Shari Faye Smith’s tragic case changed a South Carolina investigation, and a letter became the clue that exposed her killer.
Shari Faye Smith was a 17-year-old South Carolina girl abducted from her family’s driveway in Lexington County on May 31, 1985, shortly before her high-school graduation. Her kidnapper, Larry Gene Bell, was later convicted of her kidnapping and murder; a forensic examination of a letter Smith was forced to write helped investigators identify him.
What You'll Discover:
Who Was Shari Faye Smith?
Shari Faye Smith was a 17-year-old from Lexington County, South Carolina. Her name became nationally associated with one of the state’s most closely followed criminal investigations of the 1980s, but reducing her story to the crime itself misses an important point: Smith was a teenager whose disappearance occurred at a pivotal moment in her young life.
On May 31, 1985, Smith went to the mailbox near her family’s home. She was abducted from the driveway, and her abandoned car was discovered nearby. The South Carolina Supreme Court later documented that Smith’s family began receiving calls from her abductor on June 3.
The timing made the case especially devastating for her family. Smith was approaching her high-school graduation, and the investigation quickly became a major law-enforcement effort involving local authorities and the FBI.
The central fact is simple: Shari Faye Smith disappeared on May 31, 1985, and her family spent the following days receiving calls from the person responsible.
What Happened to Shari Faye Smith?
The surviving court record provides a clearer timeline than many later retellings.
After Smith’s abduction, the family received a series of telephone calls from a man claiming to have taken her. The caller demonstrated knowledge of details surrounding the kidnapping and said the family would receive a letter from Smith. That letter was titled “Last Will and Testament.”
The letter became one of the most important pieces of evidence in the investigation.
On June 5, 1985, the caller gave the Smith family directions that led authorities to Smith’s body. The federal appeals record later noted that the pathologist could not conclusively establish Smith’s precise cause of death because of the condition of the remains. The court record also distinguishes between what investigators learned from Bell’s later statements and what could be established independently through forensic examination.
That distinction matters because some popular accounts present every detail of the crime as medically established fact. The legal record is more cautious.
The “Last Will and Testament” That Became Evidence
The letter Smith was forced to write is the most unusual part of the investigation.
It was written on paper from a legal pad. Investigators realized that writing made on sheets above or below a page can sometimes leave impressions on the paper beneath. A forensic document examination therefore looked beyond Smith’s handwriting and searched the page for impressions left by previous writing.
That examination produced a crucial lead: investigators recovered impressions associated with a telephone number. The number eventually pointed investigators toward a household connected to Bell, who had performed work for the family and had been house-sitting for them.
This is an excellent example of why forensic investigation is not always about dramatic DNA breakthroughs. Sometimes the decisive clue is something almost invisible.
The Smith case demonstrated how information hidden in the physical structure of a document can become investigative evidence.
How Investigators Identified Larry Gene Bell
The letter was not the only evidence.
Investigators were also collecting information from the telephone calls. Several conversations with the Smith family were recorded, and witnesses identified Bell as the caller. Other evidence connected him to the location where Smith had been held and to the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.
Former FBI profiler John E. Douglas later discussed the investigation and the forensic significance of the writing impressions. According to an account published by A&E, investigators traced the phone-number impression to Ellis and Sharon Shepherd, who identified Bell as someone they knew.
Bell was arrested on June 27, 1985.
The investigation had lasted less than a month, but by then the case had expanded beyond a single missing-person investigation. Another young girl, Debra Mae Helmick, had also been abducted and murdered.
The Connection to Debra Mae Helmick
Two weeks after Smith’s abduction, nine-year-old Debra Mae Helmick was kidnapped in South Carolina.
The connection between the two cases became increasingly apparent through the telephone calls. In the later investigation, Bell was convicted of Helmick’s murder as well as Smith’s. The South Carolina Supreme Court noted that prosecutors used portions of the recorded calls concerning Smith as evidence in Bell’s trial for Helmick’s murder.
The cases therefore became legally and historically intertwined.
| Shari Faye Smith | Debra Mae Helmick |
| 17 years old | 9 years old |
| Abducted May 31, 1985 | Abducted in June 1985 |
| Lexington County | Richland County |
| Family received calls from the abductor | Smith family later received calls concerning Helmick |
| Body located after directions from the caller | Body located after directions from the caller |
| Bell convicted of kidnapping and murder | Bell convicted of kidnapping and murder |
The South Carolina Supreme Court ultimately affirmed Bell’s convictions and death sentences in the Smith and Helmick cases.
The Trial and Conviction
Bell was tried for Smith’s murder and kidnapping in 1986. A jury convicted him and recommended the death penalty, and the trial judge imposed the sentence. The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence in 1987.
His later legal challenges continued for years.
In 1995, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit considered Bell’s federal habeas corpus petition and upheld the denial of relief. The court’s opinion summarized several strands of evidence against him, including witness identifications, the telephone-number impressions on Smith’s letter, evidence from the house where Bell had been staying, and statements he made after his arrest.
The distinction between accusation and conviction is important here. Bell was not merely suspected in Smith’s case; his conviction for Smith’s murder and kidnapping was upheld through the appellate process.
What Happened to Larry Gene Bell?
Bell remained on death row after his convictions.
On October 4, 1996, he was executed in South Carolina. Contemporary reporting from UPI confirmed that Bell was executed after being convicted of the murders of Smith and Helmick.
His execution closed the criminal proceedings arising from the two South Carolina murders, although interest in the broader investigation did not disappear.
In February 2025, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced a significant development involving Bell. After reviewing evidence in the 1984 disappearance of Sandee Cornett, detectives concluded that Bell had kidnapped and murdered Cornett and stated that he would have been charged had he still been alive. Cornett’s remains have never been found.
That development should be described carefully. Bell was convicted in the Smith and Helmick murders; the Cornett case was later cleared by police as a “Death of Offender” case after investigators concluded Bell was responsible. It was not a third criminal conviction.
Why the Shari Faye Smith Case Still Matters
The enduring importance of the Shari Faye Smith case is not simply that it was horrific. It illustrates how an investigation can turn on an apparently insignificant physical detail.
The Smith letter contained information written by the victim, but it also potentially preserved information written by someone else. Investigators treated the document as more than a message, they treated it as an object that could contain hidden evidence.
That approach remains instructive. Modern forensic investigations have far more sophisticated technologies available, but the underlying principle has not changed: evidence can contain information that investigators did not initially realize was there.
The case also shows the value of preserving primary evidence. A handwritten document can reveal handwriting, impressions, paper characteristics, fingerprints, fibers, or other details. What looks like a personal letter can simultaneously become a forensic artifact.
Common Misconceptions About Shari Faye Smith
Was Shari Smith’s exact date of death June 1?
Some online biographies list June 1, 1985 as Smith’s date of death. However, the strongest court records establish that she was abducted May 31 and that her body was located June 5; the federal appellate record states that the pathologist could not conclusively determine the cause of death.
For that reason, it is more accurate to describe the confirmed timeline rather than present an uncertain exact death date as settled fact.
Did the letter itself identify Larry Bell?
Not directly.
The significance of the letter was forensic. Investigators recovered impressions of a telephone number from the paper, and tracing that information helped lead them toward people connected with Bell. Other evidence, including witness identifications and evidence recovered during the investigation, then contributed to the case against him.
Was Bell convicted of killing Sandee Cornett?
No.
In 2025, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police announced that their cold-case review determined Bell was responsible for Cornett’s 1984 kidnapping and murder. Bell had already died in 1996, so there was no prosecution or conviction in that case. Cornett’s remains remain missing.
The Smith Family After the Case
The investigation did not end the emotional consequences for Smith’s family.
Her sister, Dawn Smith Jordan, has spoken publicly about the loss and its aftermath. In a 2025 interview, Jordan discussed how her family lived through the abduction and murder and how Smith’s letter eventually became part of the family’s longer story of grief, faith and resilience.
That perspective adds something crime summaries often leave out. The legal case had a verdict and an execution date, but a family does not experience grief according to a court calendar.
For the Smith family, Shari’s memory continued long after investigators had finished collecting evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who killed Shari Faye Smith?
Larry Gene Bell was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Shari Faye Smith. The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence in 1987.
How old was Shari Faye Smith?
She was 17 years old when she was abducted from her family’s driveway in Lexington County, South Carolina, on May 31, 1985.
What was the “Last Will and Testament” in the Shari Smith case?
It was a letter Smith was forced to write during her captivity. Investigators later examined the physical document and discovered impressions of a telephone number that helped lead them toward Bell.
When was Larry Gene Bell arrested?
Bell was arrested on June 27, 1985, less than a month after Smith’s abduction.
Was Larry Gene Bell linked to another case after his death?
Yes. In February 2025, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police announced that their cold-case review determined Bell was responsible for the 1984 kidnapping and murder of Sandee Cornett. Her remains have never been recovered.
Key Takeaways
- Shari Faye Smith was 17 when she was abducted from her Lexington County, South Carolina, driveway on May 31, 1985.
- Her family received a series of calls from the abductor while the investigation was underway.
- A letter Smith was forced to write, known as her “Last Will and Testament,” became a crucial forensic clue.
- Investigators recovered impressions of a telephone number from the document, helping lead them toward Larry Gene Bell.
- Bell was convicted of Smith’s kidnapping and murder in 1986, and the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence.
- Bell was also convicted in the kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old Debra Mae Helmick.
- Bell was executed in South Carolina on October 4, 1996.
- In 2025, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police identified Bell as responsible for the 1984 disappearance and murder of Sandee Cornett, whose remains have never been found.
Additional Resources
- Read the official 2025 cold-case announcement: This official release explains the later investigation connecting Bell to Sandee Cornett’s 1984 disappearance and why the case was cleared after his death.
