The Shannon Graves Case: Her Remains Found In A Borrowed Fridge
By: Holly Alexis
Tags: Crime, Violence Against Women, Shockingly Evil And Vile, True Crime, Murder

[Youngstown, Ohio]

Shannon DePaul (28) went missing in February of 2017.

At the time of her disappearance, she was living with her boyfriend, Arturo Novoa. Her family became alarmed after she missed her sister’s birthday party in March. However, they didn’t want to take it to the police quite yet because Shannon was a “free spirit” who possibly just got busy. As time passed and she never contacted any family, her father decided to call Arturo to question him. Aruto told Shannon’s father that they had broken up and she moved to Cleveland, Ohio to live with a new man.

Even if this story was true, her family failed to reach her by phone so they officially reported her missing in June of 2017.

As her family was constantly worrying about Shannon, her boyfriend decided to move a new female into the home he shared with Shannon. Her name was Katrina Layton.

On July 30th, 2017, police received a call from a man named Ken Eshenbaugh saying that him and his wife found dismembered, frozen body parts in a fridge they were keeping in their garage. There were arms, legs, feet, teeth, and pieces of spine. The discovery happened when Ken’s wife went to borrow meat from the fridge and she noticed there was a padlock. She used a screwdriver to break the lock, but once she saw bags, buckets, and was hit with a distinctive smell, she ran to get Ken .The man disclosed that the fridge was given to him by a friend who claimed his power had gone out and needed somewhere to store his fridge.

Ken told police that the fridge belonged to his friend, Anthony Gonzalez. However, it was quickly determined that the man was using an alias. He was actually Arturo Novoa.

Police hauled him in for questioning and searched the home where him and Katrina lived. They found a meat cleaver, blood on the walls, an owner’s manual to the deep freezer where Shannon’s remains were found, and a key that fit the specific padlock.

After the couple was arrested, police learned that Arturo attended a bonfire at a man named Steven’s house. He showed up to Steven’s with another friend, Andrew Hermann, saying that he needed to burn Shannon’s belongings because she cheated on him. Police were able to recover valuable evidence from the ashes, including a bracelet that had belonged to Shannon. When police questioned a woman Andrew was romantically involved in, she confirmed that Arturo and Katrina were the ones responsible for the murder and dismemberment of Shannon Graves.

It was determined that Shannon was hit in the head with a hammer because Katrina was jealous of Shannon’s relationship with Arturo. They worked together to dismember the body, as well as use sulphuric acid to try and dissolve it. In the midst of covering up their tracks, they ran out of the acid and had to result to putting the rest of the remains in a fridge. After Shannon was disposed of, Katrina began using Shannon’s credit card and cell phone, driving her car, and taking care of her dog.

Arturo Novoa pleaded guilty to to murder, corpse abuse and other charges. He was sentenced to 48 years to life. Katrina and Andrew both received 12 years in prison for helping dispose of Shannon’s remains.