THE SUSPECTS

     SHONDRA MAY....THE SUSPECTS

When Shondra May disappeared on February 4, 1986 Law Enforcement thought she was most likely a run-away so they told her family she would probably be back in a few days, but the family knew Shondra and knew there was no way she had run away.

Shondra's mother, sick with cancer, was always concerned about Shondra, and always had Shondra call home before she left work.  

This night was no different.  Shondra called her mother to let her know she was leaving work at 7:40, going by TG&Y to pick up a Valentine card for her boyfriend, Tony Adams, and then heading to the house.  It was around a 15-minute drive home so when 8:30 rolled around and Shondra had not come home, her mother Nell began to worry.  

22 days later, on Shondra's 18th birthday, her naked, hogtied, lifeless body, was found floating in Baker's Creek in Bolton, MS by an off-duty fireman, who happened to be fishing in the area.  

One of the first suspects was William Kenneth McLain, who put the spotlight on himself by inserting himself into the investigation.  A tactic commonly used by serial killers.

Not only was McLain known to Shondra May, but he was also implicated in several other cases, including one in Tuscaloosa Alabama involving the death of Chandra Fehler.

Eerily similar in MO (Mode of Operation) Alabama detectives came to Mississippi to further investigate. 

 Chandra Fehler, a Kindergarten teacher, was a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Alabama, and was last seen at at the former Riverside swimming pool that was also frequented by William Kenneth McLain.  

Like Shondra May, Chandra Fehler's car door was left ajar.  Her car was found around 200 yards from the pool and her ID and towel lay on the car seat and the interior light of the car was on.  That was June 10th, 1987, the last time Chandra's family would hear her voice.

Four days later Chandra Fehler's cold, lifeless body, hands and feet bound by wire, and weighted down by a concrete block, was found washed ashore by a fisherman who was fishing on the Black Warrior River, which makes me think of The Big Black River which flows close to Baker's Creek. 

Could the similar name of a victim and the similar name of a river, trigger the desire to kill again?

Not so fast.... Kenneth McLain is NOT the only suspect and quite possibly not the guilty party in either murder.  

He may have adored her from afar.