The Misery Machine - The Case of Shannon Graves

Starting point is 00:00:00 Shannon Elizabeth Graves was born on November 4, 1988 to parents Christine Graves and Ronnie DePaul. She had an older sister named Debbie and a younger brother named Antonio. Her grandparents were Bob and Dolores Graves and Reinald and Ava DePaul. Shannon was a very pretty woman with long, shiny black hair and beautiful dark brown eyes. She was popular and had many friends, some who gave her the nickname Star. anyone who was lucky enough to have Shannon in their lives knew she was an empath with a sweet soul in a big heart who would do anything to help somebody in need. Friends described Shannon as a sweet yet sassy girl who love the color pink and just about

Starting point is 00:00:42 anything related to hair, makeup, and fashion. Shannon's dream was to become a cosmetologist, and she worked hard to achieve her cosmetology license at the Raphael School of Beauty Culture in 2015. Shannon lived in an apartment on Mahoning Avenue and Youngstown, Ohio with her boyfriend Arturo and her beloved Pitbull Molly. Arturo Navoa was born in 1986. Not much is known about him other than he had a history of drug trafficking and that he began a romantic relationship with Shannon in April of 2016. By September of that same year, Arturo had moved in with Shannon at her Mahoning Avenue apartment. These reports described their relationship as tumultuous and say Arturo had a history

Starting point is 00:01:24 of physical violence towards Shannon. Shannon ended the relationship. relationship in December of 2016, telling friends she wasn't putting up with his violent behavior anymore. Rattour was not happy about the breakup because he needed both a place to stay, as well as Shannon's car to sell drugs. He moved out of the Mahoning Avenue apartment and went to live with another woman named Katrina Layton. Trina, who was born in 1983, was Arturo's secret lover. She had intense romantic feelings for him and was bitterly jealous of his relationship with Shannon. Katrina lived in a small house in Youngstown with two young children from a previous relationship. Arturo lived with Katrina for one week before moving back in with Shannon, who had agreed to give

Starting point is 00:02:05 their relationship another go. But unfortunately, nothing about the relationship had improved, and Arturo's behavior was only becoming more violent and unpredictable. Christmas of 2016 was the last day any of Shannon's family would see her alive. Six months later, on June 22nd, her. sister Debbie filed a missing persons report with the Youngstown Police Department. The whole family had become worried as Shannon hadn't shown up for neither Easter nor Debbie's birthday party. The search for Shannon Graves attracted a lot of media attention. 21 news spoke with Debbie,

Starting point is 00:02:40 who explained that friends last saw Shannon with her boyfriend in mid-February and she had left her car, dog, and cell phone behind at her apartment. It may seem strange that family waited so long to report Shannon missing, however, it was not. uncommon for Shannon to go months without contacting family members. Shannon's best friend Katie Marrar also told the media that it wasn't uncommon for Shannon to just kind of like, poof and disappear. That was totally Shannon.

Starting point is 00:03:08 Shannon's father, Ronnie, called her boyfriend Arturo to find out where she was. Arturo simply said Shannon had broken up with him and moved to Cleveland to be with another man. Shannon's family just couldn't believe this story because they felt she would never leave her dog behind. Things became even stranger when Shannon's brother, Antonio, rang her cell phone and a stranger picked up and said, Who is this?

Starting point is 00:03:33 When Antonio replied, Your brother, the person on the other end simply responded, I don't have a brother. At this point in the story, Shannon had been added to the Ohio Attorney General's missing person's website, which only publishes adult missing person cases if police and the family suspect the individual. in serious danger. Shannon was described as a white female standing at five feet tall,

Starting point is 00:03:57 weighing 105 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. They urged the public to contact police if they had any information as to her whereabouts. Although it wasn't mentioned on her missing person's flyer, Shannon had a distinct tattoo of a scorpion on her foot. This will become important later in the story. A missing person's investigation was launched by police with Detective Mike Lambert leading the search. Police first checked jails in prisons, thinking that Shannon may have been arrested and not told anyone. She wasn't there. Next, they tracked down Shannon's old boyfriend, John, who had a history of drug dealing and had been released from prison shortly before Shannon went missing. John said he hadn't seen Shannon since February,

Starting point is 00:04:36 as she had told him she was giving her relationship with Arturo another go. John's statement completely contradicted Arturo's story of Shannon moving away to Cleveland, so the police grew suspicious of him. Shannon's cell phone records were obtained by police. They revealed that near the end of February, she was driving to work, but the trail went cold because her phone had been switched off and then the number was assigned to somebody else. At the same time, her credit card activity had also stopped. Suspecting that Shannon could have been the victim of foul plague, police searched the over 5,000 acres of the Mill Creek Metro Parks in Youngstown for any sign of her, but Shannon was nowhere to be found.

Starting point is 00:05:17 detectives were at a dead end and Shannon's family were terrified that her drug-dealing boyfriend Arturo had drugged her and sold her to traffickers. However, the reality of what had become of Shannon Graves was far worse. On July 30th, 2017, just one month later, a man named Kenneth Eschenbach called 911. He told dispatchers that he and his wife Jill had discovered the dismembered body of a woman in a freezer at their home in Campbell, Ohio. This is located about 10 minutes southeast of Youngstown. That woman was Shannon Graves.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Her severed limbs were wrapped in garbage bags. Her head and torso were missing and nowhere in sight. The lead prosecutor who would go on to oversee the case gave this chilling description of the crime scene. He said, and I quote, You have arms and legs in a freezer, and then you have the victim's teeth and parts of a spine. I don't know if words,

Starting point is 00:06:16 can describe it. It's a horrific case. The couple who discovered the body said they did not own the freezer and that it belonged to a friend who, a week prior, said his power had gone out and he needed a place to store his meat. Jill Ashenbaugh told police that she had gone downstairs to look in the freezer for some ground beef, but found that it was locked with a padlock. She fiddled with the lock using a screwdriver and she managed to unlock it. She opened the fire. She opened the freezer, she was hit with a horrible smell and found multiple garbage bags in an empty black bucket inside. Concerned about what she may have stumbled across, Jill called her husband down to investigate. Kenneth opened one of the bags and discovered a human foot with a scorpion tattoo on it.

Starting point is 00:07:04 This is the same exact tattoo that Shannon had. When police arrived at the couple's home, they were able to identify Shannon via the tattoo on her foot. The Eschen boss were ruled out of as suspects because their stories were consistent when interviewed separately. Police turned their attention to Anthony Gonzalez, the friend who had brought the freezer over to the couple's home. After investigating, they discovered that Anthony's name was actually an alias for Arturo Navoa. Further digging revealed that Arturo had a new woman in his life, but she really wasn't new. It was that pick-me-girl Katrina Leighton. Apparently, Katrina didn't bother wasting any time. She moved into Shannon's Mahoney.

Starting point is 00:07:46 Avenue apartment just two weeks after she disappeared without a trace. The couple were taken in for questioning, and police headed to Shannon's apartment, ready to search it top to bottom. However, they didn't need to spend very long searching the property because it was obvious that the couple had done something unspeakable to Shannon. Blood was spattered all over the bathroom walls, and a meat cleaver was found next to an owner's manual for the same deep freezer Shannon's remains were hidden in. The key to the freezer's path, and the key to the freezer's padlock was also discovered among Arturo's belongings, connecting him directly to the freezer. Arturo Navoa and Katrina Layton were arrested and interrogated separately. They both

Starting point is 00:08:28 denied killing Shannon, claiming they had no idea where she was. The pair waited in jail for lawyers to be appointed to them and were due in court once the remains in the freezer could be officially identified as Shannon Graves. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner analyzed the fingerprints of the remains and successfully matched them with Shannon. A judge then ordered Arturo and Katrina to be held in jail on a $1 million bond. However, Katrina was later released in February of 2018 without paying any bond. She ended up back in jail just one month later when a judge found out she had violated the conditions of her release by making 37 phone calls to Arturo.

Starting point is 00:09:07 Prosecutor Dan Casares of the Ohio Attorney General's office revealed that Katrina had, and I quote, used her disabled son to relay messages to Navoa through prison calls, including but not limited to a marriage proposal, a marriage proposal acceptance, case discussion, witness discussion, and other matters. Shannon's former boyfriend John played a major role in helping police build their case against Arturo Navoa and Katrina Layton. He told detectives how he had heard from Shannon's friend Steve that Arturo, Katrina, and a man named Andrew Herman had.

Starting point is 00:09:42 all attended a bonfire and burned what appeared to be Shannon's personal belongings. Police went to this location of the bonfire and recovered ashes and a bracelet belonging to Shannon from the fire pit. At the bonfire, witnesses claimed Arturo told them he was burning his ex's clothes because he was upset that she had cheated on him. Police got in contact with a woman named Jamie who had previously dated Andrew Herman. She shared that Arturo and his girlfriend Katrina had both killed Shannon and Andrew had dismembered her body. She also said she knew Katrina was jealous of Shannon's relationship with Arturo. Shockingly, detectives also discovered that Andrew's current wife,

Starting point is 00:10:24 Michelle Illenfeld, knew about the homicide and that her husband helped dismember Shannon's body. At this point, it was apparent to police that the entire group of friends had conspired together to cover up the murder of Shannon Graves. The whole truth was eventually revealed in front of the grand jury of Mahoning County Court in a series of lengthy trial proceedings. On February 24, 2017, Arturo Navoa bludgeoned his girlfriend Shannon Graves to death with a hammer in the bathroom of her apartment. He hit her in the head so hard, she died instantly, and a large crater was left in her skull.

Starting point is 00:11:05 Katrina Layton was present at the time of the murder. While she did not physically partake in the killing, Shannon's family believed she talked Arturo into murdering her and had been looking to hire someone to do the job in the weeks prior. Katrina did, however, help abuse Shannon's body and try to cover up the crime. Arturo first shaved Shannon's head and wrapped her body in a trash bag. Katrina then placed her body in the trunk of her own car, eating Shannon's, and drove to her house. The pair then asked a friend of Arturo's named Andrew Herman, for help in destroying the evidence.

Starting point is 00:11:43 Arturo wanted to dismember Shannon's body, so Andrew brought over his own machete, and the two men began dismembering her in the back corner of Katrina's garage. Split garbage bags were taped to the floor so blood wouldn't be left behind his evidence. Shannon's head, arms, and legs were separated from her torso,

Starting point is 00:12:03 and the hacked off body parts were dumped in storage totes. Michelle, who is Andrew's wife, was fully, aware of her husband's actions. She didn't even say a word to police. She even helped Arturo and Katrina find a place to hide Shannon's remains. She also threatened an unnamed witness into keeping quiet about everything. On March 1st, Arturo, Katrina, and Andrew asked their friend Steve if they could host a bonfire

Starting point is 00:12:31 at his home on Sherwood Avenue. Witnesses saw the group burning Shannon's clothing, hair, bracelets, and personal documents. They also burned the clothing they wore when they dismembered the body. As they threw Shannon's belongings into the flames, Arturo joked to witnesses that he was burning a life sentence. Even though the bonfire was so large that the fire department came to investigate, Shannon's bracelet could not be destroyed. It was later recovered from the center of the pit by police. The bracelet, which had Shannon's name on it, was a major piece of evidence linking the trio to the crime.

Starting point is 00:13:09 Now, after the bonfire, Katrina used her credit card to order 12 gallons of sulfuric acid from a Walmart in Boardman, Ohio. She and Arturo went to pick up the order on March 11, 2017, but an employee initially refused the collection as they had bought the acid using the anonymous name, Chicken Man. Eventually, Katrina showed her ID card and they took the acid back to Shannon's apartment. Storage boxes containing Shannon's severed remains were transported. from Katrina's garage back to the Mahoning Avenue apartment sometime in early March 2017. Once there, Katrina and Artura attempted to dissolve her remains in sulfuric acid, but there was only enough acid to break down her head in most of her torso. All that remained of Shannon were her severed limbs, a segment of her spine, some teeth, and a small part of her skull.

Starting point is 00:14:04 Shannon's mutilated body was stuffed into garbage bags and dumped in her own freezer. The courtroom then learned about Katrina Layton's bizarre behavior after the murder. She and her children moved into the Mahoning Avenue apartment with Arturo two weeks after Shannon was murdered. Despite having her own vehicle and money, she chose to drive Shannon's car and use her WIC card to purchase groceries. Prosecutor Dana Lance described in a telephone interview with the New York Post how Katrina had and I quote, basically moved in with Mr. Navoa and started living her life. She didn't hold herself out to be Shannon.

Starting point is 00:14:42 She just lived her life using her phone caring for her dog. However, Debbie has said Arturo and Katrina did not care for Shannon's dog at all, saying, The demonic duo didn't take care of Shannon's pup. They just left her in her crate. It took me months of trial and error to get her healed. I was told she had nutritional and environmental allergies. This sweet girl has been through her own hell. Those four are lucky Molly can't talk.

Starting point is 00:15:09 It should be noted that Arturo became very paranoid of police after the murder. On April 29th, 2017, officers pulled him over for a traffic offense and he fled the scene. He was tasered, arrested, and released on bond. Arturo's paranoia only became more intense after he learned Debbie had filed a missing person's report for Shannon. Knowing that the police were now looking for Shannon, that they would want to search her Mahoning Avenue apartment, Arturo and Katrina came up with a plan to try to cover their backs. In early July, Katrina rented out a bottom floor apartment in a house on Ravenwood Avenue in Youngstown. Arturo purchased a second freezer at a Walmart on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown,

Starting point is 00:15:51 and Katrina supplied an extension cord for it. Arturo then removed the trash bags containing Shannon's remains from the freezer, placed them in the trunk of her car, drove to the Ravenwood apartment, and dumped them in the new freezer. The landlord of the house became very suspicious of their tenant and asked Katrina why she had never moved into the apartment, and why the only property she had there was a freezer, the warranty booklet for it, and a black suitcase. Thinking the landlord was on to him, Arturo contacted his friend Kenneth Eschenbaugh and told him that his electricity has gone out and he needed a place to store his freezer of meat. Ken agreed, the freezer containing Shannon's dismembered body was moved into his home on Devit Avenue in Campbell, Ohio.

Starting point is 00:16:33 at approximately 3 a.m. As we mentioned previously, Shannon's remains would ultimately be discovered by Kenneth and his wife Jill within the following week. Between January and August of 2018, the Mahoning County Grand Jury indicted Arturo Navoa and his co-defendants, Katrina Leighton, Andrew Herman, and Michelle Illenfeld. Arturo was found guilty of murder and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Additionally, both he and Katrina Leighton were convicted of tampering with with evidence, obstruction of justice, abuse of a corpse, possession of criminal tools, theft of WIC benefits, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Andrew Herman was found guilty of tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, obstructing justice,

Starting point is 00:17:19 and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. His wife, Michelle Illenfeld, was indicted on charges of intimidation, obstructing justice, abuse of a corpse, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Arturo Navoa's sentencing hearing took place on June 24th, 2019. He had pled guilty to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 15 years for murdering Shannon Graves. Each time he tampered with evidence, 36 months were added to his sentence. Additionally, 11 months were added for each instance of abusing a corpse, possession of a criminal tool, and committing WIC benefit fraud. Arturo received an additional 10 years, years for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, 17 months for grand theft of a motor vehicle,

Starting point is 00:18:07 and finally, 11 months for previous drug trafficking crimes unrelated to the Shannon Graves case. Arturo Navo's total sentence was 48 years in prison. He is eligible for parole after he has served his sentence and could one day be released back into society. Right before the sentencing, Judge DeNafrio said to Arturo, you're planning, scheming, and actions in this case have shocked the conscience of the community. Your actions were inhumane, cruel, sadistic, and barbaric. Ratera replied saying, I'm not a monster and I'm not a bad person. He also expressed hope that Shannon's family and friends would forgive him. 20 of them were in the courtroom watching the trial, all wearing pink shirts with her face on them. Some were physically

Starting point is 00:18:54 shaking as the prosecution read out the most unsettling aspects of the case. Ritrual later appealed his life sentence, and that he received a letter from Katrina where she confessed that she was the one who killed Shannon. Shannon's friends and family were disgusted that the court were even considering an appeal. Speaking with 21 News, Debbie DePaul said, there's not a day that goes by that she's not thought of. He hit her with a hammer that went straight through her skull to her brain and killed her instantly. Yet this man, after doing that, putting her in her own vehicle and driving her around town having a friend cut her up into pieces. He feels that a life sentence is too long. Arturo's appeal was denied by the court. A sentence of 48 years still stands.

Starting point is 00:19:39 On January 29, 2018, his partner in crime, Katrina Leighton, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for her role in the homicide. In January of 2020, Michelle Illenfeld smiled as she entered the courtroom and was handed a sentence of two years in prison six months and a halfway, House in five years of community supervision. Andrew Herman was the last to be convicted. On March 11, 2020, a judge gave him 12 years in prison. Ohio Attorney General David Yost described the sentencing as the final chapter of one of the most brutal cases in memory.

Starting point is 00:20:16 Michelle Illenfeld was released from prison in 2021, one year earlier than her sentence. Her release has only worse than the pain Shannon's friends and family feel. Michelle and her mother, Jacqueline Kranick, have been active on Facebook, boasting about how Michelle is innocent and accusing other users of having information about the murder and not going to the police. This led to a series of heated arguments between Debbie and Michelle, which read, Jacqueline Kranick, please stop making comments on this page. You comment nonsense and untrue remarks and then run and hide. You and your daughter, Michelle Illenfeld, should be grateful I didn't put her behind bars with the others,

Starting point is 00:20:56 but instead you both agitate Shannon's family and friends with pathetic ignorance. No one cares about you. No one cares what you think. No one cares what you have to say. To which Michelle replied, I feel God awful for her pain. I really do. No one deserves what happened to her sister.

Starting point is 00:21:13 No one. Lashing out at me isn't going to change anything. I was afraid of my ex-husband. I didn't want to end up dead. Or my kid end up dead. I did my time. Just leave me alone. You don't know me or the kind of.

Starting point is 00:21:26 kind of person I am at all. I really do feel extremely bad for you and your family, and I do have empathy for you and your family, and I do have guilt. I'm just the type of person who keeps moving forward. I have to keep moving forward. I can't cheat on my future with my past. I did not have anything to do with my husband's crime, and you embellishing the details of how my name got brought into it will not be tolerated. I suggest getting a life. I have changed as a person. I have grown and I'm completely sober. You don't know me from a can of paint. You never did. The slander, the harassment, the stalking, all end now. I have the right to live my life. I served my time. I'm free. I was cleared on all those horrific charges. That so many of you were so quick to believe. I sold drugs. That is all I did.

Starting point is 00:22:12 You were all so quick to believe that I could have part in something so God awful. But would any of you think that about me? What did I ever do to any of you? I planned to lay low. I divorce that monster ex-husband of mine for what he had a part in. My life starts now. Some of you really need to take a look in the mirror, though. You were all so quick to assume that I could do something so terrible and had no reason at all to believe that. I served my time for my crimes. I'm living my life, whether you like it or not." Debbie fired back saying, she tells people she wasn't involved. Elle knew the day Andrew dismembered Shannon because she was looking for him, calling, texting, and when they finally connected, he told her what was going on. She yelled for him to stop because he'd go to prison. Did she

Starting point is 00:22:57 contact the police afterward? No. Instead, she chose to help. So she knew, but never told. She lied, manipulated, and connived her way through. She's trying to make people believe she's free and nothing can happen to her now. She's clearly mistaken and clearly still not showing an ounce of remorse. Hell was waiting for her kind of evil. Judge Donofrio told her that a wrong move would find her in a prison cell. She's far from free. The Shannon Graves case received significant publicity and Michelle has drastically tried to distance herself from it so she can try to live a normal life. In her LinkedIn profile, her prison time is disguised as a forced leave of absence and her activities shows she liked a post about respecting women, which is ironic considering that she turned a blind

Starting point is 00:23:45 eye to her husband mutilating the body of a murdered woman. Several documentaries and docu-series have been made about Shannon Graves' case, most notably oxygen's buried in the backyard and season two episode five of sex and murder. After Shannon's passing, her family asked mourners to donate to friends of Fido in her memory. Shannon loved dogs, so the charity was a perfect choice. After the death of her sister, Debbie DePaul became a an advocate for victims of DV and runs a Facebook page called Justice for Shannon. Shannon Graves' funeral took place on Sunday, August 27, 2017 at Chavione Funeral Home located at 1842 Belmont Avenue

Starting point is 00:24:30 at Youngstown, Ohio. Shannon's favorite color was pink, so naturally her remains were transported in a pink limousine. She was cremated and her ashes were buried under a shared family headstone in St. John Cemetery in Campbell, Ohio with her Aunt Christine. grandfather Bob and grandmother Dolores. Debbie and Shannon's dog Molly are regular visitors to the grave. Molly likes to lie directly above the area where Shannon's ashes were buried on a bright pink heart that Debbie paints in the dirt whenever she can. Shannon Elizabeth Graves will live on forever in the hearts of the family and friends

Starting point is 00:25:07 who so clearly loved her, as well as in the heart of her faithful companion, Molly.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Shannon Graves

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