Southern fried True crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit language used. Listener discretion is advised in Fort
Campbell, which is located astride the Tennessee Kentucky border. Friday, September second,
twenty sixteen was a beautiful evening around seventy five degrees, clear, cloudless
skies. The wind, which was a bit nippy earlier in the day,
died down. It would have been a great night for an outdoor party or
bonfire, or to take a stroll where you can breathe in the crisp fall
air. The possibilities were endless, especially for a young twenty something year old
woman with her whole life ahead of her. So when twenty five year old
PFC Shadow McLane got into a car with her ex husband Jamal, we're not
sure what she was thinking. To say they had a complicated history would be
putting it mildly? Would she willingly go with him? Shadow in Jamal's relationship
had fallen apart in a really bad way. But no matter what Shadow's intentions
were for that evening, her ex husbands were not the same. Jamal thought
Shadow was in his way that she was the one obstacle blocking him from having
a fulfilling career and a well traveled life, and that night he was going
to do something about it. He had been planning it for months, and
he was finally ready to execute his vision. Welcome to episode two oh seven,
The Murder of Shadow McLain. Shadow Bernice Willis mclin was born on January
two, nineteen ninety one, to her mother, London Weggersen, and her
father, Jesse Willis, in Roseville, California. Shadow had one sister who
was two years older than her, and two brothers who were both about sixteen
years younger than her. Shadow evidently sometimes used the name Bernice Willis. I'm
not sure exactly why, but I'll explain how. We know that later.
Shadow and her brothers were especially close. Those who knew her said she adored
them. I have to wonder if she might have played an important role in
raising her younger brothers, considering their sixteen year age gap. Throughout her life,
Shadow was a great big sister to her little brothers. She was patient,
smart, and creative. Plus she loved the outdoors. She loved spending
the day hiking or fishing with her dad, and she also loved to read
and was into rollerblading. Shadow grew up in Uba City, California. Her
parents were both from the area. Uba City is a medium sized city of
approximately seventy thousand people. It's about forty miles north of Sacramento, and honestly
you might have heard about it before. During my research, I was shocked
to see how much had happened there. I'll give you the highlight reel.
In December of nineteen fifty five, Uba City experienced the worst flood to ever
hit California. Over the course of nine days, twenty inches of rain fell
into Uba City. For reference, two inches of rainfall can cause a flash
flood. By the end of the downpour, three hundred and thirty eight people
were injured, three hundred and thirty five people were hospitalized, and eighty had
died. Then, in March of nineteen sixty one, a plane crashed in
Yuba City. It was a Boeing B fifty two Strata fortress carrying two thermonucular
weapons. The bombs were destroyed on impact and luckily did not explode, so
no radioactive material was released, thank god. After that, in May of
nineteen seventy six, a school bus carrying Yuba City High School's choir drove off
the edge of an exit ramp. They fell twenty eight feet and crashed.
Twenty seven students and one adult died. More than twenty others were injured.
Of course, this isn't a history lesson on Yuba City. I'll let you
google all the other crazy things that have happened there yourself. I just had
to share some of the more infamous incidents with you. When researching Shadow's case,
I was fascinated that her hometown was the site of so much disaster.
Shadow herself was probably aware of these events in Yuba City. None of them
happened in her lifetime, but she did go to Ubi City High School.
The school held memorials for the crash victims for a long time. I found
record of one remembrance ceremony event as late as twenty sixteen. Beyond Yuba City's
pension for bad luck, it's also known for being home to the Bill Air
Force Base. Maybe the military presence in Yuba City had a profound impact on
Shadow, because after graduating from Uba City High in two thousand and nine and
a brief stint at Yuba College, studying art history. She joined the U.
S Army in September of twenty eleven. Upon entering the Army, Shadow
was trained as an air traffic controller. Throughout her career with the US military,
she was stationed in South Korea and deployed to Afghanistan. Afterward, she
was stationed at Fort Campbell in the one hundred first Airborne Division. The Fort
Campbell Army Installations traddles the border between two states, Kentucky and Tennessee. Fort
Campbell sits on over one hundred thousand acres or one hundred and sixty square miles,
and is more than seven times the size of Manhattan. Today, it
is home to about twenty seven thousand active duty soldiers and with about fifty thousand
of their family members. It has its own Starbucks, Bowling Alley, and
fast food joints, and is pretty much a small city unto itself. The
base is home to three major combat units, the fifth Special Forces Group,
the one hundred and sixtieth Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and of course, the
Screaming Eagles, the renowned one hundred and first Airborne Division. As I said,
the base sits on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky, closest to Hopkinsville
and Clarksville in terms of larger cities, but close enough in proximity to Nashville,
where some of this story takes place. After five years of military service,
twenty five year old Private first Class Shadow MacLean was ready for a new
adventure. She was set to retire on October eleventh, twenty sixteen. She
had shared with her family that she was excited for the change. She was
going to return to Yuba City, enroll in college, and pursue a career
in either photography or writing. According to her mother, Shadow had truly enjoyed
her time in the army at first, but her appreciation for the Army waned
after certain people entered her life. According to her mother's court testimony, I'm
going to pause now for a short commercial break. One of those certain people
Shadow's mother was alluding to was likely her ex husband, Jamal Jamal Williams mc
cray was born in nineteen ninety two. He spent some of his childhood with
his father, Kenneth, but at age six, Jamal was sent to live
with his mother in Florida. According to Kenneth's court testimony, Jamal's mother was
abusive. She would harshly and unfairly discipline Jamal throughout his earliest years. Jamal's
father believed that his mother inflicted this abuse in part due to his son's small
stature. Kenneth attributed Jamal's slim frame to being born prematurely, and he claimed
that Jamal was a quiet kid due to his skinny body and his mother's abuse.
As he got older, Jamal aspired to be a pilot, but when
that didn't work out, he turned to the US Army, and that's how
Jamal met Shadow. In the early twenty tens, they were in the one
hundred Forced Airborne together at Fort Campbell. He was a sergeant, she was
a private first class. By the end of September twenty fourteen, twenty two
year old Jamal and twenty three year old Shadow were married, which was a
big surprise to their families. For a while, Jamal's father didn't even know
he was married, and Shadow's mother, London, had never even met Jamal.
This was strange for London since she and Shadow were incredibly close despite living
several states apart. The mother and daughter communicated in some way every single day.
To not meet your daughter's husband before they were married. I bet that
was a shock. Now, if you're familiar with the military, you know
marriages can happen fast between military spousal benefits and the possibility of deployment and the
stress of literally putting your life on the line for your country. The culture
of let's do it now versus later makes a lot of sense, and it
works out for many people, but it did not work out for Shadow and
Jamal. Shortly after their marriage began, they experienced major issues. Shadow's mother
characterized the relationship as toxic, with vicious fighting that often turned physical, and
five to six months later, in early twenty fifteen, they were divorced.
According to Shadow's own posts on her social media accounts, Jamal had cheated on
her multiple times. Shadow's mom, London, said her daughter would find condoms
in his clothing along with the other signs of infidelity. Shadow alleged that Jamal
had slept with a woman who waited tables at Hooter's. That woman, named
Tiffany, gave interviews to the media. She claimed that Shadow was stalking her
and had allegedly sent harassing messages to her on social media. She also said
that Shadow had the wrong Tiffany, claiming that there were like eight Tiffany's working
at Hooters at the time. She also said Shadow zeroed in on her after
she found a receipt in Jamal's pocket from the restaurant with the server's name Tiffany
printed on it. However, Shadow claimed that some or all of these harassing
comments did not come from her. She believed that Jamal and others were making
fake accounts in her name that way they could stage a stalking scenario, but
one direct message apologizing to Tiffany for the comments did come from a Facebook page
called Shadow McLean Photography. By the end of it all, Shadow was arrested
twice for stalking charges. Then later in twenty fifteen, Shadow alleged that Jamal
had raped her. As a result, the military opened an investigation into Jamal.
At one point Shadow rescinded her allegation, but later she said it was
true Jamal had raped her, and she told officers that Jamal had intimidated her
into recanting the report of sexual assault. The military investigation for these rape allegations
stopped Sergeant Jamal Williams McCrae from being transferred to South Korea, which was what
he wanted. However, Shadow's family has frequently asserted on social media that the
military did not do enough to investigate her claims. On an Instagram post from
November nineteenth, twenty fifteen, Shadow wrote, after being forced into a divorce
by by narcissistic ex husband who got me arrested to get away with his infidelity
with a Hooter's girl and then with a cop out of Springfield he met on
match dot com while he was fucking the Hooters girl for two months and me
at the same time during the divorce process, I am focusing on getting myself
back into shape now. Never trust a man who cheats, and Carmel will
give him a swift kick in the ass soon when he loses his job and
goes to prison. Her public Pinterest profile read x cheated on me with a
cop and got away with many more crimes against me. His loss for losing
my loyalty. Now he has Hooters bitches lying to police for him. They
will end up going to jail soon. Rest assured, I'm at a better
place in my life now and found someone worth my time and love. In
May twenty sixteen, Shadow had told the authorities that someone had cut her vehicle's
brake lines. She suspected whoever did it was somehow connected to Jamal. In
an interview with her friend Tristan Harding, there was a photo of what appeared
to be her breaks shown in the news clip. However, it appears there
were questions about whether or not shadows break lines had actually been cut. According
to Shadow's mother, these doubts were cast in an effort to shove the incident
under the rug By military and authorities. Her mother, London, recalled how
tumultuous Shadow's relationship with Jamal was. She realized that her daughter had made some
mistakes, though she did not elaborate on what she did. I suspect they
were related to Shadow, perhaps stalking Jamal's girlfriends. London told Dateline, She's
not totally innocent in all this, but it's not all her either, and
she's been trying to clean herself from it. The people posting don't have all
the facts and are trying to paint my daughter as a villain regardless. By
September of twenty sixteen, it appeared that Shadow had moved on from Jamal.
She was seeing someone new, just as her pint's profile alluded to and her
mother confirmed, and she was about a month away from getting out of the
military and returning home. A clean start was just on the horizon, but
it would always stay out of reach. At seven oh seven pm on Friday,
September second, twenty sixteen, Shadow texted her mother that she was driving.
At this day and time. She was supposed to be dog sitting at
a friend's house, but no one ever saw her alive again. I'm going
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on Saturday, September three, Shadow's mother, London, was worried.
Shadow hadn't touched base the night before, and she hadn't texted or called on
Saturday either. By the next day, London was scared and nervous. In
interviews, she said she had hoped everything was fine, but she suspected something
awful had happened. Monday, which was Labor Day, came and went without
any word from Shadow. London told the Huffington Post quote, we are always
in communication, so I knew something was terribly wrong. This just wasn't like
her. Shadow was also supposed to be dog sitting for her friend Tristan over
a Labor Day weekend, but never showed up. London contacted officials at Fort
Campbell on Tuesday, September sixth. She let them know that she hadn't heard
from Shadow. The officials verified that Shadow had not reported for active duty on
that day. Also, on that day, she was supposed to go to
a court appearance related to her rape allegation, but she didn't show up right
away. London believed something had happened to Shadow. Her daughter was missing,
not just ignoring calls and texts, So London traveled from her home in North
Carolina to Kentucky. She was there by September eighth. Shadow's father, who
lived in California, also came Now, family, friends, and law enforcement
officers were searching for Shadow. Later, the US Army Criminal Investigation Division and
the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation joined forces for Shadow's case, and according to USA
Today, these agencies worked closely with shadows family. Supporters had also started a
GoFundMe to help costs for shadows family. People donated more than eleven thousand dollars,
and the National Veterans Search and Recovery Program was also instrumental in providing resources
to shadows family. On Monday, September twelfth, volunteers and investigative officials looked
for Shadow in the Dunbar Cave State Park. They didn't find her or any
evidence. Around this same time, Shadow's other family members confirmed that Shadow hadn't
reached out by text or calls, and her phone was either dead or turned
off. Missing Persons, posters and flyers were distributed with shadows details, but
also revealed she had also gone by Bernice Willis her middle name and maiden name.
Perhaps she was shedding memories of her married name or even avoiding the notoriety
of her legal name, considering the legal trouble she had recently been in.
On Tuesdays at Timber thirteenth, more than a week after Shadow went missing,
her car was found. She drove a silver Tudor Hyundai Elantra with California tags,
and it was recovered in a parking lot in Nashville, Tennessee. That's
about an hour's drive away from Fort Campbell. According to London's interviews with True
Crime Daily, Shadow's car was getting repeatedly ticketed. The authorities eventually put a
boot on it, and that's why police ran the plate. London explained that
she couldn't imagine why Shadow would have left her vehicle in the specific area of
Nashville. There just wasn't anything nearby related to Shadow's daily life. London believed
that her daughter's car was left there by someone else. Days after Shadow's car
was discovered, a candlelight vigil was held in her honor. It was held
in front of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, Tennessee. Many of Shadow's
friends, family, and supporters attended, including the mayor of Clarksville at the
time, Kim McMillan. McMillan said the following about Shadow's mother, It is
something I believe that no parents should have to go through, and as mayor
of this city, I wanted her to know that clarks Full stands behind her,
fills with her, and wants her to know that we are there for
her. On Thursday October sixth, twenty sixteen, twenty four year old Jamal
Williams McCray, shadow's ex husband, was held in the Montgomery County Jail in
Clarksville on out of county warrants, reported the Leaf Chronicle. The warrants were
officially unrelated to Shadow's case, but unofficially many suspected Jamal's current charges were a
placeholder, at least until more evidence about Shadow's case came to light. By
Thursday, October twenty seventh, twenty sixteen, seven weeks after Shadow vanished,
authorities announced that two men were taken into custody in relation to shadows disappear pearants.
These men were booked into the Montgomery County Jail. At the time of
their booking, the US Army would not release the men's names or charges.
They only stated that the two soldiers are currently being held as persons of interest.
However, Shadow's mother, London, unofficially confirmed that one of the men
was Jamal. A month later, on Friday, November twenty fifth, the
government revealed more details. They explained that two soldiers with the one hundred first
Airborne Division faced conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder charges related to the slaying of
Private First Class Shadow MacLean. These charges came under the Uniform Code of Military
Justice, and these two previously unnamed men were Jamal, Williams McCrae and a
man named Charles Robinson. Charles Robinson third was born in Springfield, Illinois,
but spent much of his childhood and Charlotte, North Caroline. According to Charles,
he was raised in a rough environment. He claimed that his father was
jailled for domestic violence and that his father once stabbed a man fifteen times with
a screwdriver. He also claimed he was sexually assaulted by a family friend.
By twenty sixteen, Charles was married and a father to a young son,
and an army specialist in the one hundred first Airborne Division with Jamal in Shadow.
However, Charles had never met Shadow. He had only ever heard of
her through her ex husband, Jamaal. Charles would later admit he didn't even
know Shadow's name. At the time of Jamal and Charles's arrest in late November,
Shadow's mother asked the public to provide information pertaining to Shadow's whereabouts. She
said, we just need to find her. I'm missing her. I have
so many questions. The waiting is the hardest part. I'm going to pause
now for a short commercial break. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation discovered twenty five
year old Shadow McLean's skeletal remains on Monday, January twenty third, twenty seventeen.
They were located on I twenty four off Exit nineteen in Robertson County.
Some news reports say a passerby found Shadow's body, but it's possible Charles or
his wife, who becomes important, later told authorities where to find her.
She was positively identified by dental records. After the investigators recovered Shadow's body,
her father told reporters quote, I do know now where my daughter is at.
I get to take her home. Shadows remains were flown to California as
a soldier. Her casket was shrouded in the American flag and the traditional four
normal military procession as they transported Shadow to the airport. A motorcycle group known
to honor deceized soldiers and veterans called the Patriot Guard Riders, also escorted Shadow
to the plane. Major General Andrew P. Poppas commanding General for the one
hundred first Airborne Division, said, all of us here at Fort Campbell are
saddened by the news, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family.
At this time. Shadow's mother, London, told Fox forty News that the
U. S. Army hadn't respected Shadow since she had made the initial rape
allegation against Jamal. Now, London felt Shadow was getting the respect she deserved
at noon on February eleven. Shadow's memorial service was held at the Crossroads Community
Church in Yuba City in lieu of flowers. Shadow's family requested that mourners donate
to the National Headquarters for Disabled American Veterans. She was buried in the Yuba
City Cemetery. At this time, Shadow's cause of death was still unknown.
After finding her body, court proceedings came next, and Shadow's family was ready
for a fight. According to The Leaf Chronicle, Shadow's father said, we
are going to make everyone who had anything to do with this pay for what
happened to my daughter. We are coming for you. You will not get
away with this. London told reporters, I want justice. Eye for an
eye, blood for blood. Shadow's family also proclaimed that they would have supporters
at every single court date around this time. In February of twenty seventeen,
both Jamal and Charles were in pre trial confinement awaiting their impending court martial a
few months later in April of twenty seventeen, the prosecutors had established a strong
circumstantial case against Jamal and Charles. Believed that the two men killed Shadow to
silence her rape allegations against Jamal. One prosecutor said in the preliminary hearing closing
arguments, we don't have an eye witness, we don't have a manner of
death. Yet what we have is circumstantial evidence, and a lot of it.
And this circumstantial evidence primarily came from Charles's wife, Jade Robinson. Jade
told the authorities that she had overheard Charles and Jamal. They were whispering together
on her and Charles's porch. She heard them discuss Exit nineteen and getting rid
of a car. Both details were directly related to Shadow's case, since her
body was found at Exit nineteen and her car was abandoned in Nashville. According
to Jade Robinson's interviews with the authorities, on the night Shadow vanished, Charles
told his wife he was going to rave. He wore dark clothing and a
face mask. The next day, Jade watched Charles clean his trud with bleach
and a mob She also claimed that Charles said, if you're asked, say
I was home all night. She also said she heard him ask a neighbor
to borrow a pressure washer. During preliminary hearings, it was revealed that Jamal
had claimed that he was at home during the time and date of Shadow's murder,
but this did not align with what Jamal's girlfriend told detectives. She said
that Jamal told her he was in Nashville. When she asked, why are
you in Nashville, Jamal explained that he was looking for Shadow, she was
missing. However, at the time that Jamal said this, it was still
Labor Day weekend of twenty sixteen. Shadow had not been reported missing yet.
But at the Nashville parking lot where Shadow's car was found, security camera footage
showed a black male leaving Shadow's car, and a search of Jamal's car turned
up a Duffel bag with clothing that matched those worn on the man in the
video. That's why he was in Nashville. At these preliminary hearings, Jamal
and Charles's defense council asserted that the prosecution was relying on unreliable witnesses. They
argued that these accusations were baseless, and they requested that the death penalty not
be considered for Charles and Jamal's cases. Jamal's attorneys said that the sexual assault
allegation was the result of their acrimonious divorce. He also said that the couple
engaged in a BDSM lifestyle, which explained the text messages found about physical acts
that could be seen as abuse. According to military prosecutors, the sexual assault
investigation remained open over the next several months before Shadow disappeared in September twenty sixteen.
Prosecutors argued that Jamal wanted the military assignment in Korea, but could not
move on with his career because the sexual assault allegation remained unresolved, and also
that he was angered by Shadow's continued presence in his life, as she had
been accused of stalking one of his girlfriends. After these pre trial hearings,
the commanding officer's report directed that the men be bound over for trial. On
Friday, August eleventh, twenty seventeen, Charles Robinson the Third began his court
martial proceedings in Fort Campbell. At first, he didn't enter a plea,
and he had his case heard by a U. S. Army judge rather
than a jury. A little over a month later, on September twenty eighth,
twenty seventeen, Charles suddenly accepted a plea deal and pled guilty to premeditated
murder, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice, and he agreed to
provide honest testimony during Jamal's court proceedings in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
I'm going to pause now for a final commercial break. Charles admitted to his
role in killing Shadow McLean, and he explained exactly what happened. According to
his story, Jamal had approached him about killing Shadow beginning on June first of
twenty sixteen, four months before she went missing. Apparently, Jamal had already
made other attempts to kill Shadow on his own, but he had failed the
first time he tried to poison Shadow. Then he had attempted to strangle her.
Now the story of her cut brake lines doesn't seem so paranoid or unlikely.
On August fifteenth of twenty sixteen, Jamal went to Charles's home in Fort
Campbell. This is likely when Charles's wife, Jade overheard the two men talking.
Jamal and Charles hammered out the details of Shadow's murder, and Jamal agreed
to pay ten thousand dollars to Charles for him to do the actual crime.
Later on, Charles said that he only ever received two hundred dollars of that
payment, The two men decided that Shadow's murder had to happen before Labor Day.
They knew that Shadow had a court hearing regarding her rape allegations against Jamal
on Tuesday, September sixth. According to Charles, his wife Jade Robinson was
involved in these discussions. She had not overheard anything, as she had claimed
to the authorities, she was a participant according to her husband. However,
it's important to note that Jade has never been charged with anything related to Shadow's
murder. As Charles, Jamal, and perhaps Jade continued to plot Shadow's murder,
Charles proposed that they used Jamal's gun to kill her. However, Jade
thought this was a bad idea. She suggested using a knife or a box
cutter instead. Initially, the idea was to kill Shadow at Exit twenty four
on I twenty four, but on the evening of Friday, September second,
there was a party happening at this location too many people were nearby, so
they changed the murder site to Exit eleven. Then Jamal approached Shadow. He
told her he had a scavenger hunt planned for her. They went to Exit
eleven together and began digging a hole in a field, presumably to find something
related to the scavenger hunt. At this time. It was early in the
morning on September third, and as they were digging, Charles, whom Shadow
had not met, approached them. He pretended to own the land where Jamal
and Shadow were digging. He acted upset at their trespassing. Charles ordered Jamal
and Shadow to their knees. He said he was going to search them and
hold them until the police could arrive. Next, Charles searched Jamal. He
found the box cutter that they had previously planted on him. Then Charles went
to Shadow to search her, and instead he killed her with the box cutter
and a knife. He slashed her throat and stabbed her in the chest.
Afterward, he broke her neck to assure that she was dead. Then the
two men put Shadow's body into Charles's pickup truck and Jamal poured ammonia on her
to hide the evidence. He also poured ammonia on the grassy area where she
had been killed. Then they left Shadow's body in a field on Exit nineteen
near Maxie Road. After that, Charles drove Jamal to Shadow's car and Jamal
disposed of the car in Nashville, where it was later found. Jamal was
also in charge of getting rid of the bloody clothing and boots. Meanwhile,
Charles got rid of the knife and the box cutter. He threw the murder
weapons in the Cumberland River. They were later found by investigators. According to
Charles, after killing Shadow, he then went home and told his wife what
happened. He testified, I informed my wife where we had placed the body
and what had happened, and then we had sex. Shortly after, Charles
washed his truck bed with acetone. His goal was to remove both Shadow's blood
and the paint. Then he repainted his truck bed. During Charles's sentencing,
he apologized to Shadow's family. He said, I think about your daughter every
day. If someone killed my son, I would be a broken man.
I deserve to be punished. I want to set a better example for my
son than my father was to me. Shadow didn't deserve to be hurt.
Shadow never hurt me. His words were related to him requesting a more lenient
sentence, and in the end he got it. He was sentenced to twenty
five years in military prison. He was also credited with five hundred and fifty
eight days of time served, which was two hundred more days than he had
actually served. Apparently, the US military had made some administrative errors and Charles's
incarceration and this was their gesture to make up for it. But one was
that they would have a superior visit him once every two weeks, and they
didn't. Charles was also demoted and dishonorably discharged. The prosecution wanted a harsher
sentence. One lawyer said the following of Charles. This is not a man
who committed an act of passion. This is someone who said I'll kill her
for ten thousand dollars. He didn't even know her name. The information that
Charles provided was huge for the case. It was the catalyst that caused more
charges to be brought against Jamal. In March of twenty eighteen, Jamal was
charged with multiple conspiracy offenses, obstruction of justice, sexual assault, attempted murder,
solicitation for murder, and premeditated murder. At this point, newspapers reported
that two women were suspected to be involved in Shadow's death. It saved to
assume one of those women was Charles's wife, Jade, whom we have discussed
and the other was likely Jamal's girlfriend, though that is unconfirmed. Jamal claimed
the second woman knew of the crime, gave him advice on it, and
helped him clean Shadow's items out of his apartment, but both women denied any
involvement and were not charged. As prosecutors geared up for Jamal's trial, they
decided to seek the death penalty. Jamal's defense counsel asserted that if Charles hadn't
faced the possibility of death, then neither should Jamal, but that did not
stand. On April sixth, it was determined that Jamal Williams McCray would face
the death penalty. In early January of twenty nineteen, Jamal requested that his
trial be moved to a different county due to rampant pre chrill publicity. His
lawyers also requested that Shadow's family be limited in their remarks if they were allowed
to provide victim impact statements. On Wednesday, February twenty seventh, twenty nineteen,
Jamal appeared in court. It was assumed that he would continue making his
case for those requests I just mentioned, but in a shocking twist, Jamal
admitted to everything he confessed to orchestrating Shadow's murder and assisting in hiding her body.
He pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to
commit murder, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Shadow's family and friends were at
this hearing. Many wore T shirts bearing the words Shadow's Army. After the
hearing, Shadow's mother, London, said, we are just glad we are
getting justice finally. However, there were portions of Jamal's plea that upset Shadow's
family, namely how Jamal's version of events differed from Charles's. Jamal claimed that
he and Shadow were not on a scavenger hunt. Instead, they were planning
the murder of Jamal's current girlfriend, who Jamal claimed Shadow wanted dead. According
to Jamal, he and Shadow spent that Friday, September second working out the
details, and that night they were scoping out potential places where they could kill
his girlfriend and hide her body. That's what they were doing when Charles,
pretending to be the landowner, approached them. When this information was shared during
Jamal's hearing, Shadow's family was outraged, and understandably so, it's important to
emphasize that there is no evidence that Shadow was trying to kill Jamal's girlfriend.
Also, Jamal claimed that he wasn't present during Shadow's murder. He said he
had returned to his truck, leaving Charles in Shadow alone together. Then Charles
approached him and said it's done. It's unclear which version of events is more
true. Regardless, the result was the same. They killed Shadow, there
was no doubt about it. On Thursday, February twenty eighth, twenty nineteen,
twenty seven year old Jamal William Spincray was sentenced to life in prison.
This came after several witnesses, including an expert witness who described the pain Shadow
would have gone through after having her throat slashed. Due to a sealed deal
between Jamal and the authorities, he will be eligible for parole in ten years.
He also gets credit for the eight hundred and seventy five days he had
already spent in jail before trial. But, as The Leaf Chronicle pointed out,
military parole after such a short time is extremely rare. Most think it's
unlikely he will be released. Jamal will only be able to serve a maximum
of seventy five years, and if that's the case, he'll get out of
prison when he's one hundred and two years old. With conflicting stories by the
co conspirators, we may never know why Shadow agreed to accompany her ex husband
late that terrible night in September twenty sixteen. Maybe she didn't agree, Maybe
Jamal forced her. It certainly wouldn't be the first time in their relationship that
he had been violent with her. No, it's more likely he was worried
that Shadow would struggle and draw attention to them, so he did use some
ruse to lure her out to her death. I find Charles Robinson's version of
events more likely. Why would he lie about that, especially since he took
full responsibility for actually killing Shadow MacLean. He easily could have point out the
finger at Jamal or said they did it together. But it doesn't really matter.
Shadow was now threatening Jamal's career, not just missing out on going to
Afghanistan, but he could have been charged with sexual assault, spent time in
a federal prison after being dishonorably discharged. She was wrecking his whole life.
She wouldn't just walk away quietly, and for that, she had to die,
even if he was too cowardly to kill her himself. Southern Fried True
Crime is hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched and
written by Andrea Marshbank and Erika Kelly. As usual, any editorial comments and
opinions are my own. Southern Fred's original music is by Rob Harrison of Gamma
Radio and the original graphic art is by Kully Horner. If you have any
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