Quadruple Murder Shakes Up South Carolina Town

The four employees of Superbike Motorsports thought that it was business as usual on the afternoon of November 6, 2003. The motorcycle shop had sat on the same country road in the small town of Chesnee, S.C., for nearly 10 years, and it was thriving.

Owner Scott Ponder had recently hired a new mechanic, Chris "Shubby" Sherbert, to help with the workload. In just the past year, Scott acquired a Suzuki franchise, and increased his store from 3,000 to 8,000 square feet.

Service Manager Brian Lucas spent part of the afternoon looking at new homes for his family. He returned to the store at about the same time that Scott's mother Beverly Guy arrived. Beverly helped out with the books, part time. The phone rang and Beverly answered. Noel Lee was calling to see if it was a good time to come by the store. He needed to pick up tickets to a motorcycle race that he, Scott and Brian were planning to attend the next day. They would never get there. 

By the time Noel pulled into the parking lot at Superbike Motorsports, it was a little after 3 p.m. Brian and Scott were known for their tricks. And when Noel arrived, he thought that his his friends were playing a prank on him.

"When I got out of the car, and started walking closer, I saw that Brian was laying on his back and his hands were up in the air like resting on his elbows." Noel said.

"The closer I got, that's when I saw Scott laying on the side with his head a little bit under his mom's car. I go inside to call 911, and I see Scott's mom Beverly  laying on her back and from her chest to her knees she was blood soaked and I think, oh my God what has just happened." 

 

»Chesnee Quadruple Homicide: Suspects, Theories & Facts

The Business Was The Target

Within minutes of his call, Noel heard news helicopters flying overhead. This was the beginning of one of the biggest stories to shake up this small town in South Carolina.

When investigators arrived at Superbike Motorsports they found nothing disturbed in the business, the cash register was closed, and store records would reveal that nothing had been stolen. They also discovered that they had one more victim in addition to the three that Noel found. Mechanic Chris Sherbert was also shot dead in the service shop.

Police speculated that the killings started with Chris and moved through the showroom to Beverly, and eventually Brian and Scott who ran out the front of the store. There was an additional fact about the shootings.

"They all received what you might call an execution shot," said lead investigator William Gary. 

"They were all meant to be killed. It was to make sure they're dead. They were executed, basically. The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit looked at this case. In their opinion the business as a whole was a target where there's a mad customer, something of that sort is the best we can come up with for that type of scenario."

Search For A Mysterious Customer

Investigators made a plea for anyone who visited Superbike Motorsports the day of the killings to contact authorities and give a statement. But there's one customer who's never come forward. No one saw that customer's face, except the four victims and one eyewitness who asked that his identity remain confidential. He overheard the mysterious customer talking to Scott while he looked at a motorcycle that seemed way out of his league.

"I heard the guy say that he'd never rode a bike before," the eyewitness said.

"I could tell he was near 40. He was getting there and I'm thinking, why is this guy that age wanting, you know, what we call crotch rockets. I thought that was weird," he said. 

"I noticed that he had a jacket on. That kind of threw me off too. I was like dude it's a little warm for that jacket. I also thought it was kinda weird that he never looked up. Shy guy maybe?"

Or maybe a guy with a plan. Police say that person may have been posing as a customer until the time was right to make a move. When police arrived on the scene, the bike that the eyewitness described was moved from the showroom. It was now sitting in the service area, prepped and ready to go out. Scott had signed a bill of sale for the bike. But the customer information was left blank.

Police believe the shooter started firing in the service area beside that bike killing Chris first, then made his way into the showroom to Beverly, and finally shot Brian and Scott. They released a sketch of the mysterious customer in the hopes that someone will recognize his face, and come forward with information.

Brian's widow, Robin Olsen, remembers the horror of that day. She was left with two boys ages 18 months and 3 years old to raise, on her own.

"My hopes with the sketch is that anyone that has any information, whether it's big or small, will come forward and give that information," Robin said.

"Because the smallest thing could lead to something big."

If you have any information regarding this horrible quadruple murder, call our hotline right away at 1-800-CRIME-TV.