Judge: Man’s ‘scheming’ in freezer case ‘barbaric’

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The man sentenced Friday for killing his girlfriend, dismembering her and stuffing her in a freezer said he is not a bad person.

Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court could not disagree more.

Judge Donofrio sentenced Arturo Novoa, 33, to 48 years to life on a 43-count indictment, including a charge of murder for the February 2017 death of Shannon Graves, 29, and for the coverup he undertook to hide her body, which included cutting parts of it up and dissolving other parts in acid.

“Your planning, scheming and actions in this case have shocked the conscience of the community,” Judge Donofrio said. “Your actions were inhumane, cruel, sadistic and barbaric.”

Earlier, when he spoke just before he was sentenced, Novoa said he is “not a monster” and he hoped Graves’ family and friends, of whom about 20 were in the courtroom, could forgive him.

“I’m not a bad person,” Novoa said.

Assistant Attorney General Dan Kasaris, who prosecuted the case for the county, laid out the conspiracy for the judge and for those in attendance, using pictures to show where the crimes took place. Kasaris said the plea kept the state from going to trial, which would have allowed Judge Donofrio to see the full weight of the evidence, so Kasaris said he decided to outline the conspiracy.

He began Friday by showing the bathroom in Graves’ Mahoning Avenue apartment where authorities believe Graves was killed with a heavy object. Next was a rendering of her by a graphic artist showing a crater in her head, which Kasaris said was the wound that killed her. He said the rendering was possible because of witness descriptions of what happened to Graves.

Graves and Novoa had a volatile relationship and he had abused her, Kasaris said. At the time of her death, Graves told friends she wanted out. which Novoa was not happy about because he used her car to deal drugs and also lived with her, Kasaris said.

Novoa and Katrina Layton, 35, ordered acid to dissolve parts of Graves’ body, Kasaris said. He said they also bought at least two freezers and moved her remains around several times before they were found June 29, 2017, by a friend of Novoa’s who agreed to store his freezer for him at a home in Campbell.

Layton, who earlier pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, and was released from jail, orchestrated the effort to hide Graves’ remains, Kasaris said. He said she allowed for her to be dismembered in the garage of her Shields Road home as well and supplied funds and materials for the coverup effort. Kasaris has asked that her plea be vacated because she did not tell the truth when she gave it. That motion has yet to be heard.

Two others, Andrew Herrmann and his wife, Michele Ihlenfeld, both 28, are also accused of helping to hide Graves. Their cases are pending.

Debbie DePaul, a sister of Graves, said she had a statement ready for Friday but she decided not to use it because there were so many things inside her head she wanted to say. She said the case took a toll on her father, and he died earlier this year. She asked for the maximum sentence.

“We don’t want him to ever be out,” she said. “We don’t want him to hurt anyone else. Death is too good for him.”

Antonio DePaul, the brother of Graves, said he could remember calling his sister’s phone when she was missing only to have someone answer: “I don’t have a sister.”

“It’s the worst thing I ever had to deal with in my life,” he said.

The lead investigator, Detective Sgt. Michael Lambert of the Youngstown Police Department, also read from a handwritten statement. It is unusual for an investigator to address the court. After court he said the case is still open.

Afterward, Debbie DePaul said her life has been hard since she filed a missing person report with police for her sister about a month before she was found. “It’s been a nightmare, a complete nightmare,” she said. “You don’t think you’re ever going to live it.”