A 39-year-old Pennsylvania man has been charged after admitting to police of raping and killing the 12-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend; and storing her body in a basement freezer.
Pennsylvania Man Charged After Raping & Killing 12-Year-Old Daughter Of Ex-Girlfriend, Body Found In Basement Freezer
Earlier this month, on Friday, February 10, the body of the little girl, named Elaina, was found in a basement freezer of home in Columbia, Pennsylvania. The mother’s ex-boyfriend, Jason Shackelford, has since been arrested and charged in Elaina’s death.
According to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, Shackelford told Columbia Borough Police Department officials that he raped and killed the girl at her home in the 500 block of Avenue H on the evening of Wednesday (February 8) into the early morning of Thursday (February 9).
Shackelford proceeded to tell police officials that he tried to hide Elaina’s body in a freezer down in the basement of the home. On Friday (February 10), Shackelford was detained by East Lampeter Township police, after they responded to a domestic disturbance at Wyndham Lancaster Hotel on Lincoln Highway East.
The young girl’s mother, Tiffany Smith, who was with Shackelford at the hotel, told police that she and him were going through a breakup and had demanded he move out of the house. The night her daughter was killed, Smith says she had been working a night shift and received a text from Shackelford around 6:35 a.m. on Thursday, claiming her daughter was sick and in bed.
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When Smith got off work around 7:45 a.m., she and Shackelford got into an argument. He proceeded to show her that her daughter’s bed was empty, claiming he kidnapped her and took her to New York.
It is reported that Shackelford then raped Smith, before kidnapping her and taking her to the Wyndham, where he raped her again, according to the DA’s office. When Shackelford’s ex-girlfriend went outside the room for a cigarette, she alerted hotel staff to call the police.
After about 8 a.m., the police searched Smith’s Columbia home and found her daughter’s body. Shackelford has since been charged with criminal homicide, and faces additional charges at a future date.
Previously, Shackelford has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to probation on several counts. Since at least 2020, these include: indecent assault; simple assault; terroristic threats; and firearms charges.
A GoFundMe has since been organized by family friend Shelly Vance. The site has a $50,000 goal with a total $18, 216 raised at the time of publishing this article.
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