Crime Watch Daily spoke with the parents of missing Army soldier Shadow McClaine. Shadow disappeared from Fort Campbell, Kentucky on September 2, 2016. Shadow’s parents were concerned her life may be in danger prior to her disappearance. They shared that someone cut her vehicle break lines on base and Shadow posted a picture of it on social media. They also said she reported the incident to her Chain of Command but felt dismissed. The Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) conducted an investigation and reported two soldiers were being held as person of interests and the case was under investigation.
On November 29, 2016, Sgt. Jamal Williams-McCray and Spc. Charles Robinson were charged with conspiracy, premeditated murder, and kidnapping under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). On January 23, 2017, the remains of Pfc. Shadow McClaine were discovered off the I-24 highway near Exit 19 in Kentucky. It was confirmed that Shadow was in fact a victim of kidnapping and homicide. A year after Shadow went missing in September 2017, Spc. Charles Robinson pleaded guilty to murder. He claimed he helped Shadow’s estranged husband Williams-McCray kidnap and murder her. Sgt. Jamal Williams-McCray is awaiting a military trial.
Army specialist Charles Robinson says he slashed Shadow McClain’s throat, then broke her neck to make sure she was dead. He says McClaine’s ex-husband, Jamal Williams-McCray hired him to murder her. -Crime Watch Daily
Joseph Weber IV, US Army Veteran (photo credit: Missing Veterans)
Disabled Army veteran Joseph Weber IV, 28, disappeared near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California on November 24, 2014. Joseph is an Iraq war veteran who struggled with both Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). If you have any information, please contact the Sunnyvale Police Department at (408) 730-7100.
Amber Lowery, 34, went missing on July 23, 2013. Her brother reported her missing on July 24th. Days later on July 31st, human remains were found on the Lowery property; they were later identified as Amber Lowery. As a result, Army veteran Michael Lowery, 34, was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife. Amber’s siblings described Mike Lowery as a controlling individual who received counseling for anger management, was “kicked out” of the Army for drug use and insubordination, and was fired from several jobs because of the abuse of his wife while on the job. A Texas jury found Lowery guilty of murdering Amber, dismembering her body, placing her remains in a pile, and burning them. Michael Lowery was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder.
Army National Guard spouse Bethany Decker, 21, disappeared on January 29, 2011. Her last known location was in Ashburn, Virginia where she was living alone while her husband was deployed overseas. Bethany was pregnant when she went missing. Her husband Emile Decker was questioned in the disappearance but cooperated and was quickly ruled out early in the investigation. Emile was very concerned when Bethany didn’t show up to the airport to see him off before he left to go to Afghanistan for months. Police learned that the last person to see Bethany Decker alive was Ronald Roldan. Roldan is a person of interest in the disappearance of Bethany but he has not been formally charged. If you or anyone you know has any information about Bethany Decker’s disappearance, please call the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office at 703-777-0445.
21-year-old Bethany Decker is a hard-working student, waitress, mother, and wife of a National Guardsman serving in Afghanistan. When she vanishes while pregnant with her second child, police discover her life was more complicated than anyone realized. -Investigation Discovery
Susana De Jesus and Nicholas Michael Jean, US Army Veteran
The murder of Tina Davila was the start of a scourge of violence in Houston, Texas. On April 16, 2008, Tina Davila, a mother to five children. was out running errands with her four month old daughter. She made a quick stop at the cellphone store. After exiting her vehicle, two guys pulled up beside her and one of them jumped out and ran up behind her. A struggle ensued for Tina’s car keys because Tina immediately went into mother mode and began worrying about her baby she left in the car. The assailant was able to take the keys away from her so Tina ran after him in an attempt to get her keys back. It was at this time she was stabbed and the assailant changed plans and took off in the car he came in.
Tina stumbled to the front desk of the cellphone store and asked the employees to get her baby from the car. The employees got her baby for her and laid the baby next to her mother on the floor. The cellphone store employees called 911 and Tina was rushed to the hospital. The family was notified and arrived at the hospital only to learn that Tina had died; they also learned from media reports that she was stabbed during an attempted carjacking. Tina’s family was devastated. Fortunately, there was an eye witness who was able to provide a good description of the attacker and driver of the car. They were both described as Hispanic males and a composite sketch was created. A $10,000 reward was offered for any information leading to an arrest.
Meanwhile, the Houston police learn that there was a robbery at a beer store four hours before Tina was stabbed. Both the store and the parking lot had surveillance cameras and a witness identified two Hispanic males in the aggravated robbery. The witness also provided a license plate number and police learned the car was registered to Stacy Bailey. She reported her car stolen the day before the robbery of the store and the stabbing of Tina Davila. Stacy also described the two assailants as Hispanic males. Police were able to determine that this was the same car used in the aggravated robbery and homicide. The police fed leads to the media in an attempt to get more tips but they got no new information and the cases went unsolved.
Ten months later on February 2, 2009, as Susana De Jesus was leaving her place of employment with a co-worker, she was accosted by a masked gunman parked. He demanded that she get in her car and drive; Susana’s co-worker Karen Davis retreated in her own car where she remained until she felt safe. Karen called the police but could only provide a vague description of Susana’s car. While Susana was driving, the assailant demanded she go to a bank and was worried about her On-Star tracking system. Susana didn’t know if it was working and said she needed to call her boyfriend. He knew something was wrong because of her impersonal phone call.
Susana’s boyfriend called On-Star to find out whether or not they were able to track her but they couldn’t give out any information unless there was a missing person’s report. Susana’s boyfriend then went to her apartment and her car was not there. He was very worried now and went to the police station to file a missing person’s report. The car was tracked down in a parking lot but Susana and her abductor were gone. Police were concerned the assailant would cross state lines so the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was contacted to assist because they have more resources. These attacks were random and it illicited fear in the community.
The FBI learned that Susana’s debit card was used to purchase fuel and the gun left in Susana’s car was stolen the same day Susana was abducted. The woman who reported the gun stolen also reported the assailant tied her up, gagged her, and shoved her in a closet. She managed to get herself untied and escaped while the assailant was robbing her home. She ran to a neighbor’s home then called the police. The assailant was gone by the time the police arrived and only managed to steal the gun. These two crimes were now connected. The police wondered if Tina’s case was connected too. After three days, there was still no sign of Susana. Texas Equusearch was called in to help them find Susana. The search lasted for three weeks but came up empty.
Sabrina Piña was the third person accosted in a parking lot in the course of a couple years in Houston. In this case, she was taken but her car was left behind and there were no witnesses. Texas Equusearch was called again, this time to look for Sabrina. And then a $30,000 reward was offered for the resolution of Susana De Jesus and Sabrina Piña’s disappearances. Then two days after Sabrina’s abduction, someone found an unidentified woman’s body laying in a ditch. On February 2, 2009, Sabrina Piña was found with duct tape wrapped around her eyes and wrists, and she had been shot in the back of the head. Forensic scientists were able to extract a finger print from the duct tape that matched Theodore Schmidt. He was arrested. Police learned Schmidt knew Sabrina from college and had an unhealthy obsession with her. When she didn’t appear to recognize him in the parking lot, he got angry and kidnapped her. Schmidt was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole.
A month after Sabrina Piña was found, another man contacted police to report an attempted abduction and murder. This assailant forced him into the trunk of his own car but when the gunman has trouble starting the car, the victim was able to escape. When the assailant realized he escaped, he began chasing him down and shooting at him but he made it to safety. The police responded and an intensified attempt to find this dangerous assailant was initiated. Police asked people in the surrounding area to stay in their homes and report any suspicious activity. Ten hours later, a woman called to report a person wearing a mask in a carport. The Police responded, apprehended the suspect, and learned it was Nicholas Michael Jean.
Jean’s behavioral problems in the U.S. Army also are likely to surface during the trial. He served at Fort Sill, Okla., for three months before being discharged two weeks prior to De Jesus’ murder because his supervisors found him “unfit for military service,” according to a military separation letter. Army records show Jean was accused of fighting with and threatening other soldiers in his platoon, trying to choke another serviceman, hitting another private in the face and abusing sick leave time. He had also been discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2006 for a serious offense of misconduct, court files show. –Houston Chronicle
Nicholas Jean was an Army veteran who was recently discharged for being unfit for military duty after only three months of service. According to the Army, he did not respect authority and punched an officer. Investigators questioned Nicholas who tried to stick with the story that he was only a driver for the gang. After a few hours, Detectives began to lose their patience and demanded that Jean tell them what happened because they knew he had information. At this point, they had tons of evidence and knew all these crimes were connected. In this case, two crimes remained unsolved: one was dead; one was missing. and perpetrators were still on the loose. They needed Jean to give up the names of those who were involved. Jean eventually told the detectives that ‘the group’ took Susana in a semi trailer and killed her. Jean led the police to Susana De Jesus’ body.
On March 10, 2009, police found the badly decomposed remains of Susana De Jesus in an abandoned semi trailer. Nicholas Jean admitted to murdering Susana within two hours of her abduction. Jean also admitted to killing Susana so he could give her vehicle to the girl he wanted to marry as a wedding present; she turned him down. Jean was charged with capital murder and was facing the death penalty. But the jury spared his life and he was instead sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Wallace Ledet drove Jean to the abduction so he was apprehended too and charged with manslaughter. Ledet pleaded guilty and was sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Neither Ledet or Jean could be tied to Tina Davila’s murder.
Then one day a high school principal called the Houston police to report a student thought her boyfriend may have been involved in Tina Davila’s murder. She named seventeen year old Kennedy Escoto. As a result, Escoto was arrested and admitted to his involvement but tried to pin everything on his passenger Timoteo Rios. Escoto also admitted they stole some beer in the morning and because they were getting low on gas, they needed another car; Tina was a victim of opportunity. Kennedy Escoto was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to forty years. Timoteo Rios was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In April 2008, 39-year-old Houston native and mother of five, Tina Davila, runs errands with her 4 month old infant when she’s attacked in a parking lot. In the next year, a rash of similar crimes breaks out across the city. Are they related? -Investigation Discovery
Air Force nurse Nonnie Dotson, 33, was last seen by family members the afternoon of November 19th, 2006. She left her brother Tony Dotson’s residence in Littleton, Colorado where she had been visiting, and told him she was going to have a smoothie with friends. Dotson had no vehicle with her so she either left the residence on foot or was given a ride. Dotson had flown into Colorado by commercial airline on November 16, 2006 from San Antonio, Texas, where she was on active duty serving as a nurse at Lackland Air Force Base with the United States Air Force. She failed to return to active duty as scheduled and the return flight portion of her ticket was never used. She left behind a 16-month-old daughter at her brother’s home in Colorado. She was scheduled to discharge from the Air Force in March 2007. Nonnie Dotson’s family is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 303-271-5612.
