Found Deceased TX - Sharla Shaffer, 48, went on bike ride, bike found, Stephenville, 29 July 2022

[JurassicParker]

Ok. So a body has been found and they think it's Sharla? I hope the autopsy gives answers. So strange that she was found so close. I'm very confused on what happened here.

 

[Kemug]

I wonder if "they" can tell how long SS has been deceased - it would be too upsetting if she was in fact alive for most of the time while people were searching.

 

[KD5NRH]

I wonder if "they" can tell how long SS has been deceased - it would be too upsetting if she was in fact alive for most of the time while people were searching.

I doubt they can tell anything very precise, but if there's a chance she was alive during the first "search," I have a feeling a few of us will become a real thorn in Coates's side.

The way I see it, the bike didn't come home on its own, and was discovered in a place she could easily have been, (and right in front of an RV that should have been thoroughly checked as well) so why aren't there multiple searchers who can positively state they were standing right there at some point during the search and it wasn't there?

I'm not buying that someone found it, knew it was her bike, but didn't know she was missing and innocently returned it without knocking on the door to say "hey, I found this laying by the road."

That leaves three possibilities:
1) she either never left on the bike or came back before the first search and left again on foot. They then didn't search an obvious spot where she could have been injured or passed out from heat exhaustion, or "searched" it without noticing the brightly colored bicycle that's extremely material to a missing cyclist report.
2) it really wasn't there Friday night, and she was alive to bring it back herself sometime after the first "search."
3) foul play and someone else brought it back.

I still have to wonder about the note, too. I write an "in case I don't make it back" note before most backpacking trips. There are things I'm not ready to discuss with my 11 and 13 year old daughters yet, but that I don't want left unsaid forever. Of course it would seem morbid: it's literally a letter to my family in case I die on a trail somewhere. I used to keep one at home when I was bike commuting, just in case I got flattened by some idiot texting. I wouldn't be surprised if Sharla had one for the same reason, nor would I be surprised if someone interpreted one as a suicide note. That would explain the secrecy though: either the envelope or the letter itself would specify that the family isn't to read it until death has been confirmed, so they might be withholding everything about it until final positive identification of the remains since they can't very well put it in a press release without the family seeing it.

 

[indicolite22]

LE stated that no foul play is being suspected in Sharla's death. That likely means no visible injuries on her body. The note she left behind was probably convincing.

IMO the easiest explanation is that she left on foot and died within hours. Where in the area would she be staying for days (and why), knowing that people would be looking for her?

 

[KD5NRH]

LE stated that no foul play is being suspected in Sharla's death. That likely means no visible injuries on her body. The note she left behind was probably convincing.

I used to work for a mental health facility: the number of clients we had who had made at least one attempt at suicide that would have been successful, but were found and saved before they actually died would indicate that if suicide was their expectation, it should have resulted in pulling out all the stops to find her as soon as possible at any cost. Even assuming she took whatever final action immediately, there could have been as much as 12 hours of unconsciousness before actual death.

Granted, my observation is literally survivorship bias, since we only got the ultimately unsuccessful ones, but most of the quiet methods aren't fast at all. She left at 5PM, and the sheriff's department was notified at 9PM. That leaves eight hours, possibly far more if she took some time to convince herself to end it.

 

[KD5NRH]

Obituary for Sharla Renee (Bramlett) Shaffer | Stephenville Funeral Home

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