Found Deceased SC - Sheridan Wahl, 21, Myrtle Beach, 19 Sep 2021

[alexwood]

She seemed to be in a manic state (IMO). The whole trip seems borne of impulse -- spontaneous and not pre-planned.

I'm beginning to think a drug overdose. Somewhere around the scooter rental place, or a gas station where she was refueling for trip back to Florida, she met up with a local, someone who possibly asked her for a ride and knew the area well. Maybe even a hitchhiker who was harmless looking.

He shared drugs with her. She passed out. He panicked and drove her to the fire station and left her there where she aspirated on her own vomit and died. Maybe that happened before he left the fire station area and he already knew she was dead.

Not wanting to implicate himself, he took off with her vehicle, then torched it at the Scranton, SC location. Then he ran for it.
Just speculating on what could have happened.

 

[otto]

yes, she was behind the structure furthest to the back. Those training towers are used infrequently, so it's not surprising to me that they didn't see her for a couple of days.

In this area?

 

[alexwood]

Even if she did drive from Florida to SC in flipflops, couldn't she pick up a cheap pair of runners? Renting a scooter before seeing her father - seems like a part of the itinerary : rent a scooter, ride the beach for an hour, call dad, visit dad.

Did she want to scooter alone, or was she with a friend? We have rental scooters in my neighbourhood. It's rare that someone uses a scooter alone; typically a fun thing for an hour or two with a friend.

If she drove in shoes, indeed, why were shoes a problem? Was she 100% coherent?

Sorry, Otto! I didn't do a very good job of reading your post!

I didn't think about the possibility that she was wearing flip-flops, and they were deemed not acceptable for purposes of riding a scooter by the rental place.

 

[Sd8503]

From maps linked above it looks like you would have to pull into the fire station parking lot and park in the back then carry her body a little bit of a distance to get her behind all those buildings. That or at least park and take her back there to kill her. Was the killer comfortable being there? Of course killing someone at the police station is the worst place. I guess fire station seems like the next worst place.

 

[alexwood]

From maps linked above it looks like you would have to pull into the fire station parking lot and park in the back then carry her body a little bit of a distance to get her behind all those buildings. That or at least park and take her back there to kill her. Was the killer comfortable being there? Of course killing someone at the police station is the worst place. I guess fire station seems like the next worst place.

Maybe he had help? He'd need to get gasoline to torch the vehicle. He'd need a gas can for that. But since the vehicle was found so quickly, this had to be done fast! Seems like he would have needed help.

 

[Rthornhill]

From maps linked above it looks like you would have to pull into the fire station parking lot and park in the back then carry her body a little bit of a distance to get her behind all those buildings. That or at least park and take her back there to kill her. Was the killer comfortable being there? Of course killing someone at the police station is the worst place. I guess fire station seems like the next worst place.

I was wondering if it was someone who just left here there during an overdose or brought her there. Maybe, they were leaving her there with the hope that someone would discover her and call for help without implicating themselves. It’s kinda far fetched but why leave someone at a fire station of all places? As you said, it’s the next worst place other than a police station.

 

[otto]

From maps linked above it looks like you would have to pull into the fire station parking lot and park in the back then carry her body a little bit of a distance to get her behind all those buildings. That or at least park and take her back there to kill her. Was the killer comfortable being there? Of course killing someone at the police station is the worst place. I guess fire station seems like the next worst place.

For now, I'm curious about Scooter Rental of Myrtle Beach? Was she alone? I'm also curious whether anyone was at the Hannah-Salem fire station between 1:00 PM Sunday, Sept 19 and 8:30 PM Tuesday, Sept 21. Is Monday a day off at the station (excluding emergency)? Are there security cameras at the Fire Station? Seems like a place that should have CCTV - especially if there are times when no one is at the station.

This has a Mollie Tibbetts feel to it - especially because of short timeline around last seen and torched car.

I'm curious what caused her mother to be concerned so quickly, whether there was something about the Facetime that didn't seem right.

Sheridan Wahl (age 21)

"Sheridan's roommate at University of South Florida, Elizabeth Echenique, wrote that a white male was seen 'driving/fleeing the scene' of where the car was found ..."​

Sept 18, Saturday (?): left Florida, 8-9 hours travel; allegedly to visit father
Sept 18 - 19: over night where ?
Sept 19, Sunday, 1:00 PM: South Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, SC; Facetime mom after scooter rental issue
Sept 19, Sunday, 1:56 PM: her torched burgundy-colored 2018 Toyota Corolla discovered in cornfield at Keith Lane, Scranton, S.C.s, 55 miles away from scooter rental
Sept 19, Sunday, near midnight: reported missing by mother
Sept 20, Monday: Sheridan's mom Kelly issued frantic plea for information on Facebook
Sept 21, Tuesday, 8:30 a.m: body discovered atHannah-Salem Fire station (Highway 378, 50 miles west of Myrtle Beach), 10 miles East of torched car (closer to Myrtle Beach)

link with upthread updates

Body Location





Google Maps

One hour later, her car was in Scranton, 55 mile away from Scooter Rental of Myrtle Beach on South Ocean Boulevard



Car Location (West of body location at Hannah-Salem Fire Station)

 

[otto]

Maybe he had help? He'd need to get gasoline to torch the vehicle. He'd need a gas can for that. But since the vehicle was found so quickly, this had to be done fast! Seems like he would have needed help.

A white male was seen "driving" and fleeing from the scene of the torched car. I'm curious how her roommate knows this.

"Sheridan's roommate at University of South Florida, Elizabeth Echenique, wrote that a white male was seen 'driving/fleeing the scene' of where the car was found ..."
​

Body of missing college student, 21, is found behind fire station two days after she vanished | Daily Mail Online

Perhaps all it takes to torch a car is to toss a match into the gas tank? I don't know - never thought about it before, but is extra gas needed to set a car on fire?

 

[otto]

I was wondering if it was someone who just left here there during an overdose or brought her there. Maybe, they were leaving her there with the hope that someone would discover her and call for help without implicating themselves. It’s kinda far fetched but why leave someone at a fire station of all places? As you said, it’s the next worst place other than a police station.

Sure, but ... do caring people torch vehicles and leave bodies behind buildings?

 

[DocBrew]

Many - not all - VFDs have staff rotations at the firehouse during overnight hours. Even if it's only a dispatch. I imagine in that rural area county cops frequent the VFD location during their overnight shift just to have a place to park for a bit. I know they do that here. Not many times I drive by a VFD - even one in the sticks - and not see an emergency vehicle or two on site (cop car, ambulance, etc.). Not a safe place at all to just randomly drop a body. Well, unless you knew the place well.

AND WHERE ARE THE CAMERAS? Surely there are cameras.

JMO.

 

[alexwood]

A white male was seen "driving" and fleeing from the scene of the torched car. I'm curious how her roommate knows this.

"Sheridan's roommate at University of South Florida, Elizabeth Echenique, wrote that a white male was seen 'driving/fleeing the scene' of where the car was found ..."
​

Body of missing college student, 21, is found behind fire station two days after she vanished | Daily Mail Online

Perhaps all it takes to torch a car is to toss a match into the gas tank? I don't know - never thought about it before, but is extra gas needed to set a car on fire?

Well, because I'm the only one who uses matches (wooden ones, to light candles), maybe a rag or something stuffed down the neck of the gas filler pipe -- partly hanging out of the hole -- then lit with a lighter. That would probably work. No need for extra gas or gas can.

But wouldn't the car explode?

 

[otto]

Well, because I'm the only one who uses matches (wooden ones, to light candles), maybe a rag or something stuffed down the neck of the gas filler pipe -- partly hanging out of the hole -- then lit with a lighter. That would probably work. No need for extra gas or gas can.

But wouldn't the car explode?

Car was described as "torched," and what you describe with matches would probably engulf the vehicle in flames. I have't read anything about "explosion," only that the vehicle was torched at 1:56 PM on Sept 19, an hour away and an hour after Sheridan facetimed her mother.

 

[alexwood]

A white male was seen "driving" and fleeing from the scene of the torched car. I'm curious how her roommate knows this.

So he had access to another vehicle so he could drive/flee. I was thinking he was on foot. Someone must have met him at the scene with the vehicle. (I don't know, obviously!)

I thought that the roommate knew this from a social media post by someone who had it on good authority as being fact. (Just guessing here.)

 

[otto]

The only thing that makes sense with the timeline is that she was minutes from abduction when she facetimed her mother to say that she was driving 8-9 hours back to Florida without visiting her father. Why did her mother report her missing 11 hours later and reach out through facebook the following day? What was the red flag?

Her mother told her to stay over night in Myrtle Beach. Did she try to contact her father? Was her father expecting her? As a spontaneous trip, was he home to take her call?

Car was 55 miles away 55 minutes later. That's 60 mph freeways - sounds like a plan to take control of her and her car near the scooter rental.

Is this the location? Looks like a moped tent.





Google Earth

 

[alexwood]

The only thing that makes sense with the timeline is that she was minutes from abduction when she facetimed her mother to say that she was driving 8-9 hours back to Florida without visiting her father. Why did her mother report her missing 11 hours later and reach out through facebook the following day? What was the red flag?

Her mother told her to stay over night in Myrtle Beach. Did she try to contact her father? Was her father expecting her? As a spontaneous trip, was he home to take her call?

Car was 55 miles away 55 minutes later. That's 60 mph freeways - sounds like a plan to take control of her and her car near the scooter rental.

Is this the location? Looks like a moped tent.

View attachment 315000

View attachment 315001

Google Earth

I think her mother realized that she wasn't staying overnight in a hotel and was going back to FL after she got off the facetime call. Her mother "told" her to get a hotel, but that was a suggestion which Sheridan rejected possibly. Unless it's been stated otherwise, that he mother DID think Sheridan was going to stay the night in a hotel. I haven't seen any articles that make that claim though. Her mother may have made numerous attempts to reach her, but her phone was going to voicemail (maybe). She knew that when she didn't arrive back in FL in a timely manner, and she couldn't reach her, something was wrong.

I think her father knew that she was not going to be seeing him on that trip. For whatever reason, they never met up.

That is the scooter place.

 

[otto]

So he had access to another vehicle so he could drive/flee. I was thinking he was on foot. Someone must have met him at the scene with the vehicle. (I don't know, obviously!)

I thought that the roommate knew this from a social media post by someone who had it on good authority as being fact. (Just guessing here.)

It means two suspects if a car was waiting to drive him from the scene of the torched car (drive/flee).

For whatever reason, Sheridan's roommate believes that a white male was seen fleeing and driving from the scene 56 minutes after Sheridan spoke to her mother 55 miles away.

It strikes me, at this time, as a plan by two people to abduct a woman from Myrtle beach. It requires close contact to coordinate picking up the car-jacker at the scene. No mention of picking up Sheridan where the car was torched, so presumably she was not there. Perhaps she was dropped off, incapacitated, 10 miles away at the fire station. Police are able to triangulate cell phones that were in that area between 1-2 PM on Sept 19. Other than taking time, police should be able to narrow down who was in the body location and vehicle location in that time frame.

I'd like to see corroboration for the roommates story about a white male driving while fleeing the car torch scene.

 

[otto]

I think her mother realized that she wasn't staying overnight in a hotel and was going back to FL after she got off the facetime call. Her mother "told" her to get a hotel, but that was a suggestion which Sheridan rejected possibly. Unless it's been stated otherwise, that he mother DID think Sheridan was going to stay the night in a hotel. I haven't seen any articles that make that claim though. Her mother may have made numerous attempts to reach her, but her phone was going to voicemail (maybe). She knew that when she didn't arrive back in FL in a timely manner, and she couldn't reach her, something was wrong.

I think her father knew that she was not going to be seeing him on that trip. For whatever reason, they never met up.

That is the scooter place.

Good point. If her mother believed that she was driving back to Florida at 1 PM on Sept 19, then by 11 PM she would be waiting for the "home safe" call. Speaking from experience, that call sometimes comes in the morning with "sorry, forgot to call ..."

This missing person call was 11 hours later - to SC police or Florida police? If it was Florida, then indeed it was a welfare check of arriving home. This strikes me as a call to Myrtle Beach about missing before she really left.

We know nothing about whether she told her father about the visit, or whether she only told her mother about the plan. It seems like she told her mother that she was going to Myrtle Beach to visit her father, but did not tell her father? Did that happen? If so, why? If so, what was the true nature of her trip? Why the sudden decision after the Scooter Rental to go home?

Who was with her? Why was that person with her? Did she use dating apps?

 

[otto]

Where was she parked? There has to be CCTV of Sheridan driving in the area, near or at the moped rental place. What was she doing there anyway. I thought she was going to visit dad.

Did dad know that she was visiting, or did she tell her mother that she was visiting her dad as a ruse to take a trip without giving all the information?









Perhaps a reminder that even divorced parents should touch base before, during and after a child is away from home.

 

[otto]

Suppose that Sheridan told her mother that she was driving to Myrtle Beach to visit her father, but at the same time she had swiped R-L and planned to meet up with a man who lived in Myrtle Beach.

Clearly something about "visiting dad" is not lining up. Sheridan was at a moped rental place at 1:00 p.m. on Sept 19. She presumable left Florida on Sept 18 and drove 8-9 hours to Myrtle Beach. She stayed overnight somewhere, but not with dad.

I hope there is a recording of the Facetime call between mom and daughter at 1:00 p.m. on Sept 19. I bet there's a clue in there.

What's happening here (posted upthread)? Date and time?



Her usual tone, unlike the later comment above.



Login • Instagram

Did she try to call 911?

 

[otto]

I saw discussion upthread about whether she is in the driver or passenger seat of a vehicle in the photo - presumably at the same time as her final message.

She snapped a photo and posted to instagram with #stolencar, #detective and #911. Is 911 connected real time emergency to twitter? Hope so.

Passenger seat, right? Is that her car - the 2018 burgundy colored Toyota Corolla?