WPDE reported Sheridan Fogle was found guilty and sentenced to life in detention without parole in the death of Penni Whiteside.

Thursday's guilty verdict is the jury's finding. The life term is the sentence. WPDE's life in detention without parole, the Post and Courier's life in prison without the possibility of parole, and the Sun News's life in prison without parole are three wordings of that term. Three days and four days are not the same length of trial. Self-defense is what he told the jury.

WPDE reported Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in a story by Meg Richards published at 2:17 p.m., that a Myrtle Beach man accused of killing his girlfriend and hiding her body under a fire pit in his backyard was found guilty and sentenced to life in detention without parole. The headline on that story calls him Sheridan Fogle, says he was charged, and calls Penni Whiteside his ex-girlfriend. The lead calls her his girlfriend and reports the guilty finding and the sentence. Charged, in the headline, and found guilty, in the lead, are not the same status. Girlfriend and ex-girlfriend are not the same word. WPDE reported he stood trial for three days on a murder charge connected to her 2022 death. It did not print his age, her age, or the judge's name.

The Post and Courier reported Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in a story by Nicole Ziege, that after three days of testimony and less than an hour of deliberation, jurors on Oct. 29 found Sheridan Dirk Fogle, 56, guilty of killing 51-year-old Penni Whiteside in 2022. It reported Circuit Court Judge G.D. Morgan Jr. sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Myrtle Beach Sun News, in a story by Kate Robins published at 3:38 p.m., reported the guilty verdict came after a four-day trial and that Circuit Court Judge G.D. Morgan sentenced him Thursday to life in prison without parole. Three days, which WPDE and the Post and Courier printed, and four days, which the Sun News printed, are not the same count. Morgan Jr. and Morgan are not the same name. Life in detention, life in prison without the possibility of parole, and life in prison without parole are not the same sentence wording. Dirk, 56, and 51 are in the Post and Courier and the Sun News. They are not in the WPDE story.

WPDE reported he took the stand Wednesday and claimed self-defense, testifying that Whiteside lunged at him with a knife. It reported he said their relationship was sometimes rough, that they split up once or twice a year, and that his struggle with drug abuse hurt the relationship. It reported he claimed he was leaving the apartment after Whiteside was using his money for a drug deal, and that he said, "I lost it...I was in fear for my life." The Post and Courier reported that on cross-examination he told Assistant Solicitor Nancy Livesay, "I was in fear for my life, and I was defending myself." Those are two accounts of the same claim. The Sun News reported defense attorney Elizabeth Tilley called the relationship toxic in court on Tuesday, and that Livesay and Assistant Solicitor Jonathan Rogers argued he intentionally and maliciously killed Whiteside after strangling her. The Post and Courier reported Livesay told the jury in closing, "This man is a con artist, second to none." A closing argument is not the verdict. The verdict is the guilty finding.

The Post and Courier reported her family reported her missing on May 11, 2022, and that police later found her body in a wooden hope chest in the yard of her Myrtle Beach apartment, with a fire pit on the ground above it. It reported prosecutors said she was "basically folded in half" inside the chest, and that the chest was one her grandmother made. The Sun News reported the remains were in a wooden chest buried near a fire pit, that the chest was given to her by her grandfather, and that she was reported missing in the spring of 2022 by her brother, who had last seen her on Jan. 3, 2022. Grandmother and grandfather are not the same person. May 11 and Jan. 3 are not the same date. The Post and Courier named the brother as David Swisher and reported he last spoke to her in March 2022. Last spoke in March and last seen on Jan. 3 are not the same account. The Sun News reported an autopsy found the manner of death was homicide by unspecified means. The Post and Courier reported he told police he grabbed her by the throat. Unspecified means and a strangling account are not the same finding. The Sun News reported he was arrested in Orangeburg on Aug. 29, 2024. Thursday's verdict is the finding. The life term is the sentence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.