By BOB HIGH

Shelia Ann McPherson’s van found last Tuesday at a home in Murrell’s Inlet, S.C., was loaded with all of her clothes and personal items. She had moved out of the Georgetown County residence that she shared with her boyfriend two days before.

“She spent two nights in her van parked beside her mobile home in Socastee (northwest of Myrtle Beach) before she went back to his (Vladimir “Walt” Pantovich) home for some reason. Maybe it was to get something she forgot,” Shelia’s sister-in-law Lisa McPherson of Chadbourn said Sunday.

Shelia McPherson’s body was found at 6 a.m. Wednesday in the trunk of a car driven by the 54-year-old Pantovich near Taylorsville, 20 miles north of Hickory. The 49-year-old woman’s body was wrapped in a blanket and a baseball bat, believed to be the weapon used to kill the Columbus County native, was lying beside her, according to information from the family and newspaper reports.

Lisa McPherson said Shelia’s death was directly linked to domestic violence. “She had problems with Walt, but she wouldn’t say anything, because when she was visiting here he was always with her and wouldn’t leave her side.”

Pantovich, whom Shelia had known for at least two years, was “very jealous.” The victim had moved into Pantovich’s home less than a year ago after they had lived together in her mobile home in Socastee for a time. There are records of several domestic problems.

Domestic problems

News reports show McPherson and Pantovich had several fights with Shelia sustaining a five-inch cut on her leg once in May 2004, plus “police went to the house three times last October,” Lisa McPherson reported.

“She was afraid of him. She had some bruises on her legs that we saw when they visited us last month. She never said a word about him beating her because he stayed right there with her the whole time they were here. She was trying to tell us something,” Shelia’s sister-in-law commented.

Shelia was a “cheerful person. She had just bought her van and she loved to ride her Harley Davidson motorcycle. She rode up here often to visit her family and friends,” Linda Campbell, a family friend, pointed out.

The victim had a Pekingese dog for five years. “That was her baby. She couldn’t have children after she lost a child (who died the day after birth) many years ago, and Maggie was her kind of dog,” Lisa McPherson noted.

Shelia also loved to work with crafts and was proud of the flowers she tended to in her yard. She rented her Socastee mobile home when she moved in with Pantovich.

News reports show police were tipped to the incident when Pantovich’s son telephoned from Alexander County – 20 miles north of Hickory -- and said his father had called about 10 p.m. Tuesday and told him he had killed McPherson with a baseball bat during an argument.

Authorities in Alexander County were alerted by Georgetown County, S.C., lawmen who reported Pantovich was driving a light blue or silver Ford. North Carolina deputies stopped the native of Russia when he showed up on Wayside Church Road outside Taylorsville.

Pantovich is being held without bond and an extradition hearing is scheduled next week.

“Shelia hit him with a fire poker before she was killed,” the victim’s sister-in-law said.

“She didn’t deserve this. We thought he was a nice guy, but we only knew about him from her. We really didn’t know him, and she wouldn’t tell us about the beatings,” Lisa McPherson added.