Killer Caught On Camera

Shelbey Thornburgh-Crocker’s killer was caught on a supervision camera going into and out of her apartment building. His individuality is still unknown. Could police ineptitude have played a part in her case not being unravelled?

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Shelbey Jean Thornburgh-Crocker. This picture was taken on October 5, 2015.

Shelbey Jean Thornburgh-Crocker was a 20-year-old small-town girl. According to her sister, Krystina Scott, Shelbey’s life was a hard one. Both girls were in and out of foster care because their mum was drunken and couldn’t look after them. They were each sexually attacked while they were in the system.

Shelbey battled with obesity her entire life, but through hard work and persistence, she lost over 180 pounds in a previous couple of years of her life. She was saving money for a tummy tuck and a breast augmentation and had made a down payment of $1,000 to a plastic surgeon the day she was murdered.

Shelbey Jean Thornburgh-Crocker. This picture was taken on October 10, 2013.

Shelbey kept secrets from her sister. She said to Krystina that she had found work earning “good money” as an escort. She ensured her sister that there wasn’t any sex involved. She was just going out to dinner with wealthy guys, she told. Nonetheless, in April of 2014, she was caught in Dallas County, Texas on a prostitution charge. She asked no contest, served 33 days in prison and paid a minor fine. When she chatted to her sister about it, Shelbey told her it was a case of being in the wrong area at the wrong time. There was another girl, she told, who was prostituting, and they had been picked up together.

Arraignment Sheet from Shelbey's first arrest.

Then, in June of 2015, she was arrested again for prostitution. This time it was in Houston, TX. Her case was dropped in October, almost precisely a month before she was killed. Now she couldn’t resist what she was doing to her sister. Krystina asked her to halt what she was doing. “You’re going to get murdered,” Krystina said. Shelbey said her if she attempted to leave, she feared Marcus Dewayne Johnson would murder her.

Complaint from Shelbey's second arrest.

On November 4th, 2015, Shelbey had a date with an unidentified person. They were to meet at her apartment. At 8:33 PM, that individual texted her, “Hey! I’m here.” A minute later, he was caught on camera stepping into The Conquistador Apartments lobby. At 8:40 PM, Shelbey texted her pimp, Marcus Dewayne Johnson, “God.” Marcus later said police that it was the code word they utilized to let him know everything was alright and that she had been paid. Then, at 8:57 PM, the same man was glimpsed on camera leaving the building.

When Johnson was incapable to reach Shelbey, he got on to the apartment. He discovered her lifeless lying face down with a pool of blood on the floor beneath her. He called 911. He noted, “Someone is dead. Someone murdered my girl.”

This is where it gets unusual.

Houston Police didn’t send homicide detectives right away. They sent in uniformed officers. The officers went inside, substantiated Shelbey was lifeless and called to have homicide detectives sent in. According to an anonymous source, by the time detectives reached the apartment was full of uniformed officers. The crime spectacle was so infected by looky-loo personnel, the source thinks there’s proof that was demolished or damaged accidentally.

Luckily, there was evidence that HPD was eligible to get. First, there was DNA information that was taken from a hair that was left on Shelbey’s corpse. Second, the tape of the suspect entering and fleeing the apartment building. Part of the DNA evidence was able to be amplified and run through CODIS. No hits. Other DNA information taken from tape lifts of the casualty’s corpse hasn’t ever been tested.

Shelbey was killed from behind with a big knife. She was kneeling on her bed near the edge. The murderer cut her neck open from left to right. It was done with one movement, and the slash was deep enough that it nicked Shelbey’s spinal cord. Blood was cast off the knife onto the wall. Shelbey drops forward across the bed. Her head hung over the different side from where she was kneeling. Nearly all of her blood was emptied onto the floor under her.