A Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, man, Sheridan Fogle, has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Penni Whiteside. Her remains were discovered on his property more than two years after she disappeared, according to True Crime News. The Myrtle Beach Police Department said that the case began in May 2022, when Whiteside’s brother told police he had not seen his sister since January. The 51-year-old had been living with her boyfriend, Fogle, who was 56 at the time of his conviction. As investigators looked into her disappearance, they spoke with people in the neighborhood and learned that something might have been buried beneath a fire pit in Fogle’s backyard. According to reports from WMBF News, neighbors described Fogle as becoming territorial whenever anyone approached the fire pit. He allegedly told people he had buried something in that area, raising suspicions about what might be underneath it. Fogle sentenced to life in prison Police obtained a search warrant for the property on June 12, 2024. During the search, investigators found Whiteside’s remains concealed inside a hope chest. The box had reportedly been custom-built for her by her grandfather when she was a child. Police treated her death as a homicide, and investigators determined that she had been strangled. Fogle was arrested and charged with murder on August 29, 2024. He later testified in his own defense, claiming Whiteside had come at him with a knife. However, prosecutors presented a different account of the events leading up to her disappearance. The trial also brought attention to previous incidents involving the couple. In the year before Whiteside disappeared, police had responded to their home for domestic violence-related incidents. Fogle allegedly punched Whiteside in the chest during one incident, causing her to fall. In another, he allegedly took her debit and credit cards. During cross-examination, prosecutor Nancy Livesay pointed to the fact that Fogle had married and moved to another community while Whiteside’s remains were still concealed. She told him he had done so “while Penni was face-down in that box.” After less than an hour of deliberation, the jury found Fogle guilty of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison on October 29, 2026. Whiteside’s son, Hunter Smith, described the difficulty of adjusting to life without his mother. “It’s just been disbelief, trying to come to terms with it, because, you know, every little thing that happens in your life, you want to call your mom and tell her, and you can’t, so you just have to … just keep on keeping on,” he said. In a press release by the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Assistant Solicitor Jonathan Rogers said Fogle had a history of violence against women, including an assault involving his first wife and domestic violence involving Whiteside. He said he hoped the sentence would bring some closure to her family. Whiteside’s 2024 obituary noted that, after she had been missing for more than two years, her family could finally begin to find peace.