Family of Andrew Tench Seeks Answers as Police Delay Search

To have a loved one go missing inspires a specific type of sadness and anxiety. To believe that you know where that loved one is, having been told that their body was discarded in a dumpster and is likely in a local landfill with no way of confirming if that is true, is a whole other feeling altogether. 

With Andrew Tench missing since March and investigators remaining unresponsive, his friends and family remain in pursuit of closure.

Claims made by the last man to see Tench alive offer some insight into where Tench’s body might be located, but investigators with CMPD have halted the search, refusing to greenlight the excavation of a landfill where Tench’s loved ones believe he might be. 

“We’re just kind of stuck,” said Christian Edison, a friend of Tench who helped launch a petition demanding police do more to find his body. “We’re in the dark. We don’t know anything.”

What we know about Andrew Tench’s disappearance

The 31-year-old Andrew Tench, who lived in Belmont and often went by Andy, was last seen in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 24, at The Bar at 316 in Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood, where he celebrated his birthday. Surveillance footage outside of the bar captured Tench leaving with a man he had met that night. 

That man, 26-year-old D’shaun Robinson, has told police and Tench’s family that Tench died on the night of his birthday. However, it’s unclear how exactly Tench died and where his body currently is.

Tench’s family reported him missing on March 25 and his car was found by law enforcement in Union County shortly thereafter. 

Robinson was identified as a person of interest and arrested on April 11 following a voluntary interview with police, during which he confirmed that Tench had died while in his company and claimed he had disposed of Tench’s body in a dumpster outside of a Charlotte hotel. 

Robinson insisted he did not kill Tench. A search warrant would reveal that Robinson used Tench’s bank card to make multiple purchases over six days following Tench’s apparent death and also drove Tench’s vehicle. 

Immediately following his interview with CMPD in April, Robinson was taken into custody and charged with felony concealment of a death, felony identity theft, two counts of felony financial card theft, felony financial card fraud, felony larceny of a motor vehicle, and three counts of financial card fraud. 

Robinson was initially denied release but later given a $30,000 secured bond as he awaits trial. 

According to Edison, Robinson told Tench’s mother in June that he was “not the last person to lay hands on” Tench, though he would not be forthcoming with further details. 

The cause of Tench’s death is still unknown, which is one of the reasons his friends and family are so adamant that investigators do more to find his body. 

Early reporting by QnotesCarolinas said police told Tench’s mother, Tracii Blanton, that Tench was believed to have died of a fentanyl overdose after his drink was spiked. Any claim in regards to a cause of death is speculatory, however, due to the lack of a body. 

Blanton asked Robinson if her son had suffered and whether he knew he was dying, to which he reportedly answered that Tench “just went to sleep,” leaving many questions still unanswered. 

What’s being done by police?

Tench’s family has identified a landfill in Anson County as the location where Tench’s body is most likely to be if he was in fact placed in the dumpster where Robinson claimed he placed him.

However, police will not search for Tench’s body at the landfill, reportedly telling Blanton that it would be too big a job, as 740,000 pounds of trash are dumped there every day. Police have stated publicly that there is not enough evidence to justify a landfill search.

With no body to bury and no cause of death revealed, Blanton launched a Change.org petition on June 9 to demand that investigators at least attempt to locate Tench’s remains in the landfill. In its first two months, the petition has garnered nearly 5,500 signatures.

“We have over 1,000 signatures on this begging Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department to do something about it, and they’re still not doing anything,” said Edison.

As mentioned by Blanton in the petition post, landfill excavations have led to the successful recovery of remains before, including in Colorado, where authorities found the body of Jennifer Blagg in a landfill in 2002. 

“Andy is not trash, and that [landfill] should not be his final resting place,” Blanton wrote in the petition post. “I want to be able to bring him home to lay him to rest properly so I can have a place to go sit and talk with him, put flowers that’s not in the middle of a landfill of trash. It breaks my heart that he’s there buried in trash & scares me to no end the perp will be released to do this again because now he knows how to get by with it. Just throw the victim in a dumpster in Charlotte. No worries.” 

In a June statement, CMPD Deputy Chief Tonya Arrington addressed the issue, stating, “I understand the weight of the grief, the anxiety and heartache a mother or any parent would experience when their child goes missing and from not having closure. You want answers. As a mother myself, I understand. We will continue our efforts to bring about a resolution and closure for Andrew’s mother, his family and this investigation.”

Queen City Nerve reached out to CMPD for further comment but received no response.

Friends and family also staged search parties in an early effort to find Tench. All search parties have been organized and led by volunteers with no police aid. While the group has gathered some of its own leads, police have not provided much help, according to Edison.

“Everywhere we had leads, the police wouldn’t let us search the areas because we were trespassing,” Edison said. “We understood that, but they wouldn’t even help us. Now, we don’t know where to look. We’re looking around and not getting any help.”

The Bar at 316, Tench’s last known location before leaving with Robinson, has also been unhelpful in the search, Edison said. The bar’s security cameras were reportedly damaged in an attempted ATM heist in the week before Tench’s visit to the bar. The damage to the cameras rendered the footage of Tench at the bar unusable. 

In later communications with The Bar at 316, a member of upper management at the bar reportedly told a search party to look in a Union County forest for Tench’s body, then said they had spoken to “someone spiritual” who had told them Tench would be there.

Read More: A Grieving Family Calls for Missing Persons Reform After Pleas Ignored

The search party did not recover anything in the area after searching. 

“​​It was just weird,” said Edison. “And at that point of being desperate, you know, let’s go look.” 

The Queen City Nerve contacted The Bar at 316 for comment but did not receive a response.

Edison said that, despite regular communication between police and Tench’s family at the onset of the investigation, it is beginning to appear that interest is fading. The lack of communication from lead detective Adam Bonaparte has been especially troubling for the group.

“Detective Bonaparte, we have been calling him and asking him for updates,” said Edison. “But Detective Bonaparte will not say anything, he will not update anybody. It’s just like they’re not doing anything. So it’s really upsetting. I can’t even form thoughts because I’m so upset about it.”

Edison said he understands that the case’s ongoing nature may make it difficult for law enforcement to disclose information, but some clarity or proof of progress would be nice.

“I think for the family’s sake, we at least deserve to know that they’re still working on it and that they’re not going to let it go,” said Edison. “It would be great to just be reassured.”

The lack of answers and results has continued to take a toll on Edison and Tench’s family. Tench had asked Edison and Blanton to go out and celebrate with him on the night of his disappearance but the two were unable to attend.

“I still, you know, I feel that next immense regret for not knowing [what would happen],” said Edison about missing the occasion. “His mother does, too. We all do.”

“I failed my son. I no longer want to work, to live, to nothing because I guess my grief makes people ‘uncomfortable,’” wrote Blanton in a Facebook post in the group, Find Andy Tench.

With no body, no cause of death and seemingly little effort from law enforcement, family and friends of Tench are left without any sense of closure or feeling that it may be coming in the future.

“Andrew was a loving person. You could tell he absolutely loved his family and put them first. I’m just hoping that they are able to lay him to rest. We just want justice to be served, I think that would start some overdue healing,” said Edison.

While the family has no plans yet for a funeral, Blanton announced a candlelight vigil for Tench on Aug 31. A location has not been announced, but the vigil will be held around 9 p.m. All are welcome to attend and share any thoughts or memories. Blanton will provide updates on the Find Andy Tench page.  

Announcing the vigil, Blanton said she hopes to push back on the feeling that Andy’s case is being dropped and forgotten. 

“Andy did exist,” she wrote. “He was a human being and he deserves to be remembered.”