A 16-year-old girl who disappeared in the summer of 1983. A letter to the Maury Povich show a decade later, pleading for help finding her. A false confession by a man who was not the girl’s killer. And now, the identification of her remains.
The cold case of Shelia Ann Nichols’ murder has been for Broward Sheriff’s Office Detective Andrew Gianino “one of the most complex cases with various twists” in his career, he said in a newly released episode of BSO’s “Open and Unsolved” series.
In May 1983, Nichols disappeared from the Decatur, Georgia, area. Four months later and more than 600 miles away, a truck driver in western Broward County discovered skeletal remains off U.S. 27 near the Everglades when he parked his truck and got out to take a break from the drive.
The remains went unidentified for decades, until recent DNA testing of the bones led detectives to Nichols, the Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
In September 1983, a truck driver found skeletal remains off of U.S. 27 in western Broward County near the Everglades. The remains were recently identified as those of Shelia Ann Nichols, who disappeared from the Decatur, Georgia, area in May 1983. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
Through DNA testing of the skeletal remains and matching those results with Nichols’ family tree, investigators found her father, 86-year-old Clyde Nichols, and confirmed a DNA match last year.
“I’m glad to find out,” Clyde Nichols said in the Sheriff’s Office’s episode about the cold case. “Because I wondered about that for years.”
Nichols’ cousin Dianne Eubanks told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday that she didn’t learn her cousin had disappeared until the Sheriff’s Office called her about a year ago. When Nichols was 5 or 6 years old, Eubanks lost touch with her and Nichols’ mother because they moved to Decatur.
“The detective called me because I had did an ancestry DNA and wanted to know if I had a family member missing … It wasn’t until I started talking to other family members that I realized that it was Shelia who had ran away in 1983,” Eubanks said.
Eubanks said local police in the Decatur area and in Gwinnett County “talked to people for a long time after she disappeared,” but she was considered a runaway at the time rather than a missing or endangered person. She said she believes had there been more attention to her cousin’s disappearance earlier on, it may not have taken decades to get answers.
“… Had we found out earlier, they might have found her killer,” she said.
Detectives believe Nichols was last seen alive at a home on the corner of Parker Avenue and Barberrie Lane in a neighborhood in Decatur, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Gianino said in the BSO episode that they don’t know how she left the area or why.
Eubanks said she didn’t know either.
“Her mom and most of her family members are deceased, so not sure why she left … or how she got to Florida,” Eubanks said.
Not long before she vanished, Nichols took a bus from Decatur to visit her father in Lawrenceville, Georgia, about 25 miles away, according to Eubanks. Local police visited Clyde Nichols numerous times after his daughter disappeared, “but he couldn’t really tell them anything because he hadn’t seen her,” Eubanks said.
Sheila Ann Nichols’ sister Virginia Gail also disappeared from the Decatur area about the same time as Nichols.
There are conflicting accounts among relatives about whether the sisters left Georgia together, Eubanks told the Sun Sentinel.
“I know that her mom’s family tried numerous ways to find them, but to no avail,” Eubanks said.
Shelia Ann Nichols, left, and her sister Virginia Gail, right, both disappeared from the Decatur, Georgia, area about the same time in 1983, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
However, Gianino was able to find Nichols’ sister during his investigation thanks to a needed “break in the case,” he said — when he received a family letter that was written to Maury Povich in May 1993.
A maternal aunt of Nichols and her sister wrote to Povich on May 23, 1993, asking if the show could help find them. The aunt gave the sisters’ names, dates of birth and the dates they were last seen in the letter. While they were never featured on the show, the letter helped Gianino to find Virginia Gail.
In May 1993, an aunt of Shelia Ann Nichols and Virginia Gail wrote to Maury Povich about her missing nieces. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
Gianino traveled to Georgia in November 2025 to meet with Virginia Gail, and together made “a long-delayed reunification with family,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Shelia Ann Nichols’ sister Virginia Gail met with Broward Sheriff’s Office Detective Andrew Gianino in November 2025. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
Another twist came within a year of the letter that was sent to Povich, when a man named Ricky Lee Ross claimed to be the killer of a teen girl in 1983 near the same Everglades location where Nichols’ remains were found. He said he believed she was the person whose remains were still unidentified, the Sun Sentinel reported in 1994. When Ross talked to BSO detectives, he was serving a 25-year prison sentence for sexual battery, kidnapping and robbery.
The Sun Sentinel reported in May 1994 that some details in Ross’ account to detectives were credible, but they had not been able to substantiate his story.
In the Sheriff’s Office’s newly released “Open and Unsolved” episode, Gianino said his investigation determined Ross could not have been the killer.
“In 2025, we were able to determine through the various databases that Rick Ross was absolutely in custody at the time Shelia Ann disappeared and the time in which she was recovered. He could not be a suspect in this matter,” Gianino said.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported in May 1994 that a man serving a prison sentence had confessed to being the killer of a teenage girl in 1983 near the same location where Nichols’ remains were found. (Newspapers.com)
Detectives “firmly believe” they can still find Nichols’ killer, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Wednesday announcing the development.
“I hope and pray that they do,” Eubanks told the Sun Sentinel.
Gianino said in the video he is pursing leads about who Nichols was last with and specifically asked for help from the public in the Georgia area.
“When we find out who is responsible for her death, that will close the book in my eyes and hopefully give the family some peace,” he said.
Anyone with information on Nichols’ disappearance or murder is asked to contact BSO Detective Gianino at 954-321-4376, submit a tip through the SaferWatch app or anonymously contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477), online at browardcrimestoppers.org or by dialing **TIPS (8477) from any cellphone.
A tip that leads to an arrest could be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
Information from the Sun Sentinel archives contributed to this report.