hayaletcatcher
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Whoa. Such a strange case.
GUILTY TX - Ronald Shumway, 57, found buried at his Dallas home, 23 April 2015
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roadrunnermt
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You can change privacy settings for each and every post made on Facebook. Say last post was to public/open on April 24 but impersonator could have made a post on April 26 but selected friends only that we wouldn't be able to see.
AliceInPain
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No news = (*
cvaldez1975
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I've learned some new information after talking to a friend who is a reporter, who is assisting law enforcement:
1. The real estate investor who was present at the sale of Ron's house, whose initials are "CS," and the notary public who took Ron's forged signature on the deed transfer, initials "PB," are in a lot of trouble right now. It turns out none of them checked ID or otherwise verified that the man selling the house really was Ron Shumway. This is, of course, illegal. The notary's title company is now liable and lawsuits for damages by the initial buyer of the house are quite likely. I'm told that "CS" is in trouble also for not checking any ID.
2. Because they are all in trouble for this big fraudulent sale, none of them are talking to the media and won't say whether Christian Colbert, or any other person of interest was the man who represented himself as Ron Shumway to them.
3. My reporter friend had access to Ron's Facebook posts which are not viewable by us non-friends of Ron's. As such, he was able to assist law enforcement in identifying the "cowboy" that Ron spoke of, and that he was allegedly going to see in Austin. That person has the initials "RM" and was referred to by Ron in public Facebook messages as his "new governor" -- a term that is baffling to law enforcement and my reporter friend.
4. This person, "RM," is no longer a Facebook friend of Ron's, and it is unclear when their friendship ended on Facebook.
5. It does look like the Facebook messages from Ron claiming to be running off the Austin to be with his "cowboy" did in fact originate from somewhere in Austin. My reporter friend says law enforcement has subpoenaed the records and is attempting to determine the origin point and IP address of those posts. (I'm actually unclear about why they believe the Facebook posts DID come from somewhere in Austin if the IP trace on the posts hasn't been completed yet.)
6. Ron was last seen by his neighbors on April 23, 2015, the day after his birthday. The following day, on April 24, 2015, someone claiming to be Ron Shumway resigned from Ron's job with DART via an email message to DART. Also around this time began the suspicious Facebook postings about Ron running off to Austin to be with his "new cowboy."
7. At some point after Ron disappeared on April 23, 2015 and the sale of Ron's house in June 2015, either Ron or another person entered Ron's home and removed Ron's personal belongings. It appears to police that either Ron moved his stuff out just as he said he did on Facebook (the message in May where he says he's "back in town" to pick up a few things), or someone deliberately staged the house to look as if Ron had moved out.
8. When the initial new owner, Sean Chien, entered the home in June after buying the home from a person claiming to be Ron Shumway, Sean Chien found the home full of trash and empty rum and beer bottles, and had to hire a crew of men to clean it out.
9. Police also noticed the Facebook post on Ron's birthday, April 22, 2015, in which Ron mentions a friend named "Terry" surprising him with a new flower bed. Police interviewed neighbors and investigated the house and determined there was nothing to this lead -- the flower bed was there and was legitimately created by a friend.
10. At this point, we don't know the identity of the remains found under the concrete slab in Ron's backyard. Police are still waiting on a DNA match, because traditional forensic methods didn't work to identify the remains.
1. The real estate investor who was present at the sale of Ron's house, whose initials are "CS," and the notary public who took Ron's forged signature on the deed transfer, initials "PB," are in a lot of trouble right now. It turns out none of them checked ID or otherwise verified that the man selling the house really was Ron Shumway. This is, of course, illegal. The notary's title company is now liable and lawsuits for damages by the initial buyer of the house are quite likely. I'm told that "CS" is in trouble also for not checking any ID.
2. Because they are all in trouble for this big fraudulent sale, none of them are talking to the media and won't say whether Christian Colbert, or any other person of interest was the man who represented himself as Ron Shumway to them.
3. My reporter friend had access to Ron's Facebook posts which are not viewable by us non-friends of Ron's. As such, he was able to assist law enforcement in identifying the "cowboy" that Ron spoke of, and that he was allegedly going to see in Austin. That person has the initials "RM" and was referred to by Ron in public Facebook messages as his "new governor" -- a term that is baffling to law enforcement and my reporter friend.
4. This person, "RM," is no longer a Facebook friend of Ron's, and it is unclear when their friendship ended on Facebook.
5. It does look like the Facebook messages from Ron claiming to be running off the Austin to be with his "cowboy" did in fact originate from somewhere in Austin. My reporter friend says law enforcement has subpoenaed the records and is attempting to determine the origin point and IP address of those posts. (I'm actually unclear about why they believe the Facebook posts DID come from somewhere in Austin if the IP trace on the posts hasn't been completed yet.)
6. Ron was last seen by his neighbors on April 23, 2015, the day after his birthday. The following day, on April 24, 2015, someone claiming to be Ron Shumway resigned from Ron's job with DART via an email message to DART. Also around this time began the suspicious Facebook postings about Ron running off to Austin to be with his "new cowboy."
7. At some point after Ron disappeared on April 23, 2015 and the sale of Ron's house in June 2015, either Ron or another person entered Ron's home and removed Ron's personal belongings. It appears to police that either Ron moved his stuff out just as he said he did on Facebook (the message in May where he says he's "back in town" to pick up a few things), or someone deliberately staged the house to look as if Ron had moved out.
8. When the initial new owner, Sean Chien, entered the home in June after buying the home from a person claiming to be Ron Shumway, Sean Chien found the home full of trash and empty rum and beer bottles, and had to hire a crew of men to clean it out.
9. Police also noticed the Facebook post on Ron's birthday, April 22, 2015, in which Ron mentions a friend named "Terry" surprising him with a new flower bed. Police interviewed neighbors and investigated the house and determined there was nothing to this lead -- the flower bed was there and was legitimately created by a friend.
10. At this point, we don't know the identity of the remains found under the concrete slab in Ron's backyard. Police are still waiting on a DNA match, because traditional forensic methods didn't work to identify the remains.
CosmicLatte
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Updates?
cvaldez1975
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I cant believe this is taking so long
There is a new article about this case in D Magazine. It came out on December 30, 2015 and was written by someone who actually knew Ronald.
Some interesting parts of the article ...
1. Ronald's friend Antonio Evans claims to have spoken to Ronald -- although it's unclear from the article whether this was on the phone, via text message, or via Facebook -- on June 13, 2015, only 9 days before Ronald's house was sold in Dallas by an impostor. This seems to be the last communication from Ronald or someone claiming to be Ronald.
2. Rich Andrews, a man from Pennsylvania, told the D Magazine reporter that Ronald had confessed to him once while drunk that he had killed his ex-boyfriend.
The article is here: http://www.dmagazine.com/publicatio...nuary/oak-cliff-corpse-mystery-ronnie-shumway
Some interesting parts of the article ...
1. Ronald's friend Antonio Evans claims to have spoken to Ronald -- although it's unclear from the article whether this was on the phone, via text message, or via Facebook -- on June 13, 2015, only 9 days before Ronald's house was sold in Dallas by an impostor. This seems to be the last communication from Ronald or someone claiming to be Ronald.
2. Rich Andrews, a man from Pennsylvania, told the D Magazine reporter that Ronald had confessed to him once while drunk that he had killed his ex-boyfriend.
The article is here: http://www.dmagazine.com/publicatio...nuary/oak-cliff-corpse-mystery-ronnie-shumway
catlike
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Well, the article gives more insight into the tomb. It wasn't a concrete block, after all. It was a hand-built block of bricks covered with concrete, which would have been less conspicuous to build, I imagine.
Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for posting this!
AliceInPain
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Thank you so much for posting that article cbpearson.
I have searched for updates almost daily, but never thought of searching for "Ronnie" Shumway.
Now I am back to thinking, this might and might not be Ronald. (Lately I've been thinking it was definitely him.)
Him looking ill goes with an FB post I found about their uncle Ron Shumway contacting them to let them know he had some type of cancer.
I do NOT know if this is the same Shumway we are discussing here.
Even if the remains turn out to be him, ...did he really kill an ex-boyfriend, as suggested in the article... ? Where? Who? When?
I have searched for updates almost daily, but never thought of searching for "Ronnie" Shumway.
Now I am back to thinking, this might and might not be Ronald. (Lately I've been thinking it was definitely him.)
Him looking ill goes with an FB post I found about their uncle Ron Shumway contacting them to let them know he had some type of cancer.
I do NOT know if this is the same Shumway we are discussing here.
Even if the remains turn out to be him, ...did he really kill an ex-boyfriend, as suggested in the article... ? Where? Who? When?
I would like to know for sure who spoke to who, and how, because it could be a real game changer.
If Antonio Evans spoke to Ronald directly and unmistakably, then that pushes the confirmed last known contact with Ronald to June 13th, 9 days before his house was sold. If not (as it seems to look) and this was an indirect communication with someone ALLEGING to be Ronald, then it's one more case of someone impersonating Ronald.
The really interesting statement in the D Magazine article, to me anyway, is the one by Rich Andrews. The claim he made that Ronald confessed "in a drunken stupor" to killing his ex-boyfriend suggests it was an IN PERSON confession -- so this leads one to wonder ... how reliable is this Rich Andrews overall? How reliable is this individual claim? Does Ronald shoot off his mouth and make such claims a lot?
I'm still inclined to believe the body in the concrete was Ronald and that someone killed him, impersonated him online and at the house sale, and stole his house. I keep coming back to the fact that whoever sold Ronald's house wasn't Ronald. If Ronald was going to flee, then why bring someone into the loop to impersonate him in the sale of his house? It would have been much easier to sell the house and flee, hoping no one ever bothers to dig around in the backyard.
And actually that brings up another issue, why would Ronald bury the body in the backyard of a place he had lived, knowing if it ever gets found he would be the prime suspect? It would make far more sense not only for Ronald to dispose of the body someplace far from home, but for Ronald to sell the house himself because then there would never be any confusion or criminal investigation about the house sale.
Also, the only person who ever lived at the house on Winnetka who is unaccounted for is Ronald himself. The D Magazine article's writer spoke to the former roommate Wheeler, and Mrs. Snodgrass says Christian Colbert is still around, and so far only Ronald is missing. So if the body is not Ronald, then whose is it? No one else is missing who was known to be at that house.
Last question ... what the hell is taking them so damn long to get the DNA back? Don't they understand that a KILLER may be in the wind?!?
If Antonio Evans spoke to Ronald directly and unmistakably, then that pushes the confirmed last known contact with Ronald to June 13th, 9 days before his house was sold. If not (as it seems to look) and this was an indirect communication with someone ALLEGING to be Ronald, then it's one more case of someone impersonating Ronald.
The really interesting statement in the D Magazine article, to me anyway, is the one by Rich Andrews. The claim he made that Ronald confessed "in a drunken stupor" to killing his ex-boyfriend suggests it was an IN PERSON confession -- so this leads one to wonder ... how reliable is this Rich Andrews overall? How reliable is this individual claim? Does Ronald shoot off his mouth and make such claims a lot?
I'm still inclined to believe the body in the concrete was Ronald and that someone killed him, impersonated him online and at the house sale, and stole his house. I keep coming back to the fact that whoever sold Ronald's house wasn't Ronald. If Ronald was going to flee, then why bring someone into the loop to impersonate him in the sale of his house? It would have been much easier to sell the house and flee, hoping no one ever bothers to dig around in the backyard.
And actually that brings up another issue, why would Ronald bury the body in the backyard of a place he had lived, knowing if it ever gets found he would be the prime suspect? It would make far more sense not only for Ronald to dispose of the body someplace far from home, but for Ronald to sell the house himself because then there would never be any confusion or criminal investigation about the house sale.
Also, the only person who ever lived at the house on Winnetka who is unaccounted for is Ronald himself. The D Magazine article's writer spoke to the former roommate Wheeler, and Mrs. Snodgrass says Christian Colbert is still around, and so far only Ronald is missing. So if the body is not Ronald, then whose is it? No one else is missing who was known to be at that house.
Last question ... what the hell is taking them so damn long to get the DNA back? Don't they understand that a KILLER may be in the wind?!?
AliceInPain
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(snipped)
I've been thinking whoever buries a body in a backyard does not have access to a vehicle, or, they expect to stay there for very long.
Yeah, you'd think with a killer on the loose they'd make this DNA-check a priority.
And is it a new trend among LE to not give the public any updates on the missing and unidentified?
As long as they're investigating I suppose that's fine, I've just noticed it a lot more in recent cases I've followed.
:thinking:
I've been thinking whoever buries a body in a backyard does not have access to a vehicle, or, they expect to stay there for very long.
Yeah, you'd think with a killer on the loose they'd make this DNA-check a priority.
And is it a new trend among LE to not give the public any updates on the missing and unidentified?
As long as they're investigating I suppose that's fine, I've just noticed it a lot more in recent cases I've followed.
:thinking:
roadrunnermt
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I'm in agreement with you on Rich Andrews. A man whom he had been romantically telephonic and on Facebook with and sounds like drunken stupper was in person. Hinky meter bells are going off. Wonder how D found him and connection for interview. I'm thinking the remains likely will be Ronald.
texmystery
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Either the perp posed as Ron Shumway at the real estate closing or just simply paid someone to pose as Ron to facilitate the transaction.
Someone who pulled it off had to have some money already to pay off the $56,000 existing property lien right before closing so when they funded the closing it did not have to be paid off. Reasons for doing that? More paper trail or eliminate another opportunity to be exposed as not the actual owner?
Would someone staying with Ron who didnt even have a car have the $56,000 to pay off that loan , if that is the scenario?
CC the haridresser supposedly had a couple "hair product ' inventions that didnt pan out. Was he looking for another get rich quick scheme and saw this opportunity and took it?
Or did he have a partner with money to do that and split the deal.
The Notary had a previous real estate deal where they were the notary of note in a potential fraudulant case with an older person and their cognitive awareness in question and subsequent lawsuit.
The real estate guy who does the " Buy your House for Cash Quick" is not a licensed real estate broker and he is a former World Series of Poker participant who was supposedly a pro poker player for years before getting into and learning this type of real estate deals the last couple of years. He might be just naive and got duped. Now more than ever with a dead body showing up they are probably more likely to be clamming up and not talking for fear of being implicated in a murder.
Someone knew that body would probably get discovered so they had to of planned on being long gone by that time .
Would not have been impossible to mostl likely pull of the closing in disguise or pay someone, a transient to go through the real estate closing posing as Ron Shumway. Whoever could afford the 50K could afford to do that also most likely.
Can't imagine this case not getting some type of Crime Show episode on this who dunnit !
Someone who pulled it off had to have some money already to pay off the $56,000 existing property lien right before closing so when they funded the closing it did not have to be paid off. Reasons for doing that? More paper trail or eliminate another opportunity to be exposed as not the actual owner?
Would someone staying with Ron who didnt even have a car have the $56,000 to pay off that loan , if that is the scenario?
CC the haridresser supposedly had a couple "hair product ' inventions that didnt pan out. Was he looking for another get rich quick scheme and saw this opportunity and took it?
Or did he have a partner with money to do that and split the deal.
The Notary had a previous real estate deal where they were the notary of note in a potential fraudulant case with an older person and their cognitive awareness in question and subsequent lawsuit.
The real estate guy who does the " Buy your House for Cash Quick" is not a licensed real estate broker and he is a former World Series of Poker participant who was supposedly a pro poker player for years before getting into and learning this type of real estate deals the last couple of years. He might be just naive and got duped. Now more than ever with a dead body showing up they are probably more likely to be clamming up and not talking for fear of being implicated in a murder.
Someone knew that body would probably get discovered so they had to of planned on being long gone by that time .
Would not have been impossible to mostl likely pull of the closing in disguise or pay someone, a transient to go through the real estate closing posing as Ron Shumway. Whoever could afford the 50K could afford to do that also most likely.
Can't imagine this case not getting some type of Crime Show episode on this who dunnit !
Dogface
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You don't have to pay off a lien before hand to sell a house. My hubby flips houses here and what happens is usually something like this: person a wants to sell a house that in current condition is worth $100,000 but has a 30k lien on it and owe 20k still and also needs about 20k in repairs. So hubby would go in and offer them $80,000. Then he would go to title company, give them 80k, the title company would pay the 30k lien and remaining 20k on note and then give the remaining 30k to the seller.
carbuff
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Since it seems like nobody saw any work done in the back yard, it seems like it might also possible that the deceased person was buried there before all these recent events. Maybe somebody RS previously killed (the ex-boyfriend?) or, depending on how long he owned the house, maybe even somebody buried by a previous owner.
It's frustrating waiting for results but probably every other case in the queue is just as important.
It's frustrating waiting for results but probably every other case in the queue is just as important.
texmystery
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Yes I know you don't have to pay off the lien of course it can be done at at closing by the title company, but somebody did go the trouble of paying off that $56,000 lien themselves before closing.
Why do you think they did that? For what reason would they have payed off that lien though they did not have to do so, its unsual that they did that and is duly noted !