In the late spring of 1985, just two days before she was set to graduate from high school, 17-year-old Sharon Faye Smith, known to her loved ones as Shari, was abducted from the driveway of her family's home in Lexington County, South Carolina. On May 31st, after returning from a pool party, she was taken at gunpoint while checking the mail. This brazen act marked the beginning of a period of terror for the Smith family and the surrounding community, sparking one of the largest manhunts in the
state's history.
The days following Shari's disappearance were filled with a unique and cruel form of torment for her family. They began receiving a series of taunting phone calls from her abductor. The man on the other end of the line would play sick games with their emotions, at times claiming Shari was alive and well, and at others, hinting at her grim fate. In a particularly horrifying twist, the family received a letter in the mail titled 'Last Will & Testament,' which had been written by Shari at her captor's command. Eventually, the caller provided directions that led investigators to Shari’s body on June 5, 1985. Due to the condition of her remains, the exact cause of death was difficult to determine, though suffocation was suspected.
The investigation into Shari's murder intensified, and the FBI created a criminal profile of the killer. The perpetrator was identified as Larry Gene Bell, an electrician with a criminal history that included assaults on women. A key piece of evidence that led to his capture was an indentation of a partial phone number found on the stationery used for Shari's forced will. This clue led authorities to a couple who had employed Bell. Hairs consistent with Shari's were also discovered in his apartment. Bell was arrested on June 27, 1985.
Larry Gene Bell was also responsible for the abduction and murder of another young girl, 9-year-old Debra May Helmick, who was taken from her yard just weeks after Shari. In fact, Bell used a phone call to the Smith family to provide the location of Debra's body. Bell's trial for the kidnapping and murder of Shari Smith began in February 1986. Despite his bizarre behavior and claims of mental illness in court, a jury found him guilty after a short deliberation. He was sentenced to death for his crimes. Larry Gene Bell was executed by electric chair on October 4, 1996. He has also been linked to other disappearances and murders.
