Shannon Denise Melendi had a plan for her life.
An outstanding student and athlete, Melendi believed Emory University was the first step toward pursuing her dreams of joining the Navy, becoming an attorney and later a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
“She was one of those people who got whatever she wanted done,” her father, Luis Melendi, recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
On March 26, 1994, she took a lunch break from her job at a softball park clubhouse. She was never seen again, and although a suspect was eventually convicted of murder, her remains were never found.
Thirty years later, her family vows to keep her memory alive, and plan to fight to keep the man convicted of her killing behind bars. He will be eligible for parole next year.
“My daughter is dead,” Luis Melendi said, “but I don’t want another human being to die because of him.”
‘She had it together’
Shannon was class president her junior and senior years at Southwest High School in Miami. In the top 3% of her class, she played soccer, ran cross country and was captain of the debate team.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
Accepted at both Georgetown and American universities in Washington D.C. and offered a full scholarship to Florida State University, she instead chose Emory and planned to major in political science and Spanish. She worked 15 hours a week at the Carter Center, performing clerical duties in the conference and events department.
She also took a part-time job at the softball park. That’s where she met an umpire named Colvin “Butch” Hinton III, 33. Unbeknownst to Shannon he’d served a prison sentence in the 1980s in Illinois for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Before that, Hinton underwent psychiatric counseling after an attempted rape in Kentucky. Testimony from investigators indicated Hinton was a sexual predator.
“Sexual predators can never rehabilitated,” Luis Melendi said. Hinton was released two years into a four-year sentence in the Illinois case.
“That still bothers me,” Melendi said. “That keeps me awake at night.”
On March 26, 1994, he said, a woman Hinton was supposed to go out with canceled, so Shannon agreed to go with him to a Burger King across the street from the softball park where they both worked. She was never seen again. She was 19.
“Shannon made a mistake of trusting him,” her dad said.
Credit: AJC File
Credit: AJC File
Where is Shannon?
Shannon’s disappearance made national headlines.
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, released a statement through a Carter Center spokesperson offering prayers and urging anyone with information to come forward. Shannon’s face appeared on 60 billboards and 10,000 posters around Atlanta.
“If the people who have my daughter now are looking or are letting her watch us, we want to say, please give her back,” Yvonne Melendi said in front of television cameras. “And we love you, Shannon.’”
Shannon’s car had been found with the keys still inside. The following month, Hinton’s home in Rex was searched. Later that year, the house caught fire and he moved.
Investigators accused Hinton of setting the fire, filing a false insurance claim and fraudulently trying to collect $185,000 in from Allstate Insurance Co.
Both the GBI and FBI continued investigating. Hinton was initially convicted of arson and more than 10 years later, indicted on murder charges. In September 2005, a jury convicted Hinton of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole. In July 2006, Hinton confessed to kidnapping, raping and murdering Shannon. Still, questions remain.
“He still hasn’t told us the truth,” Luis Melendi said. “We don’t have her remains. We don’t know where she is.”
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
‘We want her life to matter’
Shannon’s story has been the subject of TV crime documentaries. Last week, her high school held a ceremony of remembrance and distributed safety whistles to the students. Shannon’s father and sister attended; her mother died from COVID-related pneumonia in 2021.
“I idolized my big sister,” Monique Benton said during the assembly. “She was my very own personal superhero. She was smart and witty and somehow always managed to get me out of trouble with our parents. If only she was somehow able to get herself out of trouble on March 26th, 1994.”
Hinton is up for parole in 2025, and Melendi said the family will fight to keep him behind bars. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Hinton parole March 2012 and in February 2020, a spokesman for the board said.
An online petition urges the board not to free Hinton. The family also encourages supporters to write or email the board.
“He did it. He confessed. He could come out and do this again,” Luis Melendi said. “I can’t bring Shannon back. But we want her life to matter.”
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