Beyond Cold (Shannon Graves)

Summary

Anatomy of Murder: Beyond Cold (Shannon Graves)

Podcast: Anatomy of Murder by Audiochuck
Episode Title: Beyond Cold (Shannon Graves)
Date: December 23, 2025
Hosts: Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi & Scott Weinberger
Guest: Detective Sergeant Michael Lambert

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode dissects the tragic case of Shannon Graves, a young woman from Youngstown, Ohio, whose disappearance in 2017 led to a disturbing murder investigation. Through exclusive interviews with Detective Michael Lambert—the lead investigator—and the hosts' legal and investigative insight, the episode reveals how a seemingly cold missing person’s file unraveled into a gruesome homicide, the complexities of solving such a crime, and the challenges in pursuing justice when motive and method are shrouded in secrecy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Shannon Graves: A Portrait of the Victim

• [04:04] Shannon described as a "free spirited 28 year old" who worked as an exotic dancer to pay bills while attending beauty school.
• [04:50] She was deeply connected to her family, particularly her sister Debbie, despite sometimes going long stretches without contact.

2. Disappearance and Initial Search

• [06:12] Family concern rose after Shannon missed her half-sister’s birthday and left her beloved dog behind—hyper-uncharacteristic for her.

• [07:03] A missing person’s report was filed months after her last sighting, which complicated the investigation.

  Michael Lambert [07:16]:
  “That was several months, you know, four months, almost five months before we were notified. But according to family, this was typical behavior for Shannon... when she came back, it was like nothing happened.”

3. Early Suspects and Dead Ends

• Both her current boyfriend (Arturo Novoa) and an ex-boyfriend (recently released from prison) were questioned.

• [09:27] The ex-boyfriend’s eagerness to help was suspicious but ultimately turned out to stem from genuine concern.

  Michael Lambert [09:27]:
  “It was one of those cases where you wonder if this guy's like, a little too willing to help you out, you know?”

4. Suspicion Surrounding Arturo Novoa

• [10:43] Detectives’ failed efforts to contact Arturo directly created suspicion. Eventually, a conversation was facilitated through his mother.

  Michael Lambert [10:57]:
  “He dismissed it as they fought ... she met somebody at this club she worked at and left. Just totally left them. But ... she’d come back for the dog, but he didn’t know when.”

• [11:52] Family surveillance revealed another woman (Katrina Layton) and her two children living in Shannon’s apartment.

5. Digital Forensics Paint a “Pattern of Life”

• [12:45-14:00] Detective Lambert used phone and public assistance card records to plot Shannon’s routines. An abrupt shift occurred after February 2017, suggesting someone else was using her accounts and phone.

  Michael Lambert [14:09]:
  “...the card is all of a sudden being used in places where it's never been used before, buying things that she didn't normally buy.”

• [15:05] The “stranger” answering Shannon’s phone was identified as Katrina Layton.

6. Strange Evidence and Bonfire Revelations

• [15:24] Katrina was using Shannon’s belongings and had been seen burning the victim’s possessions with Arturo at a bonfire.

  Michael Lambert [15:46]:
  “Basically...help him get rid of the last of her crap that she left there. ...into the fire went some clothing and an engraved bracelet with her name on it.”

7. Search and Subcultures

• [17:11] Search of the apartment uncovered books on witchcraft and evidence of an “Insane Clown Posse” (Juggalo) fandom, but no significant forensic breakthrough.

  Ashley Flowers [17:45]:
  “Not everyone’s cup of tea, for sure, but also not against the law...posters of insane clowns wielding machetes is not exactly a good look when police come knocking...”

8. The Freezer Discovery: The Turning Point

• [21:02–25:20] After police pressure, Arturo convinced friends (the Eshambaughs) to store his locked freezer, claiming his power was out—raising their suspicions. Upon opening the freezer, the couple discovered dismembered remains.

  Michael Lambert [25:20]:
  “He opens it up, only he pulls open the bag and he sees a foot.”

9. Jurisdiction, Identification, and Escalation

• [27:37] Shannon’s body was identified by her tattoo. The remains were incomplete, making cause of death difficult to determine.

  Michael Lambert [30:14]:
  “We have what we need for identification, but we don't have what we need for cause of death.”

10. Arrests and Initial Charges

• [31:03–32:59] Arturo Novoa was arrested for abuse of a corpse. Katrina Layton was linked by financial records as having purchased the freezer and joined him in being charged.
• [33:04] Both denied involvement; Layton’s interview:
  • Michael Lambert: “Did you kill her?”
  • Katrina Layton: “Hell, no.”
  • Michael Lambert: “Did you take her apart?”
  • Katrina Layton: “No.”

11. The "Chicken Man" and Chemical Disposal Plot

• [34:52–36:45] Walmart employee connected the dots and alerted police to suspicious purchases of sulfuric acid, intended for disposal of the body.

  Michael Lambert [34:58]:
  “...ordered a pickup at the store order for, like, 16 bottles of sulfuric acid drain opener...they had it shipped to Chicken Man...”

12. Pressure Tactics, Cooperation, and Plea Bargains

• [39:56–43:37] Prosecutors offered immunity to Layton for truthfully sharing what happened. She admitted only to the cover-up, not the murder, breaking her agreement by contacting Novoa from jail. Her immunity was rescinded.

  Michael Lambert [42:59]:
  “But in this case, we went down that road, and we actually got the deal tossed out. So Katrina lost her deal...”

13. Conspirators Flip; Novoa Confesses

• [45:11–46:32] Threat of broader conspiracy indictments prompted others to cooperate. Novoa, seeing his allies flipping, finally confessed in detail.

  Michael Lambert [46:32]:
  “Once he came to our side, it was like night and day. He gave us everything we could possibly need.”

14. The Gruesome Truth

• [47:20–50:03] Novoa’s account inserted blame on Layton for the murder (hammer blows during a personal confrontation), though messages suggested Novoa may have killed Shannon in a rage. Dismemberment and attempted acid dissolution were inspired by “Breaking Bad” but failed disastrously, resulting in weeks of freezer-shuffling before discovery.

  Michael Lambert [49:39]:
  “Herman comes over...dismembers the body...He goes, ‘Well, do you ever watch Breaking Bad? ...you’ll see what you do.’”

15. Legal Outcomes

• [52:43–53:12] Novoa pleaded guilty to murder and received life in prison (later reduced to 48 years to life due to sentencing errors). Layton and accomplice Herman were each sentenced to 12 years for their roles.

  Ashley Flowers [52:59]:
  “In 2022, Novoa was resentenced... while his conviction was upheld, his sentence was reduced to 48 years to life.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's much more difficult than you think to get away with murder...what catches killers isn't the moment, it's the mess they make hiding it.”
  — Scott Weinberger [02:43]

• “There can still obviously be major jealousies, control issues, and anger that just boils over like it clearly did here. No matter which way the truth actually played out, at no point did anybody need to get killed.”
  — Ashley Flowers [48:08, 48:36]

• “At the end of this whole trail, though, you're not 100% what happened. You're as close to the truth as you're ever going to get, because nobody's going to say, oh, this is absolutely what happened.”
  — Michael Lambert [52:33]

• “A young woman loved, reduced to evidence in a refrigerator...yet the motive that would make it emotionally understandable is often missing or unknowable. So we leave the why with the killer, and we keep Shannon's name with us.”
  — Scott Weinberger [53:12]

• “She was working to get through school and make a life for herself that she wanted to lead. So to Shannon, this AOM community wants you to know, wherever your spirit is today, that we remember you and say justice is important for all.”
  — Ashley Flowers [53:53]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 04:04 | Introduction to Shannon Graves’ life | | 06:12 | Family reports her missing; key clues | | 11:52 | Reveal: Katrina Layton has moved in | | 14:09 | “Pattern of life” in digital forensics | | 15:24 | Bonfire—burning evidence | | 17:11 | Search of apartment; subculture mentions | | 21:02 | Discovery and opening of the locked freezer | | 25:20 | Discovery of human remains (graphic) | | 30:14 | Coroner’s difficulty: no cause-of-death evidence | | 32:59 | Layton questioned; denials | | 34:52 | Walmart lead: sulfuric acid purchase | | 42:59 | Layton loses immunity deal | | 45:41 | Pressure yields new cooperators | | 46:32 | Novoa confesses | | 47:20 | Novoa’s story: blame-shifting, cover-up narrative | | 52:43 | Sentencing and case closure | | 53:12 | Reflections on “why” and remembering Shannon |

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Takeaway & Tone

The episode weaves detective narrative, victim tribute, and legal complexity into a compelling, earnest portrait of a crime that slipped beneath national headlines but left an indelible scar on a family and city. The hosts emphasize the importance of pursuing justice regardless of a victim’s lifestyle or circumstances, and close with a heartfelt reminder:

• “Justice is important for all.” [53:53]

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For listeners seeking a clear account of complex crimes and heartfelt advocacy for the forgotten, this episode offers both the minutiae of casework and the enduring impact of loss.

Transcript

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[Ashley Flowers]

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[Michael Lambert]

Were you there when she was killed? No.

[Ashley Flowers]

What?

[Michael Lambert]

Well, sure looks like you did. She's in your freezer.

[Scott Weinberger]

I didn't do anything to this girl. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy Sheriff.

[Ashley Flowers]

I'm Anna Sega Nicolasi, former New York City Homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction.

[Scott Weinberger]

And this is Anatomy of Murder.

[Ashley Flowers]

Here's the thing about getting away with murder. It's much more difficult than you think.

[Scott Weinberger]

The act itself can be terrifyingly simple. One squeeze of a trigger, a few drops of poison. But Making it disappear, hiding the evidence and a person behind it, that is the hard part. And you know, we say all the time what catches killers isn't the moment, it's the mess they make hiding it.

[Ashley Flowers]

Today we're talking about a homicide that took place not too long ago in Youngstown, Ohio, a rust belt city located about midway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. And as you'll hear, it's an example of a crime in which the killer's efforts to avoid being caught were as disturbing and horrific as the murder itself.

[Scott Weinberger]

With us to help today's story is the detective that helped crack the case and unravel the twisted tale behind a young woman's sudden disappearance.

[Michael Lambert]

I'm Michael Lambert and I'm a detective sergeant with the Youngstown Police Department.

[Ashley Flowers]

And like Scott, my co host here, can tell you a career in law enforcement usually means starting in uniform. And in that tradition, Michael worked the uniform division for five years before he eventually moved on to violent crimes, the vice squad, and the detectives bureau.

[Scott Weinberger]

Now, as you know, I'm saying I've worked and covered a lot of cases. But hearing Michael lay out the facts, I understood why this one still haunts people.

[Ashley Flowers]

In 2017, Shannon Graves was a free spirited 28 year old woman who had spent her whole life in Ohio.

[Michael Lambert]

She was a girl that grew up in Youngstown. Her father was actually a Youngstown policeman. Her mother was a waitress at a pretty famous local pizza place.

[Scott Weinberger]

Shannon was smart and independent, but unfortunately, in places like Youngstown, where employment had been on a decline since the 1960s, there just wasn't a lot of opportunity in her own hometown.

[Ashley Flowers]

And like many young people, Shannon wanted to pursue her dreams, but also needed a job to pay the bills. So Shannon began working as a dancer, an exotic dancer to help make ends meet while she put herself through school.

[Michael Lambert]

She was attending one of our local beauty schools. And she graduated and was on her way to moving into probably safer lifestyle than what she was living.

[Scott Weinberger]

And so that safer lifestyle included staying close to her parents and her sister and moving into an apartment of her own on the west side of Youngstown.

[Michael Lambert]

It was an older part of Youngstown, close to the downtown area. The closer you get to the city, the older the housing is. But it was not a bad neighborhood. It was a place where you wouldn't be afraid to walk at night.

[Ashley Flowers]

Shannon had been dating someone, a guy named Arturo Novoa, off and on for a few months. By February of that year, 2017, she'd even invited him to move into her apartment. Arturo was an inspiring musician who Focused on rap music. And they figured it'd be a good way to save a little money as they both got their careers off the ground.

[Scott Weinberger]

So, as we mentioned, Shannon's family described her as a free spirit who rarely even ever kept them in the loop on her long term plans. So it really wasn't that surprising for Shannon to go weeks without being in.

[Ashley Flowers]

Touch and in full transparency. Those weeks sometimes stretched for months, but her family was used to that. But they also said that Shannon was reliable and could be counted on to be there at important family events. So when she was a no show at her half sister Debbie's birthday party, they were pretty concerned.

[Scott Weinberger]

A call to her boyfriend, Arturo, didn't give them much comfort. He told Shannon's sister that they had actually broken up again. And this time, Shannon had decided to pack up her stuff and move out of town with another man.

[Ashley Flowers]

Which didn't sound like Shannon at all, Especially when they noticed that her dog Molly, was still still at her apartment. Anybody who knew Shannon also knew she would never leave Molly behind.

[Scott Weinberger]

Even more worrisome was the fact that for four months, Shannon had not sent a single email or text. And when the text to her own cell phone were answered by what seemed like a stranger, her family assumed her phone had been cut off and her number had been reassigned.

[Michael Lambert]

By June 24, they really thought something was wrong, and it something bad had happened to her.

[Ashley Flowers]

And so Shannon's sister Debbie finally went to police and filed a missing persons report. But even police knew that the search for Shannon was complicated by the fact that no one had seen or spoken to her since February.

[Michael Lambert]

So that was one of our first questions, was why the delay? Because that was several months, you know, four months, almost five months before we were notified. But according to family, this was typical behavior for Shannon. She would drop in and out of regular life, and when she came back, it was like nothing happened.

[Scott Weinberger]

Now, there was also the fact that Shannon was 28. She was an adult, not a teenager, not an at risk youth. She had every right to go where she pleased, and she often did. But this time, something told them it was different.

[Michael Lambert]

It wasn't until she started missing important like birthdays and stuff that they thought something might be wrong. So they were going from concern to really raising an alarm at that point.

[Ashley Flowers]

Typically, it takes a few steps before investigators make the leap from missing person to possible foul play. But in this case, they had reason to think for sure that Shannon could indeed be in trouble. After all, it had already been four months with absolutely zero contact. So they Asked her family, was there anybody in her life who might potentially want to do her harm?

[Scott Weinberger]

And what they explained was that while Shannon did not have any clear cut enemies, she did have some past relationships with boyfriends that had given her own family some pause.

[Michael Lambert]

One in particular had been away in prison. He was involved in narcotics, and when he came back, he was trying to reunite with her. But he had found that she found somebody while he was away.

[Ashley Flowers]

And so this ex boyfriend, John, became one of their first stops. Had he seen her? Had he heard from her? And most importantly, was he still jealous or angry about Shannon's now new relationship?

[Scott Weinberger]

But as it turned out, that ex con boyfriend, he had been looking for her too, with no luck. At least that's what he told detectives.

[Michael Lambert]

He was really interested in finding her and sorting out where she was too. And we kind of had to guard on that because if anything bad was happening, he was definitely going to be a suspect.

[Ashley Flowers]

Shannon's ex even offered police to help, knocking on doors and questioning Shannon's friends and acquaintances, which also, in a way, actually raised suspicions.

[Michael Lambert]

It was one of those cases where you wonder if this guy's like, a little too willing to help you out, you know?

[Scott Weinberger]

But the reality was people were scared. Her family just wanted to know if Shannon was safe, and investigators wanted to know if they were dealing with a missing woman or a murdered one.

[Michael Lambert]

You got the sense that everybody thought something bad had happened to her. That was kind of mixed in with the fact that one of these people was the boyfriend, the ex boyfriend who had been to prison. I was familiar with the guy, and you're just kind of like all over the place. What do we really got going on here?

[Ashley Flowers]

Michael's partner on the case went to Shannon's apartment to talk directly to her most recent boyfriend, Arturo, and get his account of exactly when he last saw Shannon. But Arturo did not make things easy.

[Michael Lambert]

He was never where he was supposed to be. He went to the apartment several times. So our attempts to talk to him were unsuccessful.

[Scott Weinberger]

So while a home visit is always a good piece of intelligence for any detective, you could pick up some really good clues from what may be your potential crime scene. Just making contact in getting that first statement is really the key, no matter how you manage to do it.

[Michael Lambert]

I went to a family member, his. His mother, and I got to talk to her, and she thought I was a parole officer and was kind of stonewalling me until I told her who I was. When I told her who I was, she got him on the phone for me. So I actually got to talk to him on the phone.

[Ashley Flowers]

Arturo talked and answered questions, but he also dismissed the family's concerns and told Michael that Hebroom was just overreacting.

[Michael Lambert]

He dismissed it as they fought. They obviously had a tumultuous relationship. They on again, off again. They tried to make things work. And then finally he said that she met somebody at this club she worked at and left. Just totally left them. But the general idea was this guy took her to Cleveland, and she's living there now, and he's living in her apartment, had been driving her car and was taking care of her dog. But she told him she'd come back for the dog, but he didn't know when.

[Scott Weinberger]

On the surface, it sounded plausible, but here's the thing. Shannon's family had actually been keeping an eye on Arturo and the apartment, and they knew he wasn't telling police the whole story.

[Michael Lambert]

Her main champion from the family was her sister, Debbie. Debbie had organized a group of people that were friends with Shannon that was Would run down their own leads and conduct surveillances on the apartment to see if they could see her coming and going and just generally watch what was going on. And they had noticed that there was a whole other woman living in the apartment with him.

[Ashley Flowers]

It turned out that not only had Artura moved in a new girlfriend to Shannon's apartment, she had brought her two kids along.

[Scott Weinberger]

But once again, this was still just a missing persons case, and the priority was to find Shannon. Maybe she still was in Cleveland with a new boyfriend. Now, this being 2017, there was one really good way of finding out. Digital forensics. And Detective Michael Lambert was just the man for the job.

[Michael Lambert]

My specialty in the homicide unit was phone records. I had a lot of training in it and a lot of success in finding people and recreating where they'd been. So I knew I could reconstruct where this girl was pretty easily.

[Ashley Flowers]

And while Shannon didn't have a credit card or even a debit card, she did have what's called an Ohio direction card, which was the state's system for distributing public assistance funds.

[Michael Lambert]

They keep really good records of card usage, and you know, where they're used, what time, what store, what was purchased, and all that. So between those two things, we were able to fill in all those dates and stuff before June between the phone in the direction card.

[Scott Weinberger]

Not only did her call history and her card usage leave behind a digital map of her movements, they also helped create what investigators would call a pattern of life.

[Michael Lambert]

The direction card showed us where she normally shopped what was normal for her to do. She worked in Akron, Ohio, which is about 45 minutes from here. So we saw a card usage where she would stop after work and get a drink on the way home and where she shopped locally and all that.

[Ashley Flowers]

And that pattern was the same for months leading up to February of 2017. But then there was an abrupt break in that pattern.

[Michael Lambert]

And then we saw a complete change to where the card is all of a sudden being used in places where it's never been used before, buying things that she didn't normally buy. So that was interesting.

[Scott Weinberger]

So also suspicious was that these new purchases were not happening in Cleveland. They were happening right there in Youngstown. So either Shannon had completely changed her habits, or somebody else was using that card.

[Ashley Flowers]

And that wasn't the only thing belonging to Shannon that somebody else was using.

[Michael Lambert]

Well, interestingly enough, her phone, it never got turned off, and it was being used. The phone number that the family had for her, when they called it, another woman was answering it.

[Scott Weinberger]

Remember, her family had assumed Shannon had just stopped paying her bill and her phone number had been reassigned, but that actually wasn't the case.

[Michael Lambert]

Turns out it wasn't. It was still her phone, and it was being used by Arturo's other girlfriend, the one that was now living with him.

[Ashley Flowers]

Police had good reason to believe that Arturo's new girlfriend, a woman named Katrina Layton, was using Shannon's phone, spending her money and even living in her apartment.

[Scott Weinberger]

And according to some of Shannon's friends, she had also been seen at Etoro's side at a recent bonfire party. But apparently, they weren't just there for the good times. According to a witness, who Arturo and Katrina had brought a bag of Shannon's belongings to throw into the fire. Here's how one of the people who were at the bonfire explained it.

[Michael Lambert]

Basically, what he wanted me to do is he wanted me to help him get rid of the last of her crap that she left there. Okay. Old documents, clothes. I figured he was being spiteful.

[Ashley Flowers]

Into the fire went some clothing and an engraved bracelet with her name on it.

[Michael Lambert]

It's something that has her name engraved on it.

[Scott Weinberger]

That seems like something.

[Michael Lambert]

It would be rather important to her. And I'm like, that just doesn't look good. I've seen this movie.

[Scott Weinberger]

Arturo's explanation, it was a gesture of revenge for Shannon, leaving Arturo for another man. But to Shannon's family, it also sounded like destroying potential evidence.

[Michael Lambert]

They were concerned because there was a large dumpster next to the apartment, and there was carpet that had been removed from the building, not necessarily her apartment. And they were afraid that she was dead and somebody was disposing of her body.

[Scott Weinberger]

Investigators knew it was time to search the apartment where Arturo and Katrina were now living.

[Michael Lambert]

So while we're doing the search warrant at the apartment, I finally get a chance to talk to Arturo face to face. And I actually got to talk to the girlfriend, Katrina Layton. You know, they're both dismissive of the whole thing.

[Ashley Flowers]

Investigators were looking for any obvious evidence, evidence of a crime, like blood or signs of a struggle. But a look into someone's home is also a way to get a pretty good sense of who people are. And detectives, they got an eyeful look.

[Michael Lambert]

Through the whole house, and there were some weird things about the house. They had a lot of books about witchcraft, and, I don't know, that was just their kind of thing. They're big fans of Insane Clown Posse, so there was juggalo stuff all over the place.

[Scott Weinberger]

So I didn't see this coming. But here's where I get an opportunity to explain the Juggalo subculture. A Juggalo is a fan of a hip hop group, Insane clown Posse, which is famously known for its aggressive lyrics, a fascination with horror films and death imagery, and, yes, their iconic clown makeup.

[Ashley Flowers]

Not everyone's cup of tea, for sure, but also not against the law, obviously. Still, posters of insane clowns wielding machetes is not exactly a good look when police come knocking on the door looking for your missing girlfriend.

[Michael Lambert]

We did find a few spots that we thought were blood in the house, but not to the extent that you would think somebody had been killed there. We took swabs of it, sent it off to the lab. Wasn't really all that helpful. It just became one more of those things that we were doing, because that's what you do, trying to break this thing loose, like, where is she? Is there something obvious in there that's going to tell us something happened? There really wasn't. We did it, but it wasn't all that consequential, you know? So we left there thinking, well, that didn't really help.

[Scott Weinberger]

But the search of the apartment was not a total bust.

[Michael Lambert]

Interesting thing was I did find a rent receipt for a new apartment that they had leased and had not moved into yet over on the south side of Youngstown. And I took note of that, but I left the receipt there. I didn't want them to know I knew about it.

[Ashley Flowers]

On his way home, Michael went by the address of the new apartment, a duplex on Youngstown's south side. He looked in the window. But the apartment was empty. So why rent an apartment but not move in?

[Michael Lambert]

And we were contemplating writing a search warrant for that place, but we really didn't have the probable cause yet.

[Ashley Flowers]

And I think we can all appreciate that Michael and his team were playing by the book, right? They felt something was off and wanted to know what was inside, but also knew that there were legal lines that hadn't yet been met.

[Scott Weinberger]

But what he did have was reason to believe that his recent visit to Arturo had left a pretty strong impression, because soon after, detectives got a very interesting call from a couple in nearby Campbell, Ohio.

[Michael Lambert]

They knew Arturo from recording songs at their house. They had a studio in their home, makeshift rap studio in their living room, and he would come over there and make rap songs, because he was going to be the next big thing.

[Ashley Flowers]

And it seems that soon after the detective's visit, Arturo had reached out to them with a very strange request.

[Michael Lambert]

So after the search warrant, in the middle of the night, Arturo calls the Eshambaughs, says, hey, my power got shut off, which happened a lot with them. He goes, I got a freezer full of food, and I'm going to lose it all. It's like three o' clock in the morning. He says, can I bring this to your house just until my power gets back on so I don't lose my food?

[Scott Weinberger]

So I don't know about you, but if I get a phone call like that in the middle of the night, I'd be a little more than just suspicious. But for whatever reason, the couple agrees, and Arturo appears at their home a few minutes later with a large freezer.

[Michael Lambert]

When he puts it in there, he actually has to go back and get an extension cord, because where he put it was too far from the outlets down there. So he had to leave and get an extension cord. And he comes back and he puts a padlock on the freezer. The freezer didn't have a lock on it, so he put a hasp and a. And a padlock on it. But he's not real mechanical, so when he puts it on, he puts it on with all the screw heads exposed so anybody with a butter knife can take it off.

[Ashley Flowers]

The locked freezer sat in the couple's basement until finally their curiosity got the better of them.

[Michael Lambert]

It's not for a couple days before the wife decides she needs to get into the freezer because she needs to borrow some hamburger meat to make spaghetti. That is her story. I guess she just doesn't want to say that she's nosy.

[Scott Weinberger]

The wife grabbed a screwdriver and pried open the freezer, and what she discovered inside would turn this case and the community upside down. Here's the thing about being a great gift giver. When you find something truly perfect for everyone on your list, you almost don't want to give it away. Quince pretty much has your whole list covered. Mongolian cashmere sweaters for $50 and when you normally pay 200 or more, the Italian wool coats. They look designer, feel luxurious and are made with premium materials. But like everything at Quince, the price won't make you panic. We're talking way less than other brands. Charge me. This holiday season I'm gifting a 100 organic cotton cropped cardigan. I hope she's not listening to this. Fine gifts so good you'll want to keep them with Quince. Go to quince.comanatomy for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com anatomy to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com anatomy. Don't let big wireless and your overpriced phone bill take the joy out of holidays this year. Right now, all of Mint Mobile's unlimited plans are 50% off. You get three, six or 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for 15 bucks a month. It's their best deal of the year and it makes it real easy for you to give your expensive wireless bill the Scrooge treatment. Turn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint Shop Mint Unlimited plans [e-mail] anatomy that's mintmobile.com anatomy limited time offer upfront payment for $45 for three month, $90 for six month or $180 for 12 month plan required $15 a month equivalent taxes and fees Extra initial plan term only over 35 GB may slow when network is busy. Capable device required availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com.

[Ashley Flowers]

In Youngstown, Ohio, 28 year old Shannon Graves had been missing for over four months without a trace. But after her boyfriend stashed a mysterious locked freezer at a friend's house, her missing persons case was a about to take a dramatic turn.

[Scott Weinberger]

That padlocked freezer had sat in the couple's house for several days before the wife finally decided it was time to see what was inside.

[Michael Lambert]

And when she opens it up, she doesn't see meat and stuff. She sees a big black trash bag in a Home Depot bucket And she's like, oh, boy, this isn't good. So she puts it all back together and calls her husband and says, you got to come home right now. Something's not right with me. This. I want you to see this.

[Ashley Flowers]

These were friends of Arturo. So they were not unaware that his girlfriend had been missing. But also, since they were his friends, what they did know was Arturo.

[Michael Lambert]

So he comes home and he does the same thing. He opens it up, only he pulls open the bag and he sees a foot.

[Ashley Flowers]

We do want to warn you that the following contains graphic content and descriptions of of graphic violence.

[Scott Weinberger]

Inside the garbage bag, there appeared to be other body parts as well. Horrified, the couple immediately called 91 1-EMERGENCY.

[Michael Lambert]

Me and my wife were just on a dead body in our. Is it a male?

[Ashley Flowers]

Is it a female?

[Michael Lambert]

I think it's a female. I need a Camel police there right away.

[Ashley Flowers]

Police from the town of Campbell arrived at the scene. In the basement, they found trash bags that had been removed from the nearby freezer. Inside the bags contained what appeared to be the dismembered parts of a human body. Everything except the torso and head.

[Michael Lambert]

Camel goes there. And strangely enough, as soon as Camel starts talking to them and seeing what they have, and it was kind of well known we were looking for this girl, they immediately call us and turn the whole thing over to us.

[Scott Weinberger]

So, Anestheta, this makes perfect sense. You know, the officers who made the discovery handed it back to the team and that had been working the missing persons case. And, you know, they already knew her world had timelines, warrants, and the DA already looped in. And once the death is confirmed, that groundwork becomes the engine, as you know, for a homicide case.

[Ashley Flowers]

And look, not to get too legalese on all of you, but we do know that I'm the lawyer, so let me just explain jurisdiction for a minute. Right? Which is that the office or the jurisdiction that can take this case is going to be several. It can be where the crime occurred, where it was reported. Right. Which you have to show some nexus connection to that place or where also where the body is found. And more often than not, as you were just saying, Scott, obviously it goes back to where it started. What they did have was detectives that to your point, Scott, like, they were already working this case. So that's why when Youngstown detectives were called, they headed over.

[Scott Weinberger]

So, you know, you pick one lead agency for continuity and clean lines. I mean, let's everyone else support that task force type model. You know, you move without stepping over bounds or stepping on evidence. Of course. Or witnesses. It's not politics at a single. It's just good casework.

[Ashley Flowers]

And so here it was. Youngstown. So detectives from Youngstown arrived fearing that their search for Shannon was likely over. It was the ending her family had feared the most.

[Michael Lambert]

Immediately, we're able to tell just by what we have there that it's Shannon because of a tattoo.

[Scott Weinberger]

The severed foot in the freezer bore Shannon's distinctive scorpion tattoo. The remains included severed arms, hands, and a partial skull. They were sent to the coroner in Cleveland, where her ID was confirmed. But it was far from the end of the mystery surrounding what happened to Shannon Graves.

[Michael Lambert]

Now we've got a body, so it isn't a missing, but what we don't have is a murder because we don't know how she died.

[Ashley Flowers]

The fact that her remains ended up in a freezer owned by her boyfriend was. Was a good indication that she had met with a sudden and likely violent death.

[Scott Weinberger]

But it's not necessarily proof that she was murdered. There was a chance her death was accidental and perhaps someone had tried to cover up her death or his or her possible involvement.

[Michael Lambert]

She's reportedly used drugs at times. So are we talking about an overdose and somebody just didn't do the right thing?

[Scott Weinberger]

So honestly, I know it just saying the fact that it could be accidental may seem strange to somebody who's listening. But, you know, in a sense, you have to look at all of these potential options to move forward in this homicide investigation. And you have run into this in your.

[Ashley Flowers]

In your history and unfortunately, more than once. Again, we talk accidental. But let me just play it out for you for a second. One, we just learned that there was some narcotics used in Shannon's life. So if narcotics are being used, well, think about that. Someone had to supply them. Maybe they worried they might get arrested for that. People do sometimes get arrested, charged with crimes for supplying various narcotics for people who ultimately overdose. Right? So maybe they decide to dismember her trying to avoid it being discovered how she died. Brutal, horrific. Yes. And again, not likely that this is the scenario, but it's a possibility that can't be ignored. You always need to consider every explanation, especially the non criminal or lesser ones. But let's transition over to Shannon's family. So for Shannon's family, Shannon's death came as sad but not totally unexpected news. But the report about the condition of her remains was shocking to them and the community.

[Michael Lambert]

They, from the get go, thought that she was dead. But I don't think that even they thought it was going to be like this, you know?

[Scott Weinberger]

Investigators turned to the coroner and Cleveland to confirm their suspicion that Shannon had indeed been killed. But his job would not be easy.

[Michael Lambert]

So we're waiting on the coroner's report to see, you know, what they have to say. And the coroner's report comes back. We don't have a whole body. We have arms and legs, and we have full dental, but not a whole head in this bucket. All the things that you would think people would want to get rid of, you know, fingerprints and dental records, we have all that, but we don't have the body. So we have what we need for identification, but we don't have what we need for cause of death. We don't have a body with bullet holes in it or an ax or whatever.

[Ashley Flowers]

But whether or not they could prove Shannon was murdered or the specific means of her death, they were confident they could at least prove who was responsible for putting her body parts in that freezer. Arturo Novoa.

[Michael Lambert]

We've got enough to arrest him for basically abuse of a corpse, but that's not exactly what I want out of this. On the other hand, you don't want this guy running loose.

[Scott Weinberger]

And so detectives arrested Novoa at the apartment he had once shared with Shannon, and they bring him in for questioning.

[Ashley Flowers]

It is still unclear how long it had been since Shannon had died or how long Novoa had lived with her remains in the apartment. But there was little doubt that he was the person responsible for placing her in the freezer and concealing her death from her family and the police.

[Scott Weinberger]

Inside the apartment, police recovered a meat cleaver by the front door and an owner's manual for the freezer that contained Shannon's remains.

[Michael Lambert]

We prep him up and take him over to the jail, and we go through his pockets. One of the things we get is the key to the padlock that he's still walking around with on the police station the next day. You know, so, like, that was pretty good evidence that he was involved in that.

[Scott Weinberger]

However, his motive remained a mystery. If he killed her, was it planned? Was it done in the heat of the moment? Police didn't know, but they had an idea who might.

[Ashley Flowers]

And so when Novo was arrested, they also arrested Novo, his new girlfriend, Katrina Layton, believing that they had evidence that she not only had knowledge of Shannon's death, but, more importantly, something to do with the coverup. And in that, quite possibly her murder.

[Michael Lambert]

You know, I told you about 10 times that the missing girl is dead in your freezer. I'm looking for some kind of reaction. You don't look shocked at all. Yeah, no, it's not that. I'm just trying to process everything. Katrina, the girlfriend, she comes in, too. We end up charging her as well. We were able to track down the fact that this freezer was purchased using her money. And that while he was moving it, when he had to run back and get an extension cord, he went back to the apartment where she was. So she had full knowledge of all this as well.

[Scott Weinberger]

Leighton was questioned, but she denied having anything to do with Shannon's death.

[Michael Lambert]

Did you kill her?

[Ashley Flowers]

Hell, no.

[Michael Lambert]

Were you there when she was killed? No.

[Ashley Flowers]

What?

[Michael Lambert]

Well, sure looks like you did. I didn't do anything to this girl. You understand? This looks like you did it and he helped you. I know that's what it looks like. I don't know anymore. Katrina, did you kill her? No.

[Ashley Flowers]

Okay.

[Michael Lambert]

Did you take her apart?

[Ashley Flowers]

No. Investigators also talked to Novoa, but he denied killing Shannon or knowing anything about the bonfire, the freezer, or the fate of his ex girlfriend.

[Michael Lambert]

And two people said you dropped the freezer off at their house with a body in it. Did you hear what it said?

[Ashley Flowers]

But remember, given the condition of the remains, the coroner was still unable to determine a cause of death. So before they could charge either of them with Shannon Graves murder, they would have to find evidence somewhere else. Be it solid physical evidence or maybe somebody else who was willing to talk.

[Michael Lambert]

This is going to be, at this point, unless we find some things, a cooperation case. Because now you're going to need the cooperation of somebody who knows what happened to help you out.

[Scott Weinberger]

And casting that net for potential cooperators. It was about to get a big assist from the local media because the.

[Ashley Flowers]

Discovery of Shannon's remains and the subsequent arrest of her suspected killers, it was all over the news, and you never know who's watching.

[Michael Lambert]

Well, the arrest that we made was public. The 911 tape of the Eshan boss finding the body in the freezers. On every news channel, everybody's watching it. And I get a call from Walmart.

[Scott Weinberger]

Now, I've talked about this before, but Walmart famously has an incredibly sophisticated security apparatus. And it's known for being very helpful in police investigations.

[Ashley Flowers]

As Michael told us, if you've committed a crime and you go to Walmart, you're probably going to get caught.

[Michael Lambert]

When this contact of ours sees Arturo and his girlfriend on the news, she bursts into tears. She has a breakdown at work. Nobody knows what's going on. She goes into the office, closes the door and calls us and says, hey, I knew something was up with these two. They had been to Walmart and they had called an order, ordered a pickup at the store order for, like, 16 bottles of sulfuric acid drain opener, and they had it drop shipped to the store, I guess because it was cheaper to pick it up there.

[Ashley Flowers]

Sixteen bottles of sulfuric acid, a chemical strong enough to clear an industrial drain or dissolve human bone and tissue.

[Scott Weinberger]

You know, unless you're a licensed plumber, there's probably no good reason to be ordering that quantity of chemicals without raising some suspicion, which may be why the order was placed under a pseudonym.

[Michael Lambert]

But they decide they're going to be sneaky about it, and they have it shipped to Chicken man is going to be the guy that picks it up. When our girl sees this, these two people are buying all this acid, and they don't want us to know who they are. She absolutely refuses to give it to them without them showing them ID at.

[Ashley Flowers]

First, Novo refused, understanding that he wanted no connection between his name and that suspicious purchase.

[Michael Lambert]

He's like, no, I paid for it. I want it. And it's against their own policy. She ended up getting in trouble with Walmart over it, but she refused. She refused to do it without them showing id. So Arturo's girlfriend actually shows her ID and makes a photocopy of it because she knows something's up. And when she sees them arrested on TV and his body in his freezer, we were her first call.

[Scott Weinberger]

A grim picture of Novoa and Leighton's plan to dispose of Shannon's body using powerful acid was becoming clear. But detectives were still lacking evidence of how and even if Shannon was actually killed.

[Ashley Flowers]

And so, as is often the case when you have two suspects, investigators figured their best chance of getting the truth was to try to convince one of them to cooperate. But which one of them would be the first to flip? If you've got travel coming up, visiting family, heading abroad, or even a dream trip for the new year. Imagine feeling confident greeting people in their own language. Rosetta Stone makes it easy to feel more connected and have a richer experience wherever you go. I've always believed that when traveling to a country that uses another language, people appreciate it. When you try, Rosetta Stone helps you jumpstart and stick with that process. I took French in high school, and admittedly, it's lapsed a bit over the years. But before heading to Paris, Rosetta Stone helped me get it back to quickly. And the true accent feature is such an easy way to get your pronunciation down, too. Don't wait. Unlock your language learning potential. Now Anatomy of Murder listeners can grab Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. That's unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit Rosetta Stone.com anatomy to get started and claim your 50% off today. Give a gift that keeps giving. Go to rosetta stone.com anatomy and start learning today.

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[Ashley Flowers]

Four months after Shannon Graves disappearance, investigators had arrested two people in connection with her death and dismemberment. Her boyfriend, Arturo Novoa, and his girlfriend, Katrina Layton.

[Michael Lambert]

What ends up happening is the county prosecutor's office makes a deal with Arturo's new girlfriend.

[Scott Weinberger]

And what the prosecutors ended up offering Leighton was one heck of a deal. All she had to do was tell the truth about what happened to Shannon and and she was promised full immunity from any potential murder charges.

[Ashley Flowers]

And while it was obviously important for investigators to know who it was that had killed Shannon so that person would hopefully be held accountable and face justice, it was also important to them and to the family just to know the truth. Was Shannon killed? How was she killed, and why?

[Michael Lambert]

She was getting a complete walk, not knowing what actually happened, if it was a murder or not, and if it was, who did it. She gets a complete you're walking out of here. You're not going to jail at all. You just got to give him up. That's it.

[Scott Weinberger]

And Leighton, she takes the deal, agreeing to cooperate with police and presumably lay the blame on her boyfriend, Arturo Navoa. But incredibly, after more than 40 hours in the interview room, Leighton ended up revealing virtually nothing of value.

[Ashley Flowers]

And so she agreed to the deal, right? She would get immunity if she cooperated. And in this case, she admitted to helping Novoa dispose of Shannon's body. But she continued to deny knowing anything about Shannon's death. So in some ways, at least, seems like she thought she could have her cake and eat it, too.

[Scott Weinberger]

I think this needs a real explainer here, Anasiga. You know, it's easy to yank a plea before it's finalized, especially if a judge is already granted broad, court ordered immunity. You can't undo that on the underlying offense, but you could still pursue perjury and obstruction charges. How does that work in your mind?

[Ashley Flowers]

Well, first of all, these deals are usually put into place by the prosecutors, right? And it has to be for not only you agree to cooperate, but you have to provide truthful testimony or all bets are off. Obviously, as you say, Scott, there comes a point that is too far down the lane. And here, look, it's hard to say without more information, but it usually starts with something we call a queen or a king. For a day, all sides sit down together. The person, the subject, gives their story. All sides assess it. Now, in that case, the prosecutors can't use what they say unless they ultimately come to a deal, right? But that becomes the basis for this deal. So what could have happened here is that they agree to let her testify in a grand jury with immunity, or that they said, look, we will grant you this deal as long as you tell us what you know. It's a calculated decision here. And one of the things that we were looking at, and without knowing the exact path, that's at least giving you the general breakdown.

[Scott Weinberger]

And there is another issue as well here. After listening to Novoa's recorded jailhouse phone calls, it was determined that Leighton had broken her plea agreement by being in contact with with him. So in the end, they decided to make a potentially consequential decision with Leighton's cooperation agreement. They pulled it.

[Michael Lambert]

It's a really big deal to Nick's deal. In a homicide case, if you make a deal with somebody and then you back out of that deal as the prosecution, it's not a good message you're sending to potential cooperators in other cases, whether it's warranted or not, it's not a good precedent to set, and it never happens. But in this case, we went down that road, and we actually got the deal tossed out. So Katrina lost her deal based on the fact that she not only didn't cooperate, but told outright lies to thwart the investigation.

[Ashley Flowers]

But a cooperation agreement with the suspect isn't really the only tool that prosecutors have. Look, you can't force a defendant to testify in front of a grand jury, right? But sometimes we talk to them. They obviously, it's their right if they want to testify. But also with prosecutors, we can say, look, you say you're telling the truth, great. We'll put you in the grand jury, potentially as our witness, even though you're now charged with the idea of a deal. However, you have to waive your immunity, which means that if we find out you're lying, we can still use what we're saying against you.

[Michael Lambert]

One of the first things we did was run everybody involved in this case through the grand jury. The grand jury is a great investigative tool. It's one thing to sit in an interview room with somebody and talk to them, and, you know, they don't want to tell you things and then. But it's a whole nother thing to drag them down and put them in front of a jury and tell their story. So we did that with Andrew and his girlfriend and these people with the fire and all this, and people were just, like, falling apart.

[Scott Weinberger]

They also upped the pressure on their two suspects and everyone else they suspected of aiding their attempts to destroy evidence of a potential murder. And they did this by reminding them that they didn't have to prove Shannon was murdered to put them all away for a very long time.

[Michael Lambert]

The general idea that we came was we need to give them something bigger to worry about than this murder case. And we decided that we would indict the group of them in an overall overreaching conspiracy case to basically hide the fact that Shannon was dead and how she died.

[Ashley Flowers]

In other words, if Novoa and Layton thought they could just take a little bit of jail time on this lesser charge of abusing a corpse, they were sorely mistaken.

[Michael Lambert]

The easy way out on this was abuse of a corpse on Arturo. Call it a day. To the credit of the prosecutor, this was the exact opposite of that. We turned this into a much bigger thing, and amazingly, that's all it really took. Once we did that, people started folding up immediately, and all those things we needed to know. We found out.

[Scott Weinberger]

It turned out that more people had known about Shannon's death than they had ever led on to. Police, and more than one had actually helped Noa come up with a plan to. To cover it all up.

[Ashley Flowers]

And with Leighton's deal off the table, there was now an opening to make their own cooperation deals in exchange for leniency and the truth.

[Scott Weinberger]

When word got to Novoa that all the people he had involved in this crime were ready to flip, he knew his fate was sealed.

[Michael Lambert]

And it eventually got to the point where we had enough cooperators to where it left Arturo and a point now, with Katrina losing her deal and she's not going to go to bat for him anymore, that he had to plea. Once he came to our side, it was like night and day. He gave us everything we could possibly need.

[Ashley Flowers]

The story Novoa laid out was simply horrifying, its brutality only matched by its senselessness.

[Scott Weinberger]

And as Shannon's family had suspected all along, it all came down to petty jealousy between people in a doomed relationship.

[Michael Lambert]

Arturo is living with Shannon in her apartment, but he is secretly still seeing Katrina.

[Ashley Flowers]

But his own infidelity didn't stop him from being angry when Shannon considered getting back together with her other ex.

[Michael Lambert]

So everybody knows about everybody. There's no big secret that somebody's got to get killed over.

[Scott Weinberger]

In the meantime, Novoa continued to see Leighton, his other girlfriend, even inviting her into Shannon's apartment when she was at work.

[Michael Lambert]

On one particular evening, Katrina comes over to the apartment because Shannon's at work. Arturo's up at the. Up the street at a bar, and it's in view of the apartment, and he sees Shannon come home, and he knows there's gonna be a problem, so he goes over there. And when he gets there, this would be according to the version that Arturo actually told us. Shannon's already dead and Katrina's there, and she had killed her and hit her in the head with a hammer.

[Ashley Flowers]

So according to Novoa, it was Katrina Layton that had killed Shannon with multiple blows to the head with a hammer.

[Scott Weinberger]

Shannon likely suffered a fatal traumatic brain injury, a cause of death that was a mystery to the Corps foreigner, because investigators had only recovered a portion of Shannon's skull.

[Ashley Flowers]

I mean, on its face, I'd say that it looks like that the killer harbored an incredible amount of rage or jealousy, since bludgeoning is such an up close and personal kind of assault. And even though Novoa explained his relationship with Shannon that was rocky, and at least claimed that his affair with Leighton was not even a secret or a big deal between them, there can still obviously be major jealousies, control issues, and anger that just boils over like it clearly did here. No matter which way the truth actually.

[Michael Lambert]

Played out, at no point did anybody need to get killed. Everybody knew about everybody. If Shannon came home and found another girl in her apartment with Arturo, well, it's really not a surprise you knew about her.

[Scott Weinberger]

According to Novoa, after he arrived home to find Shannon dead, he immediately enlisted Leighton's help to cover up her murder, first by wrapping her body in garbage bags and putting them in the trunk of Shannon's car.

[Michael Lambert]

They load her into the car, and at this point, this is February. Katrina wasn't living there. She had a house in Boardman, Ohio, about five miles away. And they drive her body to Boardman, Ohio, and they put her in the garage, and they're kind of deciding what to do, and they don't know what to do.

[Ashley Flowers]

Novoa decided to call a friend, a man named Herman, who had a certain reputation for knowing what to do in a situation just like this.

[Michael Lambert]

Herman comes over, and he says, what's up? So he takes him out to the garage and shows him, I need help. I need to get rid of this body. What do I do?

[Scott Weinberger]

According to Novoa, Herman then left and returned a short time later, not with the police, but with a machete.

[Michael Lambert]

He dismembers the body in the garage, makes it smaller. He goes, there, I made it smaller. Now it's easier to get rid of. And he's like, thanks, but that doesn't really help me. What do I do with it? He goes, well, do you ever watch Breaking Bad? He's like, no. He goes, well, watch it, and you'll see what you do.

[Ashley Flowers]

Referencing the popular TV show, Herman instructed Novoa to purchase sulfuric acid in some large plastic tubs. The plan to dissolve Shannon's dismembered remains until there was nothing left.

[Michael Lambert]

They get the whole idea from Breaking Bad. And the bad guy in Breaking Bad is Chicken Man. So that's where that comes from.

[Scott Weinberger]

But to no one's surprise, this disturbing scheme doesn't go as planned. Nothing being as easy as what you see on tv. And we'll spare you those details. But despite their gruesome efforts, Noa and Leighton were able to to destroy only a portion of Shannon's remains.

[Michael Lambert]

It doesn't happen instantaneously. It takes, like, weeks. And so they're storing her in freezers, intending to get rid of her, but they don't. Eventually, a freezer goes bad. They got to get another freezer. Then they. The cops are knocking on the door. So they got to move this freezer, and it becomes this gigantic disaster.

[Ashley Flowers]

And remember that empty apartment that Michael had stolen? Stop by. After first interviewing Novoa, he would later learn that the freezer containing Shannon's remains had actually been inside the day he peered in the window before. It was then transported to another friend's basement.

[Scott Weinberger]

So in the end, Novoa had placed the blame for killing Shannon on Katrina Layton and claimed he only helped get rid of the body. But was that true?

[Ashley Flowers]

Leighton was still refusing to tell police anything, but investigators were able to do a thorough search of her recovered computer. And along with a trove of Novoa's amateur rap recordings, they were able to uncover some messages that she had sent to a friend in Connecticut.

[Michael Lambert]

We get a girlfriend of Katrina's from Connecticut who we didn't know anything about, and that was her confidant. She, on one night, broke down and told her a whole story. So we go to Connecticut and talk to her.

[Scott Weinberger]

And according to Leighton's friend, Novoa's story was a lie. She claimed that Leighton had told her that when she arrived at the apartment, Shannon was already dead.

[Michael Lambert]

Arturo was despondent because he had accidentally killed her at a fit of rage.

[Ashley Flowers]

And quite honestly, that version, based on everything we know about the relationship dynamics between these three, this version seems the most plausible and realistic, at least to me. And based on the he said, she said of it all, the truth about Shannon's murder was as muddled as it was senseless.

[Michael Lambert]

At the end of this whole trail, though, you're not 100% what happened. You're as close to the truth, I think, as you're ever going to get, because nobody's going to say, oh, this is absolutely what happened.

[Scott Weinberger]

After accepting a plea to a long slew of charges that included murder, Novoa was sentenced to life in prison. His girlfriend, Katrina Layton, and his friend Andrew Herman each received 12 years for their roles in covering up her murder.

[Ashley Flowers]

In 2022, NVO was resentenced due to technical errors in how charges had been merged. And while his conviction was upheld, his sentence was reduced to 48 years to life.

[Scott Weinberger]

A young woman loved, reduced to evidence in a refrigerator. You hear that? And ask, what kind of human being could do this? And the truth is, we may never know. In a way that satisfies motives and labels don't reach the void it takes to do something like this. We can map the timelines, prove the acts, and deliver a verdict. But in cases like this, you can prove what happened or who did it. Yet the motive that would make it emotionally understandable is often missing or unknowable. So we leave the why with the killer, and we keep Shannon's name with us.

[Ashley Flowers]

I was trying to decide what my final thought would be about in this case. Is it about the senselessness of the crime? The brutality and barbaricness of what was done to Shannon after she died? All worthy topics, but what I decided to highlight today was the work done by Michael and law enforcement to find the truth and get justice for Shannon. Shannon Graves case is likely not one you'd see in any headlines beyond the barbaric way she was found and likely not covered endlessly on social media because for various reasons, cases like this just don't often capture the same attention, be it the turbulence of her life, the muddy relationship, the apparent use of narcotics, or even her work as an exotic dancer as she tried to make ends meet. Many shun attention to cases just like this, but we here at aom, we don't. Importantly, for this final thought, Michael and his team did not. They worked her case as hard as what you see on the ones that do make the front pages. And that's important to me, to Scott, to all of us here at aom, to call that out when we see it. We remember Shannon Graves today as a young woman trying to move her life forward. Things, things clearly weren't easy for her, but she was working to get through school and make a life for herself that she wanted to lead. So to Shannon, this AOM community wants you to know, wherever your spirit is today, that we remember you and say justice is important for all. Tune in next week for another another new episode of Anatomy of Murder.

[Scott Weinberger]

Anatomy of Murder is an audio Chuck.

[Ashley Flowers]

Original, produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media.

[Scott Weinberger]

Ashley Flowers is executive producer.

[Ashley Flowers]

This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond, researched by Kate Cooper, edited by Ali Sierra and Phil Jean Grande. I think Chuck would approve.

[Scott Weinberger]

The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot, snack bar. Your lucky jersey, your chairs and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than in an suv. It's your Equinox Chevrolet. Together, let's drive.

[Ashley Flowers]

What if you could cover your gray hairs without damage with K18 molecular repair hair Mask? You can have strong, soft, bouncy hair and keep your root touch ups because it doesn't just cover up damage, it's a deep damage fix. Patented K18 peptide repairs on the molecular level. So no matter what you do to your hair, K18 will be there to fix the damage. Shop at Sephora or get 10% off your first purchase with code [e-mail]. That's code [e-mail].