New Murder Arrest After Cold Case DNA Breakthrough In Texas

Killeen, Texas murder of Shayna L. Waller has gone unsolved since 2011 when she was just 26 years old, but an arrest has finally been made in this cold case thanks to a DNA breakthrough according to this KCEN article.

As a parent of three children, I cannot imagine what living with an unanswered question like this has been like especially with all of the years of hearing bad intel, and low value leads that were being fed to authorities.

When did Shayna L. Waller of Killeen, Texas die?

On a Saturday afternoon in January of 2011, the body of Waller was found wrapped within a green bedsheet in a ditch along Quarry Road just east of the city limits of Killeen near the what was then Fort Hood. The T intersection that leads towards post off FM 439 looks very much the same as it did back then except for the road is no longer gravel.

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The very next day an autopsy was completed, and the investigation was officially a homicide. The case went cold until the Bell County Sheriff's Office began looking into it again in 2022.

New Murder Arrest After Cold Case DNA Breakthrough In Killeen, Texas

Thanks to a CODIS (Combined DNA Index Service) hit on a single glove that was found near the site Waller's body was recovered, authorities identified Canton as their prime suspect. Canton later consented to a blood draw, and the lab was able to match him to the recovered glove.

Credible information is always welcomed, and if you know anything that can ever help authorities, you are encouraged to please contact Bell County Crime Stoppers.