Wife of Man Missing Since the 90s Charged with Obstruction

A 71-year-old Johns Island woman turned herself in Friday morning and now faces an obstruction of justice charge.

Phyllis Shand's husband David disappeared from their Johns Island home sometime in the mid 1990s and is now presumed dead by investigators. Statements made by Shand's granddaughter, Jennifer McGahee to Gwinnett County (Ga.) Sheriff's Office investigators while incarcerated at a detention center there, and Phyllis Shand's account of the night her husband disappeared lead investigators to the conclusion that David Shand was murdered by his son Jason, now also deceased, according to charging documents provided by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.

The obstruction of justice charge against Phyllis Shand stems from a phone call she received from a CCSO detective on June 12 or 13, in which she allegedly stated that she did not know where her husband was or how to reach him and that he had simply walked out one night in the mid 1990s, according to a sworn affidavit.

McGahee, and later Phyllis Shand herself, told a different story to investigators however.

MCGahee told a Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office detective that her uncle Jason Shand (Phyllis and David's son) killed David Shand one night in the mid 90s in the hallway near the master bedroom in the Johns Island home.

Phyllis Shand recounted a different version of the story to CCSO investigators on June 14 while deputies were executing a search warrant at her home.

On the night David Shand disappeared, according to Phyllis' account, David had been holding her at gunpoint in the master bedroom for three days when Jason Shand came to her defense and confronted his father. David left the bedroom with a silver revolver in his hand, she said.

Phyllis Shand said she then heard the sounds of David and Jason fighting before a couple of gunshots rang out. Then Jason told her to stay in the bedroom; 20 minutes later he opened the bedroom door and told his mother "you won't see him again; he's gone," according to a CCSO affidavit.

Jason Shand was killed in a single vehicle wreck in 2005. David Shand's body has never been located.