In August 2009, 40-year-old Shannon Hercutt was found dead in her vehicle at the bottom of an embankment near Dollywood Amusement Park in Tennessee. Her car was found at around 11:30 p.m. on August 3, 2009. She had been driving a black Cadillac Escalade.
The vehicle had a crash detection feature, which sent out an alert. Shortly after, a sheriff’s deputy responded to the scene, along with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The road near where Shannon’s car was discovered is steep and winding, and it had been dark when the crash occurred.
Shannon’s older sister, Penny Stephens, was on vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at the time of Shannon’s death. She was with her daughter, her father, and his wife when they received the terrible news.
Upon hearing that her sister had died in a car accident, Penny’s gut feeling told her that this had been no accident. She believed Shannon had been murdered.
The family ended their vacation right away and headed back to Tennessee. On the drive home, Penny began to suspect that her father had something to do with Shannon’s death, but she kept her thoughts to herself for fear of retaliation.
Penny and Shannon both had a rocky relationship with their father, and it was common knowledge among their friends and family. Penny’s suspicions only grew stronger when she realized a lot of clues in the investigation were not adding up.
Despite an approximately 125-foot drop off the embankment, the vehicle’s windshield was not cracked. Shannon was also not wearing a seatbelt, which was very unlike her.
In addition, the driver’s side window was rolled down. Shannon never did that because she didn’t want her hair to get messed up. Authorities believe the killer rolled down the window so that they could steer the car off the cliff from the outside.
On August 6, at 8:00 a.m., Shannon’s autopsy showed a gash on the back of her head that was inconsistent with an injury from a car accident.
The wound had occurred before the crash. Her cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma and homicide.
Investigators went to Shannon’s house and found broken bottles and blood in the garage. The evidence pointed to a crime scene. Some items present at the scene indicated that someone had tried to clean up. There was no sign of forced entry into her house, which meant that the perpetrator had some way of getting in.
On the day of the murder, Shannon left work early due to a bad headache. That evening, she was supposed to meet up with a friend for a workout class, but she never showed up.
The friend tried calling Shannon multiple times, but wasn’t able to get into contact with her. She almost went to Shannon’s house to check on her, but decided against it.
Ted Hercutt, Shannon and Penny’s father, was questioned, but the police found no evidence of his involvement. Shannon’s ex-boyfriend was also questioned, but again, no viable connection to the murder was found.
On February 3, 2015, six years after Shannon’s death, Penny confronted her father about her sister’s death on the Dr. Phil show. Of course, he denied her accusations. Ted Hercutt died in 2017. He was never named a suspect or a person of interest in Shannon’s case.
In 2024, some evidence was resubmitted to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for testing. Currently, Shannon’s family and the state of Tennessee are offering a $45,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Shannon’s killer.
Anyone with information about Shannon’s case is urged to call the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office at 865-453-4668.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
