Wilson Mannon Jr. (January 5, 1928 – January 12, 1992) was an American man who was robbed and murdered by three career criminals in Delaware.
The perpetrators were brothers Nelson Shelton (July 20, 1967 – March 17, 1995) and Steven W. Shelton (born July 11, 1965), and their cousin Jack Foster Outten Jr. (born March 23, 1966). All three men were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Nelson was executed in 1995 after waiving his appeals, while Steven and Outten eventually won appeals, and had their sentences reduced to lengthy prison terms in plea agreements years later.
The case drew attention after Steven donated one of his kidneys to his ailing mother, Vessa Shelton. Nelson had wanted to donate his own kidney, but his was found to be incompatible. Steven donated one in his brother's place.
Backgrounds Wilson Mannon Jr. was born in Delaware on January 5, 1928, to Wilson Cummins Mannon and Mary Hanifee. He worked at Wall Board Distributions in Newark, Delaware. Mannon previously delivered drywall for 30 years.
Mannon had three sons, Bobby Lee Mannon, Steven Allen Mannon and Dennis Wayne Mannon, a stepson, Patrick D. Norton, a stepdaughter, Nora S. Norris, and five grandchildren. He also had a brother, Paul, and a sister, Betty Butler.
The Shelton brothers and Outten all grew up in dysfunctional households.
The Shelton brothers were raised in a three bedroom house with 10 other half-brothers and sisters. The family suffered from serious financial problems due to the father losing his legs in an industrial accident. The father of the Shelton brothers was an alcoholic, who was physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive to the children. Because of this abuse, the children were taken away from home and placed in foster care numerous times. According to Steven, he could never do anything right in his father's eyes and was never able to gain his approval. Steven was regularly whipped with a belt or a paddle.
Their mother, Vessa Shelton, was also an alcoholic, and frequently abused them and the other children.
All of Steven's older brothers became involved in criminal activity as juveniles or adults and went to a reform school or prison. They were raised in a racially mixed neighborhood with severe racial tension, and Steven was often assaulted in his neighborhood.
Steven was reportedly happy when he was younger before he began experiencing great difficulty in school. He was a target of bullying since he wore glasses, and started to become a truant regularly at the age of 10. When Steven was 13, he was sent to a reform school for truancy.
Despite their issues, Nelson and Steven maintained close and positive relationships with their mother and all of their siblings. When Vessa became ill from a kidney transplant, they took care of her.
During his trial, Outten described his as a close family, but said he was "semi-abused." He said his father, who was beaten during a robbery in 1974 and suffered communication problems as a result, was not affectionate and was abusive when he was drunk, resulting in him running away. Outten said he'd lived in foster care, but left after he was accused of stealing. As his father's health deteriorated, Outten cared for him until his death.
Early crimes When Steven was 15, he was charged with second degree rape. In 1982, he was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in prison. In 1985, Steven's sentence was increased after he was convicted of assaulting a fellow inmate.
In 1985, Nelson was charged with second degree rape. He pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced to five months in jail and a year of probation. In 1985, Nelson and another man stole a customer's car from a convenience store. He went on the run for two weeks before being arrested in Tennessee. Nelson pleaded guilty to first degree robbery, second degree forgery, and three counts of theft, and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, followed by two years of probation. Overall, Nelson was arrested 11 times between 1976 and 1985.
The father of the Shelton brothers died on February 12, 1990, while both of them were still in prison. They were allowed to temporarily leave prison to attend his funeral. The two reportedly became depressed after their father's death, having looked up to him as a strong-willed individual despite his abuse.
Nelson was paroled on May 11, 1991, and was on parole at the time of the murder.
After his release from prison, Steven was re-arrested in 1991 and 1992 for robbery and a DUI offense.
Outten had a lengthy criminal history as well, but did not have a history of violence. He had prior convictions for burglary, and seven convictions for other non-violent crimes. Outten was also on parole at the time of the murder, and had been on unsecured bail for pending criminal charges of burglary, theft, criminal mischief, and forgery.
Murder and investigation
On January 11, 1992, the Shelton brothers, Outten, and Nelson's girlfriend, Christine Gibbons, spent the afternoon drinking beer at Gibbons home in Newark. Outten bought the beer using his unemployment check. At dusk, after drinking about one and one-half entire cases of beer, the four drove to a local tavern in Nelson's car in Wilmington. On the way there, they discussed a plan for Gibbons to pretend to be a prostitute to lure men out of the bar so that the rest of the group could rob them.
After arriving at the tavern, the four continued to drink beer. A patron came over and spoke with Outten about buying drugs. The four and the patron left the tavern for another building where Nelson used to work, where they exchanged $25 for drugs.
The four then drove to another bar, where they used their recently earned money to buy more drinks. Nelson and Gibbons got in an argument after Nelson became jealous of her dancing with Steven and Outten. Gibbons said that Nelson punched her in the stomach during the argument.
Afterwards, the group went to a different bar, but Nelson and Gibbons continued to argue in the parking lot. Eventually, they resolved their differences and all went inside. Gibbons started talking to Wilson Mannon. Mannon, who was also drinking heavily, bought drinks for Gibbons and danced with her while Outten and the Shelton brothers played pool.
Sometime after midnight, Outten called his girlfriend, Karen Julian, and asked her to pick him up from the bar, saying he didn't want to go with the rest of the group. However, she refused.
Around the time of the last call, the rest of the group joined Mannon and Gibbons. Mannon had run out of money, but the group was still served one last round of drinks. After the bar closed, they left together. After talking with him in the parking lot, they agreed to give him a ride.
Nelson drove the group to a desolate area in Wilmington. Mannon's body was found there in the morning. The top of his head had been completely smashed, with blood, brain matter, and skull fragments lying around his head. His wallet was empty, and loose change was found near his body. A broken hammer was found next to his body, and the hammer's head was found at a nearby fence.
The following day, Gibbons called her social worker and confessed to the murder. She said the Shelton brothers and Outten had taken turns beating Mannon to death, laughing as they killed him. The three men were arrested the same day and charged with first degree murder. It was later discovered that hours after the murder, Nelson went to the house of an 85-year-old woman he knew under the pretense of fixing her car, before attacking her 60-year-old son and tying him up, before trying to rape her. Afterwards, he stole her car.
The prosecution announced they would seek death sentences for all three men. Gibbons talked to the police, giving multiple, some contradicting, accounts of the events preceding the murder. She was not charged after maintaining that she had pleaded with the others to stop attacking Mannon, but had been ignored.
In her original account to the police, Gibbons said Steven and Outten had kicked Mannon, but insisted that Nelson didn't hurt him. She said a sink-like object had been taken from the side of the road and used to bludgeon Mannon to death. The group also took money from Mannon's wallet and stole his rings. The sink-like object was later placed in the trunk of the car and discarded by the group as they were driving home. After the four returned home, they showered, washed their clothes, and bleached their shoes. Gibbons said she tried to call a friend to tell her what happened, but Nelson caught her, ripped the phone from the wall and struck her.
In a second statement, Gibbons implicated Nelson instead of Steven, and revealed that she was several months pregnant at the time of the murder, saying Nelson was the father. She also said that Nelson had previously raped her. Gibbons then told Steven's lawyer that she'd implicated his client instead of Nelson since she loved and feared him, and claimed it was Steven who fathered the baby, which she had since aborted. Gibbons said she had a one-night stand with Steven since Nelson was seeing other women. She told Steven's lawyer that she'd initially implicated Steven since Nelson threatened to rape and murder her if she talked.
Trial The Shelton brothers and Outten were tried together in February 1993. Gibbons testified during their trial. Initially, she only implicated Outten and Nelson. After finishing her testimony, however, Gibbons asked if she could retake the witness stand, saying she lied. The judge allowed her to recount all of her prior testimony. Gibbon's new testimony mirrored her previous statements, but this time, as she'd initially told her caseworker when she talked about the murder for the first time, she implicated all three men in Mannon's murder. Gibbons said "they all three started beating on him", and that she saw Steven kick and punch Mannon in the face. Nelson's lawyer tried to have Gibbons charged with perjury, and the judge ordered a female police officer to keep watch on her house throughout the duration of the trial. On one occasion, she was placed in jail after refusing to get out of bed. On another, two detectives chased her across the street.
Gibbons said she initially gave a differing version of events since she had conflicting feelings about the Shelton brothers and both loved and was scared of Nelson. She said she'd wanted to correct her testimony out of fairness, and that Steven had instructed her to say he was not present for the murder.
The defense team for the Shelton brothers and Outten presented various theories to the jury. Nelson's attorney blamed Steven and Outten, while Steven's attorney blamed Nelson and Outten. Outten's lawyer blamed Gibbons. Ultimately, all three of them were convicted of first degree murder.
During the sentencing phase, the prosecution pointed to the brutality of Mannon's murder and the lengthy criminal records of the trio in arguing they deserved to die. Going through their criminal histories, Deputy Attorney General James Ropp said "When the Sheltons and Jack Outten want something, they don't care about the rules of society, they don't care about the laws, they just take it."
Ropp conceded that the Shelton brothers and Outten had miserable childhoods, and said it was considerable mitigation. However, he went on to say "but how mitigating is that? Lots of people have had rough lives, losing family members." He pointed out that one of the Sheltons' sisters, Dorothy Shaw, became a successful realtor, and that Edward Shelton, a half-brother, is now a computer drafter. "Every individual makes their own life," he said. "The three defendants have shown a total inability to follow the rules and laws of society. The state submits it's not a close call."
Nelson refused to present any mitigating evidence, saying he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in prison.