Thirty years after a young South Florida woman's shocking kidnapping and murder made national headlines, her family is speaking out to make sure others learn lessons from her killing while fighting to keep the man responsible behind bars.
Shannon Melendi was a standout soccer team star at Southwest Miami High School, where she graduated from in 1992.
At the school Tuesday, Melendi's sister and father came together to remember her at an assembly.
"I idolized my big sister, she was my very own personal superhero, she was smart and witty and somehow always managed to get me out of trouble with our parents," sister Monique Benton said. "If only she was somehow able to get herself out of trouble on March 26th, 1994.”
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Melendi was attending Atlanta's Emory University and was just 19 when she disappeared on that day nearly 30 years ago. She had been last seen heading to lunch from her part-time job at the Softball Country Club.
Her disappearance set off a massive search and an outpouring of support for the family in Miami.
Melendi's body was never found but 10 years after her disappearance, an arrest was made in her killing.
Colvin "Butch" Hinton, an airline mechanic who also worked at the Softball Country Club as an umpire, was indicted in Melendi's murder in 2004.
Hinton was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He later confessed that he kidnapped, raped and killed Melendi and burned her body.
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"Always be aware of your surroundings, use the buddy system, always tell someone where you’re going, who you’re going with," Benton told the school assembly. "If Shannon had done any of those things she might be alive today."
Hinton became eligible for parole in 2012 but has been denied parole multiple times, most recently in 2020. His next parole consideration is scheduled for 2025.
"We have to keep this man in jail, in prison, we can’t let him come out, do what he did to Shannon, and then Shannon’s death would be in vain," father Luis Melendi said Tuesday.
"To this day, her body’s never been found, my mother died never having the closure of burying her child," Benton said. "To this day, we’re still fighting to keep her murderer behind bars."
