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Steven
W. SHELTON
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robbery
- Alcohol
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
January 12,
1992
Date of birth: July
11,
1965
Victim profile: Wilson Mannon,
64
Method of murder: Hitting with a hammer
Location: Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on April 30, 1993
United States District
Court For the District of Delaware
Along with brother Nelson Shelton and cousin Jack
Outten, robbed and killed 64-year old Wilson Mannon after a night of
drinking. Nelson Shelton was executed on March 17, 1995. Jack Outten was
also sentenced to death.
The Murder of Willie Mannon
Jack
Foster Outten, his cousins Steven and Nelson Shelton, and Nelson's
girlfriend, Christina Gibbons, spent the afternoon of January 11, 1992,
drinking beer at Nelson and Gibbons's home in Newark. After consuming
approximately one and one-half cases of beer, the four drove to
Clemente's Bus Stop, a local tavern located on Route 13 south of
Wilmington.
After separating for a
short time, Outten, the Sheltons, and Gibbons eventually reconvened and
went to Hamill's Pub in Elsmere, and then to Fat Boys Bar in New Castle.
At Fat Boys Bar, the three men began playing pool while Gibbons sat at
the bar counter alone. She began conversing and drinking with sixty-two
year old Wilson "Willie" Mannon, who had arrived at the bar earlier that
same day. Ultimately, Mannon left with Gibbons and the three men.
Mannon's body was
discovered along a road in a deserted area of East Wilmington at
approximately 11:00 a.m. on January 12, 1992. He was found lying on his
back with his legs crossed and the top of his head shattered. Mannon's
pockets were turned inside-out, and loose change, his empty wallet, and
his identification cards were scattered nearby. A broken ballpeen hammer
handle rested a few feet away from his body and the head of that hammer
was located behind a nearby fence along the road.
Nelson Shelton and
Gibbons were stopped by New Castle County police later that morning. The
officers sought to question Nelson on an unrelated charge. He was taken
to police headquarters and found to be in possession of two gold rings
that were Mannon's. His winter jacket also appeared to be stained with
blood.
Gibbons accompanied
Nelson to the police station. While there, she provided statements to
New Castle County and Wilmington law enforcement officers implicating
Outten and Steven Shelton in the robbery and murder of Mannon. Gibbons
recounted that she had been at a bar the previous night with Outten and
the Shelton brothers, and that, at the end of the night, the four of
them left in Nelson's car with an "older man" named Willie. From the bar,
they drove to a "boat yard," where the older man was beaten with a
hammer and an object she thought was a sink. According to Gibbons,
Outten struck the man with the sink and Steven kicked him. She was
adamant that Nelson, though present, was not involved. Gibbons also told
police that the sink was discarded along Interstate 95 after the murder.
The next day, January
13, 1992, Gibbons spoke about Mannon's murder to her social worker,
Sandra Nyce. The story she recounted to Nyce differed significantly from
her prior statements to the police. Indeed, she implicated Outten and
both Shelton brothers in the beating and murder, telling Nyce that all
three men had taken turns hitting Mannon and that they had killed a "nice
old man."
