In the next episode of NBC Dateline’s Shannon’s Story, Detective Dennis Murphy will look into the sad kidnapping and death of Florida native Shannon Melendi.
Additionally, the then 19-year-old Emory University student disappeared from a gas station on March 26, 1994, and was last seen alive.
The journalistic and emotional aspects of the case will be explored further in NBC Dateline: Shannon’s Story through interviews with family, friends, neighbors and law enforcement.
For more on the case and the Melendis’ continued search for justice, tune in to the show’s next episode on August 12 at 10/9c.
Shannon Melendi
What happened to Shannon Melendi?
According to ABC News, Hinton admitted to killing Shannon Melendi on July 17, 2006. Obviously, his remorse or the fact that he exhausted all his justifications caught up with him.
Hinton gave a prosecutor and the investigator in Georgia a vivid account of what he had done. “If I have to spend the rest of my life in a cell for 23 hours every day, at least I can breathe,” Hinton added. She can’t, however.
On the other hand, the day Melendi disappeared, he invited her to lunch after work. In order to get to his residence in Rex, Georgia, Hinton faked taking a wrong turn on the way to lunch.
Eventually, he asked Melendi to drive while pretending to have a leg cramp. Then Hinton took a knife hidden in the backseat of his car and forced Melendi to follow him to his residence.
Hinton was able to tie Melendi up and take his car to a gas station while leaving the keys inside because his wife and children were not home.
Later, he would beat Melendi again before strangling her to death with a tie. Then, in his garden, he set fire to Melendi, annihilating his body.
Emory University student murder mystery on NBC’s Deadline
On March 26, 1994, Shannon Melendi, a student at Emory University, was last seen reviewing the score at a softball game in DeKalb County. The day after he disappeared, his car was discovered the next day at a gas station with its keys still inside.
A man eventually contacted the Emory hotline and claimed to have abducted Shannon after posting missing persons posters and continuing the search.
Detectives began investigating the claim and discovered the call came from a McDonough pay phone. They discovered Shannon’s wedding ring taped inside a purse.
Police were able to connect the tape and cover to Butch Hinton using microscopic evidence because he was a referee at the softball game when Shannon went missing.
He was the prime suspect in the case because he had last seen her alive. Twelve years after Shannon’s disappearance, a conviction has been handed down and on Friday night, NBC Dateline will continue to look into these events.
Family: Shannon Melendi mother and sister today
Shannon’s parents, Yvonne and Luis Melendi, and her younger sister, Monique Melendi, sent the parole board a barrage of emails and petitions begging it to deny Hinton parole.
In an effort to keep Butch Hinton behind bars and prevent his parole, the Melendi family signed petitions and submitted appeals.
Her sister also revealed that she served as junior and senior class president at her high school.
When a predator in the crowd shattered her ambitions, she had received the scholarship to attend Emory University and was keeping score in a softball game.
Watch the upcoming NBC Dateline for more on the horrific case and the Melendi family’s ongoing fight for justice for Shannon.
