The murdered physique of a lacking California lady was discovered hidden behind a “secret wall” in a hoarder-style residence that cops had searched simply days earlier.
Renia Lewis, who was final seen on Friday, was found behind a “hid entry into the attic” of a Vallejo residence on Tuesday, in keeping with the Vallejo Police Division.
Investigators first went to the home on Sunday as a result of there “had been indications” she had been there earlier than she vanished, the division stated.
However “a cursory search of all rooms, closets, and locations an individual might cover … discovered no indicators of the lacking lady.”
Detectives bought a search warrant to return on Tuesday, the place they discovered Lewis useless within the attic.
“You’d miss it as a result of my child lady was hidden behind a wall,” a cousin, Latoya Lewis, advised KTVU of the property the household stated appeared like a hoarder’s residence. “A secret wall they positioned her behind.”
Douglas Irwin Shaw, 41, was arrested at his work later that day, cops stated, with out elaborating on how he was tied to the crime or how Lewis was killed.
Shaw “offered an announcement to detectives the place he admitted being chargeable for this heinous crime,” the division stated.
Lewis’ mom, Teri Lewis, collapsed when advised her daughter’s physique had been discovered.
“On our method [there] I used to be praying,” she stated. “I simply prayed, ‘God please don’t let or not it’s her, please don’t let or not it’s.’ And he didn’t reply my prayer.”
The mother and different family members had additionally been looking the realm on their very own, discovering her telephone on the roof of a close-by faculty.
“All of us got here to seek for her, not figuring out she was right here within the wall — gone,” her mom stated.
Shaw was charged with homicide on Tuesday and booked on the Solano County Jail, cops stated.
The connection between Lewis, of Berkeley, and Shaw was not instantly clear.
“He wants to sit down there and undergo for my daughter as a result of she didn’t deserve this,” Lewis’ mom stated about her daughter’s killer.
