5 Minute Mystery - The Murders of Shannon Paulk and Heaven LaShae Ross

Today, we dive into the chilling cases of Shannon Paulk and Heaven LaShae Ross, exploring the events surrounding their disappearances and murders. Shannon and Shae, as her parents and friends called her, disappeared within 2 years of each other in Alabama and many think the cases could be connected.







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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One crime at a time presents five minute mystery. Today
we dive into the chilling cases of Shannon Paulk and
heaven leche Ross, exploring the events surrounding their disappearances and murders.
Shannon and Shay, as her parents and friends called her,
disappeared within two years of each other in Alabama, and

(00:21):
many think the cases could be connected. August sixteenth, two
thousand and one, was supposed to be a normal summer
day for eleven year old Shannon Nicole Palk of Prattville, Alabama.
Her mother, Maurice Stroud, headed off to work that Thursday morning,
leaving Shannon and her older sister Lisa at their home
in the Candlestick Mobile Home Park. Paulk said that afternoon,

(00:44):
when she got off work around two thirty p m.
She picked up her grandson from the babysitter and decided
to go get Shannon something from the store to cheer
her up because Shannon was upset because her parents were
getting divorced. Stroud returned from work that evening and Paulk
was not home for dinner. This was extremely out of
character and worried her family. By nine p m. Stroud

(01:05):
called the police to inform them that her daughter was missing.
Local police immediately took the case seriously, and Shannon's Task
Force was formed. On October sixth, two thousand one, rabbit
hunters found the remains of Paulk's body, bound with rope
in a black plastic bag in a wooded area on
public hunting property about ten miles north of Prattville. Clifford Ziegler,

(01:30):
one of the hunters who found the body, told The
Prattville Progress that he passed the bag multiple times assuming
it was just trash, before he realized what it held.
It is widely speculated that Paulk's killer was someone she
knew and trusted. Years have passed and the killer of
Shannon Palk has still not been identified. Shannon's Task Force

(01:53):
still meets regularly and the family has never given up
hope that justice will be found for their loved one.
Heaven Lache Ross disappeared in Northport, Alabama, on August nineteen,
two thousand three. The eleven year old girl left her
family's residence that morning to walk to her school bus stop.
It did not take long for Shay's family to notice

(02:15):
she had vanished. It began pouring rain a few short
minutes after she left the house. According to reports, Shay's stepfather,
Kevin Thompson, subsequently decided to drive Shay and her older sister, Alex,
who was already at the bus stop, to school instead.
When Kevin drove up to the bus stop, he found
Alex there alone. Shay had not shown up and was

(02:38):
nowhere in sight. The bus stop is located approximately fifty
yards from the family's residence at the Willowbrook Mobile Home
Park off of Hunter's Creek Road. Shay left the home
that morning at six fifty five a m. To make
that short walk. The storm erupted a few minutes later.
It was seven o one a m. When Kevin went

(02:59):
to pick the girls up from the bus stop. Shay
seemingly vanished during a fifty yard walk in a span
of just six minutes. Shay's mother and stepfather contacted police
very shortly after discovering she was missing. Police spoke to
various residents at the mobile home park and learned that
a few neighbors had seen Shay walking by herself towards
the bus stop that morning. No one reported seeing her

(03:22):
with anyone, nor did anyone report seeing her get into
a vehicle as such, Shay's disappearance did not meet the
criteria for an Amber alert to be issued. Neighbors, family members, friends,
and various persons of interest were interviewed, but nobody was
able to account for Shay's whereabouts. Approximately five weeks after

(03:43):
Shay's disappearance, a fire broke out in her family's home.
The fire was contained to Shay's bedroom. Investigators concluded it
had been an act of arson. The fire Marshal's report
said that a small hole in the floor at the
foot of the bed and at the foot of a recliner,
where a cigarette button trash was found, is where the
fire started. Beth and Kevin told police that they had

(04:06):
no idea how they fire was started, nor did they
know about the hole in the floor. Kevin reportedly told
police that he believed that whoever took Shay may have
attempted to get rid of any potential evidence by crawling
under the trailer and setting the fire. However, police have
been unable to confirm this theory. Over three years passed

(04:27):
without any sign of the young girl. Then, on December nineteenth,
two thousand six, Shay's remains were found at an abandoned
house off Crescent Ridge Road near Holt by a man
collecting cans near the house. Shay's remains were badly decomposed,
making investigators unable to determine an exact cause of death. However,

(04:47):
her manner of death was labeled as a homicide. Shay
was found just eight miles away from the mobile home
park where she lived, in a location that is well
known for illegal drug activity. Shay's murder remains unsolved. Police
have not named an identifiable suspect in the Shannon Palk
case or that of heaven Leah Ross. Thank you for listening.
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(05:11):
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