Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Associated Press
EAST CLEVELAND
The last two of three female victims whose bodies were found wrapped in trash bags last week in Northeast Ohio have been identified, family and authorities said Tuesday.
One of the victims was 18-year-old Shirellda Helen Terry, the teen’s grandmother told The Associated Press. Officials identified the other as Shetisha Sheeley, 28, of Cleveland.
Both of their bodies were found last week along with that of another woman in a dilapidated East Cleveland neighborhood.
Rosetta Terry said authorities notified the family Tuesday that her granddaughter was one of the victims.
She said Shirellda was last seen July 10, leaving a Cleveland elementary school where she had a summer job.
Rosetta Terry described her granddaughter as a caring person who would frequently attend Bible study groups and called and texted her mother.
“She was a good girl; she was a hugger,” said Rosetta Terry. “We used to tease her that we were gonna put her on a hug diet.”
The county medical examiner’s office did not confirm Shirellda Terry’s identity, saying the family had asked for time to inform relatives.
Earlier Tuesday, East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton identified Sheeley as among the victims.
The identification was made through fingerprints and information from the tattoos, which “permitted the comparison” that led to her identification, said Thomas Gilson, Cuyahoga County’s medical examiner.
Gilson said his office hoped to release information on how the women died within a few days.
Sheeley’s mother, Kim Sheeley, asked for prayers and told WEWS-TV that her daughter’s death “has been really, really” hard on her.
Shetisha Sheeley was arrested June 30, 2012, on a charge of firing a weapon from a vehicle but the case was dismissed three months later. Her court-appointed attorney, Michael Nelson, said there were no witnesses who saw her firing the weapon.
Nelson told The Associated Press that Sheeley came from a troubled family background and never got help posting her $1,000 bond, keeping her locked up while the case moved through the courts.
Police on Monday identified the first known victim as Angela Deskins, 38, of Cleveland, whose body was found Saturday.
Michael Madison, 35, is in custody facing preliminary charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping in the slayings. He is a registered sex offender who served four years in prison beginning in 2002 for attempted rape and attempted possession of drugs.
Madison was moved from the East Cleveland jail Tuesday to the Cuyahoga County Jail.