Inset: Penni Whiteside (Facebook). Background: Sheridan Dirk Fogle testifies at his Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, murder trial (WMBF).
A South Carolina man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison after murdering his girlfriend and concealing her remains beneath a backyard firepit for roughly two years.
Sheridan Dirk Fogle, 56, was found guilty of murder Thursday and received a life sentence for the death of 51-year-old Penni Whiteside. Investigators believe Fogle killed her sometime in March or April 2022. Her remains were discovered at his Myrtle Beach residence in June 2024.
The investigation began after Fogle reportedly told neighbors that he had buried “something” in the backyard, according to an arrest warrant obtained by local ABC affiliate WPDE. He also became protective of the firepit area whenever anyone came near it.
After securing a search warrant, authorities excavated the firepit and found a wooden box containing human remains. The remains were later identified as Whiteside, who had been strangled.
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors video of Fogle’s police interview following his arrest. In the recording, he claimed Whiteside had approached him with a knife, according to a courtroom report by local NBC affiliate WMBF.
“I grabbed her by the throat, she hit the floor … by the time it was over, I panicked, I didn’t know what else to do,” Fogle said in the video.
He also told investigators that he “got high” after the killing.
“Then I put her in the box, and I kept the box in the house for like two days … it took me like three days to get all that done,” he said.
Fogle had the box, which was made for him by his grandfather, as a keepsake.
Fogle further told police that Whiteside’s body remained inside the house when another man stayed overnight. The two even discussed the possibility of becoming roommates.
“I was still trying to act like everything was normal,” Fogle said in the recording. “I didn’t know what to do with this body in my [expletive] bedroom.”
Fogle later testified in his own defense during the murder trial.
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“I get angry, and I snap … and I say things that I don’t normally do,” he told the court, according to WPDE. “I lost it…I was in fear for my life.”
On cross-examination, prosecutor Nancy Livesay challenged Fogle’s self-defense explanation, asking how it fit with his claim that he had simply “snapped.”
“That’s different than self-defense, right?” Livesay asked.
Fogle nonetheless maintained that he had acted to protect himself.
“I wouldn’t say that at all. I was trying to defend myself, and I blacked out, period,” he replied.
Whiteside’s brother reported her missing in May 2022. When police questioned Fogle at the time, he claimed she had left voluntarily.
“When you told police she said she was coming back for her stuff, that wasn’t true, was it?” Livesay asked.
“No ma’am,” Fogle replied.
The defendant claimed he had “carried” the burden of killing Whiteside for two years, and finally came clean because “it was time for it to come over.”
Livesay noted that he appeared to move on with his life.
“During the two years you struggled with this, while Penni was facedown in that box … you had remarried and moved to Orangeburg and started a new life. Is that correct?” she pressed.
“Yes,” Fogle said.
Fogle had a history of domestic violence against Whiteside, including an arrest not long before she went missing, The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. Police responded to their apartment in November 2021 after he allegedly punched her in the chest, causing her to fall down, according to The Myrtle Beach Sun News. About a month later, he reportedly stole her credit and debit cards.