‘We still have hope.’ SC family searches for missing son’s body 20 years later

Wilveria Sanders last saw her brother, Shelton, two decades ago when she was 11 years old.

She has the first CD she ever owned that Shelton gave her — Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.” She has the Dick and Jane book he gave her. She has memories of Shelton such as him giving her a Garfield phone.

But Wilveria, now 31, and her family have never had a funeral for Shelton.

His family last spoke to him 20 years ago on June 19 and, though a man was charged with killing him, justice has been delayed, Wilveria said.

The Sanders family and Richland County Sheriff’s Department cold case investigators are still searching for Shelton’s body.

Now, the family and investigators hope that a new push for information will give the family the closure they’ve been denied.

“We still have hope and we aren’t going to give up getting justice,” Wilveria said.

A billboard on I-20

On Interstate 20 near the Two Notch Road exit, a billboard shows a picture of Shelton with #FindingSheltonSanders. The billboard offers $25,000 for information that leads to his body being found.

Thousands of people drive by daily never knowing who Shelton was or the story behind the billboard.

On their family’s 25 acres in Rembert in Sumter County, South Carolina, where they still live, Shelton taught Wilveria how to box so she could stand up for herself, she remembered.

While she was only an elementary school kid, Shelton, both as a teenager and a man in his early 20s, took time to teach Wilveria about music and books. He made sure she read so she’d be smart, Wilveria said.

Shelton was not the kind of person to leave dishes in the sink, she said. She has a distinct recollection of him getting her on a stool and teaching her how to put soap in warm sink water to wash dishes.

When Shelton was home, he was always helping his parents with cooking and cleaning. He loved to cook out, Wilveria said.

In 2001, at 25 years old, Shelton was attending the University of South Carolina, driving every day he had class from Sumter to Columbia and back home to be with his family. He worked at the medical school as a computer technician. He was set to graduate at the end of the year. He wanted to be a computer programmer.

On June 19 that year, he had driven his brother’s car to Columbia because of an issue with his, Wilveria said.. He phoned his family and said he was going to be late but he’d be home. That was the last time anyone in his family heard from him.

His family reported him missing to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Wilveria remembered her father, a magistrate judge, going into swamps in Sumter County to look for his son. He went out many times on his own to look for Shelton, Wilveria said. Information that came to Sumter County investigators led to nothing. After nearly two years, the family thought they would never find out anything about their son’s disappearance.

Police found his car and other evidence in 2003, and two years later charged a man with killing Shelton. It was someone the family had suspected all along.

The trial

In April 2003, the car Shelton was driving the night he disappeared was found at Greenbrier Apartments off Parklane Road in Columbia.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department took over the case as a homicide. Investigators began looking into the person Shelton was with last.

Mark Richardson went with Shelton to a few Columbia hotels to help him plan a bachelor party the night he disappeared, investigators said at the time and The State reported. Richardson was a friend and former roommate of Shelton’s. The two went back to Richardson’s house in Olympia. That’s the final location where Shelton was known to be.

Richland deputies charged Richardson with murder in 2005.

“This has been a very frustrating case because we’ve seen the pain that the family had endured not knowing where their son is,” Sheriff Leon Lott said then. “We would love to find their son so they can give him a proper burial.”

Richarson’s trial began in 2008. The State reported on it as only the second Richland County murder trial in which the body was missing. Prosecutors presented the evidence to the jury.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots from Richardson’s property. Richardson admitted he and Shelton were the only people at the house when the gunshots went off. Other witnesses signed sworn statements saying Richardson had said he wanted to kill one of his friends. Cell phone records placed Richardson near the apartments where Shelton’s car was found on the night of his disappearance.

When questioned by an investigator about Shelton’s disappearance, Richardson replied, “How can I explain disposing of the body?” a prosecutor told the jury and The State reported.

”Mark Richardson convicts himself with his statements about that night,” the prosecutor said.

Richardson’s lawyer, prominent criminal defense attorney and former state representative I.S. Leevy Johnson, argued that Shelton may still be missing rather than dead and that prosecutors had no hard evidence that Richardson killed Shelton.

The jury was hung. Seven jurors found Richardson guilty but five found him not guilty or were undecided, according to the Sanders family. The judge declared a mistrial.

Richardson has never been tried again. Richardson left Columbia, according to public records. Johnson said he did not want to comment for this story.

The search continues

In 2018, Wilveria took up the search for her brother’s body.

As a child, her parents had protected her from the visceral pain of losing her brother, she said. Because of that, she had the strength to continue the search after decades of it wearing on her mother and father.

The family has forgiven anyone involved in Shelton’s killing, Wilveria said.

Social media gave Wilveria a new outlet to let people know about her family’s search and to hopefully get fruitful information. She also fronted the $25,000 reward for any tips that led to Shelton’s body. She put up billboards in Columbia, Sumter and Greenville and dotted the towns with yard signs at prominent intersections. Wilveria also got former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, Shelton’s favorite football player, to give a call out for help.

“I’m looking for the one clue, the one answer that will bring him home,” Shelton’s father, Bill Sanders, told NBC’s Dateline in June. “We need our son home.”

Throughout the decades, the Sanders family has maintained a close relationship with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and that has kept investigators going, Senior Investigator Dottie Cronise said.

“They haven’t given up on us,” she said. “It’s a team effort.”

With the 20th anniversary of Shelton’s disappearance last month, Cronise and Wilveria are taking it as an opportunity to tell the family’s story in hopes that someone may come forward with a new tip.

The Sanders family held a remembrance for Shelton on June 19 and invited the news media. A program for the event gave a timeline of memorable moments in Shelton’s life such as him overcoming an early childhood medical condition, joining the Boy Scouts, being baptized, getting his first job at Piggly Wiggly as a teenager and getting into USC.

One of those memories, Shelton graduating from high school, has a photo. Wilveria, barely up to her brother’s waist as he’s in his graduation robe and hat, hugs her brother’s leg.

Whether it’s the 20th or the 50th anniversary of Shelton’s disappearance, Wilveria said she’ll still be searching for her brother’s remains.

”I’m going to do it until someone speaks up,” Wilveria said.

Information and tips about Shelton Sanders can be sent to findingsheltonsanders@gmail.com or called into 803-427-4209. People can also call Richland County Sheriff’s Department at 803-576-3000. The family has set up FindingSheltonSanders pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Online fundraisers to help cover costs associated with the family’s search are on Go Fund Me and the CashApp at $JusticeforShelton.