more charges beyond concealment of death.

“Andy didn’t die on his own,” she said.

“We are not satisfied with just an arrest. We know there’s more to it.”

Blanton said investigators won’t know more until they have Tench’s body. She is determined to find him, even if it means stepping in to assist police. She just wants answers and a formal memorial.

“We just want him home and we won’t stop. That’s a promise,” she said.

Lemon reached out to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Wednesday for an update on the case.

D’Shaun Robinson is due back in court on July 8.

(WATCH PREVIOUS: Suspect arrested in connection with disappearance of Belmont man)