CHARLESTON, S.C. – A family held a celebration of life for their loved one, who was the victim of an unsolved Charleston homicide case in March 2025.
Everett “Lee” Stover, 67, was discovered deceased at 66 1/2 Street on March 4, according to Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal. Officials say his skeletal remains were discovered in the backyard of a vacant Lee Street home near the Nassau Street intersection.
The homeowner came to check out the property, which had been vacant since 2019, and discovered the remains.
Stover’s family and friends gathered to celebrate his life, but they also hope to shed light on the unsolved homicide case, as the family is desperate for answers.
“I’m celebrating his life today, but I am absolutely devastated, and it has been an awful, awful last six months,” daughter Teresa Gildersleeve said. “Just trying to get through one point to the next and trying to figure out why and who did this.”
Stover’s exact time of death is unknown, but further examination revealed that he was the victim of a violent assault.
Stover was considered homeless, and his family had varying degrees of contact with him over time.
“We’re developing that relationship right now, and I can hear my father,” Gidersleeve explained. I can feel my father here today telling me, “I got all of you together in Charleston,” because this was the place he loved and adored the most.
In the wake of this tragedy, his family and friends were able to come together to honor his life and remember Stover.
“He was Lee. Marie Elana Roland, director of The Navigation Center, said he was always entertaining and had stories to tell. “I have never seen him really angry. I mean, he was constantly trying to figure out his own next steps.”
“He was making plans to come home for Christmas,” said Dorothy Stover, his mother. “He called and told me that as soon as he got his train ticket, he would let me know so we could be home up in Washington and he never got that call.”
“He was a good, good person and was able to make the best of these situations and was always happy,” Tony Diesu, a friend, told me.
Mr. Stover’s family is pleading for the public’s help, and officials from the Charleston Police Department hope that by spreading information about Lee and speaking with more community members who knew him personally, they will be able to find out who killed him.
Anyone with information about the homicide case is asked to call the Charleston Police Department’s National Crime Information Center at 843-720-2422, submit an anonymous tip at charleston-sc.gov/tips, or contact Detective Genna directly at 843-793-9777.
