A.C. woman missing, boyfriend dead

THE MAN whom Sapphire Wiggins told her dad she'd marry, the guy she gushed over in Facebook posts, is dead and the Atlantic City woman won't be there for his funeral today.

No one's had contact with Wiggins, 23, since Oct. 15, and she was reported missing Sunday, police said, a day after the man whom she called her boyfriend, Kevin Shelton, 50, was found dead of an apparent suicide in his home in Runnemede, Camden County.

Shelton was a father of two, married for 30 years, according to his obituary compiled by the Freitag Funeral Home in Bridgeton, Cumberland County. His family declined to comment yesterday, and it's unclear if Wiggins knew about his marriage.

"We have an unbreakable bond, I love him and he loves me and that's all that matters," she wrote in a Facebook post in June showing the two of them together.

Atlantic City police declined to comment on possible connections between Shelton's death and Wiggins' disappearance - first reported by the Press of Atlantic City - claiming that it was still considered a missing-persons case with no developments yesterday. Police said that Wiggins had a phone conversation with her sister on Oct. 15 and that attempts to contact her via cellphone have been unsuccessful since.

Wiggins' car was still parked outside her home on New York Avenue in Atlantic City, police said. David Wiggins, Sapphire's father, said he last saw her a few months ago when she brought Shelton to his home in North Philly.

"They told me they were getting married," said David Wiggins, 58. "He seemed like a pretty nice guy. He didn't talk much. I told her if she's happy, I'm happy for her."

According to the funeral home, Shelton was born in Bridgeton and worked as a tile setter. Wiggins, according to police, had a "K" or "Kevin" tattooed on her ring finger, and in many pictures she posted of herself with Shelton, she was wearing a gold chain with a "K" pendant.

Tipsters should call 609-347-5766.