Authorities in Ohio have closed a six-decade-old homicide case of Daisy Shelton, whose remains were found in a gravel pit and a canal channel in 1964. Miami County Prosecutor Anthony Kendall approved closing the case based on information from a key witness and statements from a suspect, both of whom are now deceased. Shelton’s dismembered body was discovered in various locations around Tipp City, just north of Dayton, Ohio, after a fisherman found a severed human arm in a gravel pit and another fisherman found a burlap bag containing a dismembered human torso in a canal channel.
Shelton, a 43-year-old woman from Dayton, Ohio, was killed in 1964 by being hit in the head with a hammer at a home in Dayton. Her body was then dismembered and discarded in bodies of water in and around Tipp City. The case remained cold until 2017 when a witness, fearing he was dying in a hospital, confessed to a nurse that he saw the murder take place. He later recovered and shared this information with detectives, leading to a renewed investigation into Shelton’s death. The suspect in the case initially denied knowing Shelton despite living on the same street and working for the same employer, but eventually admitted to knowing her. He claimed that the witness was setting him up and that he could be wrongly convicted.
The suspect, who was named in the case, acknowledged that a box from his house was used to carry the victim’s remains and admitted that it was possible she was killed at his home. However, he maintained that he was being framed by the witness. The witness testified before a grand jury but passed away before the case could be prosecuted. The suspect also died in September of 2022 at the age of ninety-two. The sheriff’s office closed the case based on the information provided by the witness and the suspect, bringing an end to the decades-old investigation into Shelton’s murder. Despite the deaths of the key figures involved, authorities have determined that there is enough evidence to close the case definitively.
