Dateline and Chain of Events

11-06-03
Superbike Motorsports
Chesnee, S.C.
Unsolved for 3 years, 3 months and 12 days Victims:

Scott Ponder, Brian Lucas, Beverly Guy and Christopher Sherbert
Investigating: Anthony Lachica
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Department
Call: (864) 503-4608

Timeline: Superbike Motorsports

Published: Monday, February 19, 2007 - 6:00 am

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS0601

Nov. 7, 2003
Coroner's investigator Alan Mason says sheriff's deputies responded to a call about 3:15 p.m. and found the bodies of three men and a woman at Superbike Motorsports, a bike shop in western Spartanburg County, about 15 miles north of Spartanburg. A customer found the bodies and called authorities, Sheriff Bill Coffey said. Two of the victims were found inside the shop and two were found in the front doorway, authorities said. All four victims were shot multiple times, Mason said. The victims are Scott Ponder, 30, of Boiling Springs; Brian Lucas, 30, of Gaffney; Beverly Guy, 52, of Spartanburg; and Christopher Sherbert, 26, of Boiling Springs.

Nov. 9, 2003
Investigators look for a dark green minivan, which was seen driving the opposite direction from a man chasing an upset woman away from Superbike Motorsports on Thursday. More information is released: Ponder and Lucas were found just outside the shop, Guy was in the front area of the shop and Sherbert was found through two double doors in the back of the shop, coroner's chief investigator Alan Mason said. "I do not think that this is a random act of violence," said Sheriff Bill Coffey, but he would not say whether anything was taken from the shop. "We're still processing the crime scene." The shop sits next to a cattle field, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains just a few miles away from the North Carolina state line. Rolling farm land separates the small homes near the shop. There were similarities to another 2003 multiple homicide at Blue Ridge Savings Bank. Both locations were somewhat isolated and both involved execution-style shootings and multiple homicides, said an investigator with the bank case. Also, Ponder is the son of Dean Ponder, a Spartanburg man who went missing 13 years ago. There is no evidence the cases are connected, says lead investigator Anthony Lachica.

Sept. 27, 2005
The parents of one victim have offered a $100,000 reward for information. Tom and Lorraine Lucas, the parents of Brian Lucas, have distributed fliers offering $100,000 for information. The couple have relocated from Kentucky to Spartanburg, says Joe Mammana, a Philadelphia philanthropist who has put up rewards in missing persons cases, has promised to produce the money if an informant comes forward. The Spartanburg County sheriff's office has previously offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Sept. 7, 2006
The Spartanburg County sheriff’s office releases a 911 after he entered the murder scene. He says at first he thought his friends were playing a joke on him, according to the tape released by police nearly three years after the shootings. "Apparently everybody's been shot up here," Noel Lee says. "I thought they were playing a prank on me, but, hell, everyone's laying down in a pool of blood." In the 911 call, Lee, who had previously told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal he stopped by the shop to pick up tickets to a motorcycle event, told dispatchers he saw only three bodies two in the shop's parking lot, and one inside the showroom. "I'm scared to walk in the back, because I don't know who else is here," Lee says in the call. "I don't see anybody breathing. I thought they were playing a joke, because they're real prone to doing that to me."

The fourth body was found in the back of the shop.
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Sept. 21, 2006
Geraldo Rivera with Geraldo at Large airs a segment on the homicides. Lead investigator Anthony Lachica says the sheriff’s office receives an obvious increase in tips, but nothing viable.

SOURCES: AP, The Greenville News archives. Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Nexis.com