Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 4-Shondra May's Unfinished Story
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Shondra May's unsolved disappearance in 1986 remains a haunting story that reflects the darkness behind Southern hospitality. The episode delves into the timeline of Shondra's last known activities, the community's response, the discovery of her remains, the mishandling of evidence, and the ongoing quest for justice decades later.
Source Material:
www.newspapers.com
Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS, Feb 12, 1986 pg 12
1986 Disappearance of Shondra May Still Unsolved, www.wlbt.com/2021/03/19/your-side-investigates-dissapearance-shondra-may-still-unsolved/
Shondra May Cold Case Almost Solved, www.wlbt.con/2024/10/16/shondra-may-cold-case-almost-solved/
Uncovering the Unsolved Mystery
PearlHey y'all, I'm Pearl
Hollyand I'm Holly, and this is Hold my Sweet Tea
HollyWelcome to Hold My Sweet Tea, the podcast where we sip tea and uncover hidden secrets and chilling crimes lurking beneath the surface of Southern hospitality.
PearlYes, girl, along with spooky tales and haunted history that give the South its eerie charm, today we're going to dive into the 1986 unsolved disappearance and murder of Shondra May.
PearlBefore we get into that, anything you want to talk about?
HollyWell, it is unseasonably warm and we just had a unseasonably cold snap.
PearlYeah, it's like could you get a little more bipolar?
HollyRight. I'm like it is like 70 something degrees outside, which is nice. I like it better than summer, but I'm not ready.
Pearlbut it's like not even a nice 70 something It's like really like muggy
Hollyit's been foggy every morning, yeah like bad
Pearlso bad, and driving to work in that and I'm just like, oh, I can't see anything, especially all the millions of bridges I pass, and I'm just like, golly, the water makes it worse it really does.
HollyAnd you know, this week I got sick and Pearl got a tattoo. Yeah, I would have rather had a tattoo right for sure.
PearlYeah, I mean, we both had some pain, just different pain, just different pain.
HollyBut I feel better now
Pearlyeah, I'm glad you're better.
PearlYeah, and also shameless plug, if you live in Louisiana, in New Orleans area, you need a tattoo or heck drive for it, because she's worth it totally. Um, she's lady lively on instagram. She does some amazing work. There's a ton of pictures so, yes, you have plenty to check out. She does awesome stuff. I think she does like um, I know she works some days at like cool tattoo in slidell and then trying to remember the name of her other studio that she works in right in new orleans and I've seen lots of her work and it's beautiful yeah, I got some uh pretty flowers on my stuff, but she's uh yeah, she works at uh lucky dagger tattoo in new orleans.
PearlSo if you're out there, go hit her up for sure.
HollyShe's appointment only, so message her, and she's booked well ahead, so you have to wait.
PearlI honestly think her next availability is like the end of March. Wow, at this point, and that's like limited. She said she's got stuff after that. It's just she's got a few little open spots at the end of the month.
HollySo yeah, Back to business. Yes, are you ready to dive in?
Pearlto business. Yes, are you ready to dive in? Yeah, Shon dra May was the daughter of Genelle and Richard May. Genelle was like a stay-at-home mom. She had been struggling with her health, had diabetes and things of that nature. Her father, richard, was a riverboat captain working for a New Orleans shipping firm. So since like 1960, he had spent like at least a month out of every two piloting towboat that were pushing barges upriver. Janelle and Richard actually at one point didn't think they could have any kids, so they had adopted Tim May, who is Shondra's brother, and while he was still a baby, surprise, janelle and Richard got pregnant. So along came Shondra.
HollyI've heard that happens a lot. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think it's pulling the stress off of yourself of like wanting a child so bad or something, and then all of a sudden you just get pregnant yeah, I said like a lot of people legitimately have issues.
Pearlbut I think sometimes you think you have an issue and then you're like, okay, well, it doesn't really matter anymore, so I can't get pregnant, let's have an issue. And then you're like, okay, well, it doesn't really matter anymore, so I can't get pregnant, let's do it.
HollyYes, and then surprise baby.
PearlSo yeah, chandra made her grand entrance to the world on February 26, 1968. In a 1986 article in the Clarion Ledgerger, her parents described Shondra as quiet but friendly. She was a really good student. She was in the Honor Society, she did a really good job of juggling school extracurriculars and her part-time job. They said that she also had a really good group of friends and had been getting serious with her boyfriend, 19-year-old Tony, who actually lived like 27 miles away from her. They didn't even go to the same school, so I'm sure that was another thing she had to juggle she sounds like a really you know well-rounded young lady.
HollyBusy, busy young lady yes.
PearlYeah, it's like that's a lot for a 17-year-old lady. Yes, yeah, it's like that's a lot for 17 year old. Um, but she was, like I said, a 17 year old senior at leak academy. She held a part-time job at mcdonald's in forest, mississippi. So there we go yet another thing she's doing. Wow, she's got a lot on her plate. Yes, she does Shondra lived with her parents and her brother, tim, in p ridge community. It it's south of Walnut Grove in Forest, mississippi. Forest had a population of just over 5,000 people in 1986. And it was in Scott County and the population of, like the surrounding area of Scott County was nearly 20,000 people that year. So it's a small town.
PearlYeah, not a lot.
HollyEverybody kind of knew everybody type of place.
PearlRight, especially around Pea Ridge where she was at, and a lot of the people in that community were actually related to her, so she was like next door to her cousins and stuff like that. So it made things, you, you know, nice, because I'm sure everybody likes to be able to. I mean, I liked playing with my cousins.
Hollyyeah, be a little close, closer to your family, and always have somebody there to yeah, somebody to hang out with.
PearlI mean call if you have something going on. You know good little support system. On On February 4th 1986, Shondra had a pretty normal day at school. She went directly home, had dinner with her mom and then headed off to her part-time job at McDonald's. And I don't know if you know anything about the restaurant industry in Mississippi, but that place is tough. Yeah, you think everywhere else is. It's hard. You know the little stint when we live there. It was like cool restaurant after cool restaurant closing down because they didn't have enough business.
HollyLike y'all get out and eat right, but you know it's, it's like a hometown mississippi place, so everybody just stays home and cooks yeah, I mean.
PearlTypically the evening was pretty slow, so Shondra's manager just started letting some employees leave early. Shondra, despite being one of those allowed to go, clocked out but still hung around for a bit until finally calling her mom to let her know she would be heading home, and that was about 7.40 pm. This is something that Shondra did every time she left work. Since she would usually be leaving in the dark and driving home alone, she always wanted to make sure her mom knew that she was on her way. Yes, but today, instead of heading straight home, chandra made a quick stop at the TG and Y, which is now a Burkes Outlet store, and while she was in the store she purchased the Valentine's Day card for her boyfriend. She then got back in the car, started heading home. Genelle became concerned. It was probably, you know, a little after eight and Shondra hadn't arrived, and it seemed like it was a lot later than what she would normally get home right.
HollyShe kind of had a feeling like, well, well, she should be home by now.
PearlYeah, you know the whole mother's instinct and intuition like where is my baby? Right? You know they used to do that thing on TV all the time, mm-hmm, like it's whatever time.
HollyYeah, Do you know where your kids are? Yeah, because back in the 80s you know we were severely neglected, Feral children.
PearlWe were all feral, yeah, neglected Feral children. We were all feral, yeah. So she was like you know something's off. So she called her husband, richard, and Richard's like hey, just, you know, reach out to your brother-in-law next door and see if they've seen her or heard from her, because maybe she stopped over there. So she reached out to her brother-in-law, Alton Spivey, who, like I said, lived next door, and she was like hey, did Shondra stop by there at all today? And he's like no, not here. She's like let me check with the kids. So he's got a son, David, who is young like Shondra. And so he's like hey, you see your cousin. And he also was like no, but janelle decided then that she was just gonna walk outside. And when she did, she saw, she saw Shondra's car stopped just short of the driveway on the gravel road, apparently I cannot say c, and sh at the same time.
HollyI think it's like the whole, like seashells by the seashore thing over here. I'm not selling them they are not for sale. Yeah, so not my seashells goodness.
PearlSo her car literally just sitting there between her driveway and the Spivey's driveway on the gravel road and that just sends Shondra's mom into panic, was it?
Hollyrunning or just turned off and just sitting there.
PearlSo apparently the car itself was just sitting there. It was turned off, nothing on but the radio, but the radio was like turned all the way down. Her cousin, David Spivey, said in an article published in March of 2021 by WLBT's Wilson Stribling, that he remembered seeing what was most likely her headlights as she neared home that evening. He was quoted as saying there was no car behind her, just hers. He also recalled that the engine was turned off, like I said, but that the radio was still on, yet turned all the way down, like she had turned it down to talk to somebody oh so, um, it was just weird.
PearlHe said her driver's side window was slightly rolled down, but there was no sign of her at all. At first, it appeared that all of her belongings were also left in the car. Her purse and the receipt that showed her Valentine's card purchase were there. However, the card and her driver's license were gone.
HollyOh, that's weird.
PearlYeah, no, Shondra. No driver's license. No Valentine's Day card.
HollySo she kind of like rolled the window down a little bit because I'm sure her car had like cranked down windows and turned the radio down because somebody had obviously approached her car.
PearlThat would be logical. It makes sense. At least, that's what makes sense in this moment. Shonndra's cousin and her uncle decided they're gonna go search for Shondra while Shodra's mom calls the police. They made this split decision that, unfortunately, was not helpful when it came to evidence collection. Not realizing that this was indeed a crime scene, the Spiveys jumped into action to search for Shondra, but they did it in her car.
HollyOh no.
PearlI'm sure in this moment they did not want to waste any time looking for her, but they didn't stop and think that this could be a potential crime scene. So that action sadly led to the vehicle not being much use From an evidentiary standpoint. They did say that there were some footprints outside the car, but I mean, who's to say who those were? If they were walking all around the car.
HollyAnd they were all mixed up with whoever.
PearlAnd they got in it. Yeah, so unfortunately, Shondra would not be found that night. According to the same 1986 Clarion Ledger article that I spoke about earlier, it was published on February 12th. So here we are eight days later, Shondra's parents were struggling with the lack of leads and the disappearance of their daughter. The Scott County Sheriff at the time was Glenn Warren, and Warren stated that he had received a number of reports about a car attempting to pull drivers off the road with blue lights flashing. He also stated that while he was aware of similar reports being taken in other counties until Shondra went missing, he had never had a report there of that happening locally. So this was a new thing to him, as far as that goes at least.
PearlIn their area there were a lot of people who came out in support and tried to help with the search and help incentivize the public. Joe Shepard, who was the headmaster of League Academy, said that the students have thought of little else since Shonda went missing. It had made a huge impact on the entire community. The school faculty had also started like warning kids hey, you see a car with blue lights. If you don't know that, that is for sure a cop. Do not pull over. If you don't feel safe, do not Especially when traveling alone.
PearlYeah, even now, I think that's something that's harder to tell, because now they have all those cars that are, like, marked in the same color as the car, so you can't really yeah, you can't really tell it is, but they say like find a police station or find a well-lit area before you pull over, because and I think you're also allowed to call and just verify that that is indeed a cop trying to pull you over.
PearlSo I mean in back, then that wouldn't even be an option no cell phones in that same article, faith howell, an english teacher at league academy, was quoted as saying it's frightening to think that we cannot find her yeah, because I feel that she was like a very beloved person at her school and in her community, right and I mean you just pulled into the road that, like a lot of your family, lives on. So it's crazy that nobody saw anything other than her headlights at the headlights and stuff.
HollyBut they probably really didn't think a lot of it because it was a a daily thing like oh, there's chandra you know, yeah, and the car pulling in, so they just went on about their business and really didn't.
PearlYeah, think about it so the headmaster shepherd, along with many of the teachers and students, went and helped search over that first weekend after chandra's disappearance. The school also helped raise funds and collect donations to help finance the five thousand dollar reward that was now offered to anyone with information that leads to finding chandra and that was a lot back in the 80s yeah, I mean, that was a big deal to come up with that.
PearlBut the owners of the McDonald's where Chandra worked had also put up posters with Chandra's senior portrait containing the full description of her McDonald's uniform. You know, just trying to be helpful. So everybody knew what she was in and some of Chandra's co-workers started to recall that Chandra had seemed worried in the weeks leading up to her disappearance because she was sure that someone was following her. She couldn't tell who it was and didn't know what kind of vehicle. But Susie Sawyer, who is an assistant manager at McDowell, said that some of the co-workers had told her that she was worried but also didn't want to tell her parents because she was afraid they would make her quit her job right.
HollySo she liked her job enough. But you know she was like well, maybe I'm just being paranoid or something right, I don't want to lose my ability to go to work and my freedom and everything yeah, because then you know, if your parents believe that yeah, somebody probably is following you. Then they're going to go into lockdown mode and be like you can't go see your boyfriend, you can't go nowhere without me Right now. All of that I would hate that, especially with no phones back then.
PearlYeah, I mean, you're a senior in high school. You don't want your mom driving you to work or driving you wherever, but I mean mean obviously her mom being sick too, she can't really do all of that so not at all.
HollyShe's like I don't want them to make me stop coming, so I've just, you know, brushing it off, keeping it to herself. Yeah, because that was like a great thing, like when I was in high school senior and I had a job after school. I had like my freedom and stuff it was great make your own money, that's right everybody wants that well I feel like everybody wants that.
PearlMaybe I'm just assuming. I think some people want just somebody to take care of them all the time right you know I'm not that.
PearlShe seems pretty independent, yeah, absolutely. Um, her parents concern and frustration were evident in a quote given to the paper from Mr May. He said something's got to give. There are just too many people concerned. Somebody had to see something and they've just got to come forward. He added we'd take her in any shape, form or fashion that we could find her. We could deal with whatever we find better than we can deal with not knowing.
HollyYeah, I mean you need that closure or some kind of something to say, like maybe she's still out there, because then you never know.
PearlYeah, but that lingers and but it's super sad to have to say you know, we can deal with whatever we find until you find it, and then it's like heart wrenching. So 22 days after Chandra had gone missing, her body was found. This day would have been her 18th birthday. Oh no. So an off duty firefighter had been down by Baker's Creek near Bolton in Hines County digging for worms to fish with. He said he found Chandra's nude body just south of champion hill road bridge.
PearlShe was wrapped in trash bags and bound with industrial tape that's commonly used in the poultry industry oh man things were really different in 1986, so the importance of like preserving certain kinds of evidence wasn't really common knowledge or even a common practice in these times. I mean, they were limited on what they could use to try to help find who did something like this. So unfortunately, the officer who initially responded removed the bath and tape from the body at the scene. It is unclear in my research if these items were still collected or not. Like nowhere does it say if they took them back with them or if they were just left.
HollyYeah, so the car was compromised, what she was wrapped in was compromised, like basically the whole crime scene and body dump scene All compromised.
PearlThis does not sound good for chandra no definitely in march of 2021, there was a news release on wlbt and the current scott county sheriff, mike lee, explained that we know that the body should be preserved, as is taken in the body bag, and everything that would have been a part of where she was found in the water would have also been taken to the crime lab. I mean, that's obvious difference between now and then, and Mike Lee was actually just a teenager himself when Chandra initially was abducted and killed. Yes, so over time, several suspects emerge, emerge, some known for using the flashing lights to pull people over, but there's really never been enough evidence to bring charges against anyone. Chandra's family and boyfriend, tony, have all been cleared. Sheriff mike lee believes that evidence is out there. Like her, her driver's license, for example, has still never been found, so obviously he believes that has been kept as maybe a way for the person to relive the event.
PearlYou know, you see, that a lot Killers taking you know, just I don't want to call it a trophy, but I guess that's kind of how they feel.
HollyThey kind of do, yeah, they kind of take a little memento or something.
PearlAnd it's like just something for them to hang on to so they can remember what they did and what about her clothes was she?
Hollydid they find any of her clothing, her shoes, anything like that?
Pearlnone of it wow, no clothing, no shoes, nothing, just her naked body. Um, she unfortunately went through two autopsies. Uh, her cause of death was ruled a strangulation in the second autopsy. It does not tell me what they thought it was in the first one, but obviously there was a reason to have a second one. There were no other signs of trauma, but they were also able to determine that she was indeed sexually assaulted. It was also determined that Chandra had not been deceased for the entire 22 days she was missing. It is reported that her body could have been in the water for three to five days and that she could have potentially still been alive for as many as 17 to 19 of those days.
HollyWow. So whoever kidnapped her just kind of kept her around and tortured her more than likely.
PearlAnd the thing of it is is like if that were the case, where was she held for all that time?
HollyLike there has to be something.
PearlYeah, like I don't know. They said there was some speculation that it was possible that she could have been held in some sort of refrigeration, which would have shortened the possible time, but they believe she could have been alive still. So I mean there's a possibility she wasn't alive the 17 to 19 days and she was just like in a freezer.
HollyYeah, and you mentioned the type of tape and stuff that they use would be from a poultry place. So, they have big freezers there, so maybe that's a possibility, because cold weather slows down decomposition.
PearlFor sure. So that would be an easy way to not really know for sure and, because this all happened, like there is no death date on her tombstone because they're not really sure, nobody knows. So in 1994, her mom actually passed away, never knowing what happened to her daughter. Time pretty much continued to pass with no movement in the case, and her father also passed in 2023. In the december 2021 newscast on wlbt3, seasoned officers, no longer in law enforcement, voluntarily took on the case, since it was a cold case.
PearlYeah, it's a cold case so now it's like check it out a little bit.
PearlLet us see if we can help you with like half a century of experience combined, bill barns, michael fraser and benny bennett begin an investigation of their own. There's actually a facebook page that has been set up by this team that you can search for. It's um, the chandra may murder investigation. There's a lot of stuff on there and the last post made, I think was December actually, because they think they might have found some answers. Oh, so in their latest post that they kind of discuss that they said they submitted everything to the DA and the sheriff's office and now they just wait. I feel like a lot of people, if you read the post and all the comments, are really upset because they feel like it's been sitting around long enough. If these guys literally have answers for you, why aren't we doing anything?
HollyWhy are we still sitting on it? They need to come forward and let somebody know, and I mean I would assume that they collected tissue samples and blood samples. I mean, were those still around or did they lose those things?
Pearlor they really? There is no information on any evidence that was collected.
Seeking Justice for Unsolved Cases
HollyIt kills me because like a lot of little towns like that back in the 80s or 70s or whatever it's, just everything was just done so haphazardly right and nothing was kept. But I guess now that we've moved into the age of dna and and forensics and things like that and people are more trained, everybody kind of has that knowledge of what to do right.
PearlIt's like what should have been picked up. And I think that's the biggest frustration you have when you start researching these cases that are like this and they're old and you find like there's nothing. And then there's those bright, shiny moments where there's this one cop who was like you know what, I'm going to save this for later, it might come in handy one day Just yeah. And then bam, catch a killer. Yeah, and so it's just. It's crazy to think that there's a possibility. They didn't take anything.
HollyThey say there is evidence, they don't say what it is yeah, so maybe during the two autopsies they, you know, maybe collected something.
PearlI would hope so, yeah and I feel like, too, there's a lot of keep this under wraps kind of stuff, because the more information that's out there, they don't have anything to hold in their pocket. When they think they found the right person, you know, they start questioning them. There's, there's got to be, some information that they're keeping. Yes, her remaining family members really still long for answers, and so does like everybody else, like people that are still alive that she went to school with teachers, counselors, um, her brother has even been like all over web sleuths you know you want some kind of closure it's like any begging for people anybody knows anything.
PearlPlease come forward, because all they want is to find out what happened and that's it. It's just. I think you get to a point too.
HollyYou're like, even if the person is dead, I just want to know, right I mean it's not going to make up for the fact that what happened to her and everything, but it just it's something to grab onto because you're you're in the unknown yeah, and it just sucks.
PearlI mean, they live every day with this nightmare of not knowing what Chandra went through and not having the closure, feel like they finally brought someone to justice. You know, it's just.
HollyAnd not knowing if she died two days after she was kidnapped or 22 days after she was kidnapped.
PearlRight, because I mean, like, how long did she endure whatever was happening to her? I can't even imagine my kids like ever being in a position where they come up missing and something like this happened. Like that, the anguish.
HollyYeah, and it would eat at you for the rest of your life until you knew some information and what happened.
PearlYeah, and to die without knowing. I think there was, uh, something in one of the articles as well that her dad had actually said. I guess I'll know what happened when she can tell me herself oh and so that was also really sad to read yeah, and especially you know that they both passed before they even had any closure yeah, and I know, like I said, her brother is still out there like pushing, like hey, you guys keep her name out there, please, anybody.
HollyYes, no matter how insignificant you might think that information is, they're like please, please, please, please and if anybody's in that area and they they know something like, please come forward and please let somebody know so her family can have a little bit of reprieve yeah, so if that's you and you know something, or you think you know something, or you think you don't know something, but you but you might have seen something.
PearlYeah, definitely you're unsure as to whether or not you know something, please reach out to the scott county sheriff's office. Their number is 601-469-1511. I mean, even if the guys on facebook are saying they're pretty sure they got it on lockdown and everybody seems to think the sheriff knows or has an idea of who he thinks did it, it does not hurt to continue to share information, and I feel like too, if the person who did it is dead, the likelihood that someone will be honest is even greater. Yes, because the threat is gone. Hopefully I will be doing an update that would be amazing On this one because I've set an alert. So anything else comes up, you're going to know.
PearlI'm going to know you know it would be great to be able to get back on here and be like you know it is solved.
HollyThat would make you feel better too.
PearlYeah, you you get attached.
HollyYes, yeah, after researching and everything, you really delve into these people's lives and you, like you said, get attached to them and you want justice for them.
PearlYeah, just as bad as well, maybe not, I say, just as bad as their family, but I haven't lived with it that long yeah.
HollyIt's tough. Uh, when he was he was 21 and he had got a job with my cousin in Alaska on a fishing boat in the Bering sea and, uh, he was swept overboard on the boat by a huge wave and they never found his body. There was nothing there. And I know my mom. Just she grieved and grieved and grieved and it was still in her heart, you know, when she died. But that was something that yeah she had to carry with her for the rest of her life right, because there's there's no body there's no body, no closure, there's no closure.
HollyThere's nothing, so it's kind of that you know they had a body, but they didn't know who did it yeah, they've got half the puzzle and not, but not the other half.
PearlHopefully, like I said, we'll be updating this one not too long from now, since they I believe they started saying that they turned over everything they had in october. Okay, so, so we're in january. Let's just wait and see, chop, chop. We want to know. Right, absolutely, I hope we have people who listen.
HollyI know I'm like so excited for this whole podcast situation and I'm like I I can't wait to hear from people from other states and things like that and be like we listen to you because I that is going to be like the most exciting thing to me, right and so in our first little chat that we had, yeah, we said to the three people that were listening to us let's hope now that it's like nine, at least nine.
PearlSo you nine, go find nine more. Yes.
HollyMultiply, multiply.
PearlAll right. So thank you for joining Hold my Sweet Tea. All sources used to create this episode can be found in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. You can follow us on Facebook at Hold my Sweet Tea. Instagram at Hold my Sweet Tea. Underscore podcast TikTok is Hold my Sweet Tea podcast. The interwebs at Hold my Sweet Tea it's wwwholdmysweetteacom. Youtube is at Hold my Sweet Tea Podcast as well, and if you have a case you would like to be covered, or even a ghost story or a cool piece of Southern folklore, please email us at steeped at holdmysweetteacom, and steeped is spelled S-T-E-E-P-E-D, and we also want to make sure that you guys enjoyed our music.
HollyYes, we enjoy it.
Following the Amazing Nine Crew
PearlAll of our music is done by Patti Salzetta. She is amazing, so just follow us. You can even comment there how amazing she is.
Hollyshe will see it, yes she's going to listen to all of our episodes.
PearlI just know it yes, she is, she's one of the nine.
HollyYes, she's one of the nine. We need 27 next time on the next episode. Yeah, by the next episode.
PearlYeah, by the next episode, I'm multiplying 27.
HollySo follow us everywhere so you don't miss a single thing. Hold, my Sweet Tea is a Drunken Bee production. And y'all remember to stay safe out there. And just because we're dipping doesn't mean y'all can't keep sipping. Bye, I love it, thank you. Bye.