SC SC - Sharon Hayden, 39, Boiling Springs, Feb 2018

Wednesday, June 20th 2018, 2:59 pm EDT
CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -

A state grand jury indicted the man facing federal charges in the kidnapping of a four-year-old Johns Island girl and the assault of her mother on six state charges in the case.

Thomas Evans, 37, was indicted on state charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, according to court documents.

Court documents indicate the grand jury indicted Evans on June 4.
Johns Island kidnapping suspect indicted on 6 state charges
 
Damm, this thing is just flat-out crazy. Let's hope Sharon is in a safe place - IMO, Evans won't need another charge against him that would put him in prison for life. He's already got enuff on him with the beating, rape, and kidnapping. Maybe Sharon is still hiding and doesn't know Evans is in custody. What a bad, bad man he is -- and he's probably resting just fine back in the jailhouse, while his victims will be haunted by this horror for the rest of their lives. I hope HT's mother's injuries will not impair her permanently.
 
We finally learn something about what happened with Sharon at the time of her disappearance.
Johns Island kidnapping suspect pleads guilty, told investigators victim's family seemed 'perfect'

Evans also told investigators he had a fight with his girlfriend Sharon Nanette Hayden and told investigators he stabbed her. Evans chased her into the woods near her Spartanburg home where he believed she died and left her there. However he could not tell investigators where Hayden's body is located. Both Hayden's mother and daughter have gone public with pleas to try and find her, but Evans has told investigators he doesn't know where the woman's body is.
 
Were there ever any searches conducted around Sharon's house? I haven't seen anything about her at all except here on Websleuths.

I'm local to upstate SC and haven't seen or heard anything about any searches for her. There were a few news articles earlier this year with her Mom asking for help in locating her.
 
More woman's bones found in Seneca SC.
Seneca is about 70 miles west of Spartanburg SC Maybe its Sharon?

Woman's head, torso found as police search for more remains after bones found in Seneca
It's possible since she could be anywhere. I wouldn't believe Thomas Evans if he told me his name was Thomas Evans and I was looking at his driver's license.

But we do know a few things that can give some insight as to where she might be.

One year after Johns Island kidnapping, suspect awaits sentencing after guilty plea

Evans had told investigators that:

he had a fight with Hayden and stabbed her. Evans said he chased her into the woods near her Spartanburg home where he believed she died and left her there, but could not tell investigators where Hayden’s body is located, investigators say.
But we also know he had been driving around in Hayden's car:
One year after Johns Island kidnapping, suspect awaits sentencing after guilty plea

Evans ran out of gas in St. Stephen while driving his girlfriend’s car. Berkeley County deputies say he had a suspended license but they could not arrest him because they did not actually see him driving the vehicle.​

Since the wooded areas near Caston Circle in Boiling Springs (Map) aren't all that large and they still haven't found her then he either buried her or the events happened somewhere else. He ran out of gas on Mendle Rivers Road in Bonneau. (Map w/directions from Boiling Springs). The end point on Mendle Rivers Road is the general area where a larceny was reported on February 11th. If I recall correctly, he allegedly stole a gas can from someone's garage/barn/yard. Where on Mendle Rivers Road the car was located isn't clear but I don't think it was too far from this location.

Considering that Thomas Evans lived most of his life in the Bonneau/St. Stephen area (Map)he would be very familiar with the wooded areas there and Mendle Rivers Road in particular. I would say there is a real good chance that Sharon is in the same general area.

From news reports it is unlikely he had a cell phone of his own. It isn't clear if Sharon had a cell phone, but I would think that if he had taken a cell phone of hers they would be able to work location records to get ideas where to search.

Law enforcement has not said much about her case, sadly. We don't know if they found any evidence of a crime in the home she lived in, or in her car for that matter.
 
October 3rd 2019

(WCIV) — There was a second plea deal from Thomas Evans on Thursday morning. This time, it was in state court.

He's the man who attacked and raped a Johns Island mother and kidnapped her 4-year-old daughter.

[...]

Prosecution said this state plea deal was an insurance policy to keep Evans behind bars forever.

Evans received another life sentence and is not eligible for parole now under the state charges.

He's already serving three consecutive life sentences in a supermax federal prison.

The other question surrounding this case is the location of Sharon Nannette Hayden. She was the 40-year-old girlfriend of Evans.

Hayden went missing in the Spartanburg area around the time of his crime spree. In court, Solicitor Wilson recounted for the judge the mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Evans told law enforcement officials that he killed Hayden shortly after getting out of prison.

He said he stabbed her.

"Police have followed up on that extensively. There has been no body recovered in the area where the defendant claimed."

However, police said Evans was found with some of Hayden's personal items. Wilson told the judge that there had been no contact with her or her family and no social media posts.

Investigators said she's believed to be dead even though her body has never been found.

State charges, called an insurance policy to keep kidnapper thomas evans behind bar
 
Johns Island parents sue law enforcement over daughter’s 2018 kidnapping

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A woman who was brutally beaten inside her Johns Island home before her then 4-year-old girl was kidnapped and taken across state lines has sued multiple law enforcement agencies claiming they could have done more to catch the convicted kidnapper before it happened.

In the lawsuit filed last Friday in Charleston County, Brittany Todd and her husband claim five different South Carolina law enforcement agencies were all negligent and should have been able to catch Thomas Evans before the crime happened.
...

Evans had recently been released from prison on an armed robbery charge prior to beating Todd and kidnapping her daughter. She claims the Department of Corrections failed to provide Evans with appropriate mental health or addiction treatment before he was released.

The lawsuit also states Evans didn’t report to the Department of Probation and Parole within 24 hours of his release from jail and the department didn’t take steps to obtain a warrant for him.

Two days before the kidnapping Evans showed up in St. Stephen in his girlfriend’s car. The owner of the vehicle, 39-year old Sharon Hayden, could not be located at her Spartanburg County home and hasn’t been seen since.

Both Hayden’s mother and daughter have gone public with pleas to try and find her.

Todd claims in the lawsuit that the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office didn’t investigate Hayden’s disappearance properly and didn’t list her as a missing person and Evans was not listed as a person of interest, the suit stated.

Read more: Johns Island parents sue law enforcement over daughter’s 2018 kidnapping
 
Wow - that was one horrific case that started here in SC. I remember it well and still feel badly for the poor mother and daughter. I can only hope this might reignite some interest in Sharon's case. Although, I admit she could be anywhere between Boiling Springs and where he ditched her car. Her Mom passed away without getting any closure. I can only hope her daughter will be able to.

Thank you for sharing @Gardener1850 !
 

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