Finding Shelton Sanders: A sister’s decades-long fight for justice will only end with ‘a confession or his remains’
More than two decades ago, Shelton Sanders disappeared while scouting out bachelor venues with his friend. His sister tells Andrea Cavallier she’s never given up hope that they’ll learn what happened next
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There’s a wall at CrimeCon – the biggest true crime event in the country – that is plastered with the faces of hundreds of missing people. Some have been missing for months. But most have been missing for decades.
At last year’s CrimeCon in Orlando, Wilveria Sanders was there as a volunteer helping others. She stopped by the missing people wall to gaze at the familiar photo of her brother, Shelton Sanders, that has been circulating for more than 20 years.
Wilveria was only 11 when her brother, a USC-Columbia student, went missing in 2001 but she has vowed to find out what happened to him.
“He was my whole world,” she said. “And he still is. I have dedicated my entire life to my brother and giving him a voice.”
Earlier this month, Wilveria returned to CrimeCon, this year in Nashville, but this time she was there as an exhibitor – with a booth where she could tell Shelton’s story.
“The more information we put out there and the more public awareness there is, the closer I feel to getting justice for Shelton,” she said. “Our fight for Shelton is not over.”
At the booth next to hers was the family of Gabby Petitio, the 22-year-old who was killed by fiancé Brian Laundrie in 2021 while they were on a cross-country road trip.
The Petitio family told Wilveria they remember seeing Shelton’s picture at the previous event and asked for fliers and other material to hand out from their booth.
Gabby’s father had a few words of comfort for Wilveria.
“Never give up hope,” he told her.
What happened to Shelton?
Shelton Sanders was a student at the University of South Carolina in Columbia when he disappeared on June 19, 2001. He was 25 years old.
He was studying Administrative Information Management and also worked as a computer programmer for the school’s Neuropsychiatry Department School of Medicine.
Wilveria said her brother had dreams of owning a consulting business and raising a family one day. But that changed on June 19, 2001.
The day began as normal with Shelton attending college classes. Before he drove home to Rembert, he joined his former college roommate, Mark Richardson, to reserve hotel rooms in Columbia for a bachelor party they were planning.
He called his mother around 8:30 p.m. to let her know that he’d be home later, but he never showed up.
According to a Sumter County Sheriff’s Department investigation, Shelton and Richardson were seen at Wellesley Inns & Suites in Columbia around 9:30 p.m., then at the Embassy Suites in Columbia at 9:51 p.m. and at the Residence Inn just after 10 p.m. — all in the downtown area of Columbia. They returned to Richardson’s apartment between 11 and 11:30 p.m.
A neighbor would later tell investigators that it was around that time that they heard three gunshots coming from the area of Richardson’s apartment. When they walked over to find out what happened, Richardson told the neighbor that everything was fine and that his car had just backfired, police said in reports at the time.
Richardson later told investigators that he and Shelton had gone their separate ways, and that Shelton had headed back to his home in Rembert.
His parents, Bill Sanders, a Sumter County Magistrate, and Peggy Sanders, became concerned when he wasn’t home the next day and filed a missing persons report with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department.
A search was launched, but with no evidence, the case quickly turned cold.
Two years later, Shelton’s white 1988 Oldsmobile Regency was found backed into a parking space at the Greenbrier Apartment complex in Columbia.
Richland County Sheriff’s Department joined the investigation and Richardson, the last person to be seen with Shelton, was called in for further questioning.
Sergeant Shawn McDaniels, an investigator with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department on the case, told Dateline NBC back in 2021 that Richardson made statements during that interview that led investigators to focus on him as their prime suspect.
According to McDaniels, Richardson asked the investigators during the interview, “Let me ask you a hypothetical question? Is there such a thing as an accidental death in the state of South Carolina?” After he was told he’d be given the opportunity to explain, Richardson also asked, “How can I explain getting rid of a body?”
McDaniels said Richardson refused to say anything else.
Investigators were able to place Richardson right where Shelton’s car was found on the night he went missing with the help of phone pings.
“We triangulated his cell phone records and we were able to, on the night that Shelton Sanders was last seen and heard from, we were able to put Mark Richardson’s cell phone records right where the car was found,” McDaniels said during the 2021 interview with Dateline.
No body, no crime
In October of 2005, Mark Richardson was arrested and charged with murder in connection to Shelton’s disappearance.
In April 2008, he stood trial. But the jury was unable to reach a verdict, with seven jurors voting guilty and five jurors voting not guilty or undecided, and a mistrial was declared.
Wilveria told The Independent that the outcome was devastating for their family.
“It’s been 23 years of pain for us, 23 years of grieving and missing Shelton,” she said. “We just want answers.”
There has not yet been a retrial as there was not enough evidence.
McDaniels spoke with WACH FOX News in 2022 about arresting Richardson and charging him with murder in 2005, and the frustration about seeing him released in 2008 after his trial resulted in a hung jury.
“The most frustrating part started initially, when we had to deal with jurisdiction issues along with the Sumter County Sheriff’s department,” he said.
“And what’s frustrating is to build up enough evidence, strong circumstantial evidence, enough to get an arrest warrant, and to see that this case here was decided primarily on a jury that was racially divided.”
“He was the last person with him,” he added. “Gunshots were heard at his house by a credible witness. So, why would you need to explain that? All the evidence points to [Mark Richardson].”
The Independent has reached out to Richardson for comment. He currently resides in Greenville, South Carolina, which is about 100 miles from Columbia.
Without further evidence, such as Shelton’s remains, another trial or suspect is unlikely.
A sister’s fight for justice
Wilveria is still on her mission to get justice for her brother.
“Even if he is deceased, I still want to know where he is or what happened to him. That’s all I want,” she said.
Shelton had been missing for about 10 years – and his case was turning cold – when she and her family took it upon themselves to be unofficial investigators.
They set up the Facebook page “Finding Shelton Sanders,” established a tip line, conducted interviews with local and national news outlets, increased their reward offer and continued to plead with anyone who has information to come forward.
Billboards were placed in Columbia, where he was last seen. Digital billboards were put in the area, as well as Greenville, earlier this week. A new website is expected in a few months time.
“At this point, we’re looking for a confession or his remains,” she said.
“Only then will we have closure.”
The reward for information that leads to the whereabouts of Shelton’s remains has doubled and the family is now offering $50,000.
“I pray all the time for answers,” Wilveria said.
“But we haven’t given up hope – and we’ll never stop fighting for justice for him.”
Anyone with information about Shelton’s case or the whereabouts of his remains is asked to call the Richland County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 576-3000 or the Shelton Sanders information hotline at (803) 427-4209.