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The Dark History of Wharton County Part Two · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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  Speaker 1: Gone Cold. Podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
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  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Gonado, Texas sits on the western
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  Speaker 1: edge of Wharton County's Rice Country, a small farming community
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  Speaker 1: where agriculture remains the backbone of the local economy. The
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  Speaker 1: town is a little more than ninety miles southwest of
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  Speaker 1: Houston and about thirty six miles northeast of Victoria. It's
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  Speaker 1: a place where the rice fields stretch to the horizon,
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  Speaker 1: grain elevators rise above the flat prairies, and many of
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  Speaker 1: the county roads are little more than narrow, two lane
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  Speaker 1: stitches connecting scattered farms and ranches. It's the kind of
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  Speaker 1: place where the usual and familiar blends in and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: times goes unnoticed, while strangers always get a second glance,
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  Speaker 1: not because they're unwelcome, but simply because they're often unexpected.
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  Speaker 1: Barbara Jean Shaannaberg, who went by her middle name, was
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  Speaker 1: one of the familiar faces. Her maiden name, Thansgard, is
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  Speaker 1: Danish and hearkens back to some of the area's oldest communities.
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  Speaker 1: She was born and raised in Wharton County and graduated
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  Speaker 1: from El Campo High School in the town of the
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  Speaker 1: same name. By nineteen ninety nine, Jean had spent many
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  Speaker 1: years teaching English at Ganado High School. According to some accounts,
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  Speaker 1: she wasn't the type of instructor who would let you
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  Speaker 1: slip through easily, but instead she graded harshly, expecting the
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  Speaker 1: most the best out of her students. Faculty remembers Gene
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  Speaker 1: as meticulously well dressed, a person who carried herself well,
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  Speaker 1: and as a good friend. Jean was also a wife,
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  Speaker 1: the mother of two children, a son and a daughter,
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  Speaker 1: and a well known member of the community. On the
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  Speaker 1: morning of Thursday, August fifth, nineteen ninety nine, the fifty
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  Speaker 1: seven year old left her home for her walk, something
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  Speaker 1: she did almost every day. Her route followed Country Road
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  Speaker 1: three eleven, just outside Ginado, where the road stretched between
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  Speaker 1: rice and open pasture for miles. The property surrounding her
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  Speaker 1: usual path was mostly owned by family members. That morning,
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  Speaker 1: Jean never returned home. Later that day, a farm worker
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  Speaker 1: discovered her bloodied body beside the road. Investigators quickly determined
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  Speaker 1: she had been murdered. Her throat had been cut twice.
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  Speaker 1: They noted some evidence of a struggle on the road,
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  Speaker 1: though would not specify exactly what it was. Nothing was
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  Speaker 1: stolen from Jean's body, and there was no evidence of
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  Speaker 1: rape or attempted rape. More than twenty five years later,
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  Speaker 1: many of the details remain known only to investigators. Authorities
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  Speaker 1: have never publicly disclosed the weapon used to kill Jane,
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  Speaker 1: or the weapon they believed was used to kill her.
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  Speaker 1: Virtually all of the details of the crime have been
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  Speaker 1: intentionally withheld throughout the investigation, with her manner of death
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  Speaker 1: not disclosed until twenty sixteen in the same Khou eleven
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  Speaker 1: Houston report that it was Another perplexing detail was also
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  Speaker 1: released for the first time when Jean's husband Carl, returned
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  Speaker 1: her keys to the school to friend and colleague Lois Woodring.
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  Speaker 1: She discovered a key on the ring that fit a
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  Speaker 1: mailbox in Edna, a town about ten miles southeast of Ganado.
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  Speaker 1: Lois had no idea her friend kept a mailbox there.
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  Speaker 1: Apparently no one did. When they investigated, deputies discovered letters
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  Speaker 1: to Gene in the mailbox, the nature of which they
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  Speaker 1: will not expound upon, although they said when they followed
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  Speaker 1: the trail, it did not lead to her killer. One
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  Speaker 1: piece of information, however, has remained public from the beginning.
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  Speaker 1: Investigators have repeatedly asked for information about a white truck
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  Speaker 1: with black on the front that was seen in the
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  Speaker 1: area around the time of the murder. Whether the vehicle
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  Speaker 1: belonged to the killer, a witness, or simply someone who
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  Speaker 1: they think may have seen something that has never been
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  Speaker 1: explained or brought to their attention is unknown, but authorities
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  Speaker 1: continue to believe it could be significant because Jane was
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  Speaker 1: a no nonsense teacher with high expectations. The Wharton County
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  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office interviewed many of her past students, but that
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  Speaker 1: avenue led nowhere. Although they appear to believe her murder
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  Speaker 1: was not at the hands of a student, many think
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  Speaker 1: whoever is responsible knew her walking routine and was perhaps
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  Speaker 1: lying in wait. In twenty sixteen, investigators announced they had
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  Speaker 1: a new lead behind bars and left it at that,
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  Speaker 1: adding only that they have resubmitted items for DNA testing.
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  Speaker 1: More than a quarter of a century later, no one
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  Speaker 1: has ever been arrested for the murder of Gene Shawneberg.
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  Speaker 1: The crime doesn't fall into place within any other unexplained attacks,
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  Speaker 1: Wharton County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Scott Grocer told KHOU. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: it stands alone. On July twelfth, twenty fourteen, Michelle Deborah
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  Speaker 1: Hicks was seen leaving a residence at one thousand and
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  Speaker 1: nine West Spanish Camp Road in Wharton, Texas. The twenty
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  Speaker 1: five year old mother of two has never been seen
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  Speaker 1: or heard from since. Michelle was wearing a white floral dress,
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  Speaker 1: black tights, and flipflops when she disappeared. She lived in
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  Speaker 1: El Campo. Detectives with the Wharton Police Department believe she
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  Speaker 1: was taken against her will, and her case is classified
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  Speaker 1: as an endangered missing person's investigation. More than a decade later,
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  Speaker 1: very few details surrounding her disappearance have been released publicly.
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  Speaker 1: Michelle is black, and at the time she vanished was
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  Speaker 1: approximately five feet five inches tall, weighed about one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and forty five pounds, and had long curled black hair
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  Speaker 1: and brown eyes. She had several distinctive tattoos, including tattoos
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  Speaker 1: on her back, neck, right shoulder, and upper right arm,
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  Speaker 1: along with a tattoo of writing on the side of
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  Speaker 1: her chest. Law enforcement, for whatever reason, has not released
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  Speaker 1: specific details about the tattoos, though, according to online comments
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  Speaker 1: made by her ex sister in law, the tattoo on
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  Speaker 1: her chest says Cameron the name of one of her sons,
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  Speaker 1: with another letter C connected to the bottom of the
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  Speaker 1: sea in Cameron. The tattoo on her neck apparently says Sean,
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  Speaker 1: and the ex sister in law says she believes the
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  Speaker 1: tattoo on her lower back is a rose. She also
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  Speaker 1: had scars on her left cheek and abdomen and could
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  Speaker 1: also be going by the name Michelle Hector, her maiden name.
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  Speaker 1: The Wharton Police Department, the agency responsible for the case,
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  Speaker 1: has not gone to the media in an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: spread the word about Michelle's disappearance, and very few details
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  Speaker 1: are known. She and her husband split up in twenty twelve,
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  Speaker 1: and Michelle had another boyfriend at the time, who apparently
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  Speaker 1: police said they eliminated. More than a decade has passed
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  Speaker 1: since she walked out of that house in Wharton, and
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  Speaker 1: her family is still waiting for answers. On Friday June eighteenth,
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, a property owner clearing brush along a
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  Speaker 1: remote stretch of County Road two two five near Hungerford
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  Speaker 1: discovered the skeletal remains of a woman or girl. The
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  Speaker 1: location was miles from town, tugged away among fields and
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  Speaker 1: ranch land where traffic was sparse and visitors were uncommon.
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  Speaker 1: It was the sort of place someone had to know
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  Speaker 1: existed to end up there, meaning someone had made the
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  Speaker 1: deliberate choice to leave her there, believing time, weather, and
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  Speaker 1: isolation would erase the evidence. The victim had no name.
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  Speaker 1: There was no purse, wallet, identification, or cell phone, nothing
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  Speaker 1: that immediately connected her to a missing person's report in
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  Speaker 1: Texas or anywhere else. By the time she was found,
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  Speaker 1: the Texas sun, rain, heat, and wildlife had done what
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  Speaker 1: they always do. Much of the evidence that might have
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  Speaker 1: answered investigator's earliest questions had disappeared. The remains had been
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  Speaker 1: exposed long enough that determining exactly when she died was
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  Speaker 1: no longer possible, Although it was estimated she'd been there
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  Speaker 1: for a few months. The cause of death was multiple
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  Speaker 1: gunshot wounds. To investigators, she arrived not as someone's daughter, sister,
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  Speaker 1: or friend, but as an unknown victim whose identity had
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  Speaker 1: been stripped away. Even so, forensic anthropologist lists began rebuilding
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  Speaker 1: the story. Her remains could still tell she was very young.
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  Speaker 1: Based on her skeletal development, they estimated she had been
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  Speaker 1: between fourteen and seventeen years old when she died. She
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  Speaker 1: likely stood between four feet eight inches and five feet
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  Speaker 1: two inches tall, and was believed to be Hispanic, though
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  Speaker 1: they admitted they weren't sure. Her clothing revealed even more.
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  Speaker 1: She was wearing a black T shirt with the word
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  Speaker 1: Ohanna and depictions of characters from the movie Lelo and Stitch.
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  Speaker 1: She also wore shorts with images of coffee mugs and doughnuts,
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  Speaker 1: and a love Tree brand jacket. Around her were ordinary
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  Speaker 1: personal belongings, an inexpensive wristwatch, several rings, and other small
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  Speaker 1: items that had remained with her. They were the kind
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  Speaker 1: of things a teenager might buy with allowance money, receive
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  Speaker 1: as a birthday gift, and wear every day without giving
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  Speaker 1: them a second thought. Someone had almost certainly seen her
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  Speaker 1: wearing those rings and watched her leave home in that shirt.
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  Speaker 1: Someone may have even fastened that watch around her wrist somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Deputies didn't know where. Someone knew exactly who she was.
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  Speaker 1: Wharton County Sheriff's Office investigators searched for dental records on
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  Speaker 1: every available missing person database. They released a photo of
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  Speaker 1: the rings she wore, and still nothing. Agencies across multiple
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  Speaker 1: jurisdictions compared reports, followed leads and looked for anything that
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  Speaker 1: might identify the young girl. Nothing matched with traditional investigative methods. Exhausted,
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  Speaker 1: authorities turned to forensic reconstruction. Using measurements from her skull,
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  Speaker 1: forensic artists recreated what she may have looked like in life.
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  Speaker 1: The resulting image showed a young Hispanic girl with long,
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  Speaker 1: dark hair and soft facial features, a face investigators hoped
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  Speaker 1: would spark recognition. The reconstruction was released to the public.
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  Speaker 1: The Sheriff's office distributed it to news organizations. Her case
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  Speaker 1: entered national databases alongside thousands of other unidentified victims, each
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  Speaker 1: waiting for one phone call that might finally restore a name.
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  Speaker 1: Authorities believed someone would recognize her, but no one ever did.
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  Speaker 1: Each comparison ended the same way, with no match, without
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  Speaker 1: a name. She became known simply as Wharton County Jane Doe.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty three, the Wharton County Sheriff's Office partnered
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  Speaker 1: with the Texas Rangers and AUTHRM, a forensic DNA laboratory
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  Speaker 1: in the Woodlands, Texas specializing in forensic genetic genealogy. Through
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  Speaker 1: funding provided by Project Justice, scientists used forensic grade genome
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  Speaker 1: sequencing to develop a comprehensive DNA profile from the skeletal remains.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, investigators revisited missing person cases that
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  Speaker 1: might match this unidentified girl. Sixteen year old Jamie Maciela
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  Speaker 1: Beltrand's mother had reported her missing on April thirtieth, twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty one, after receiving a horrifying phone call from someone
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  Speaker 1: claiming her daughter had been murdered. Jamie hadn't been seen
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  Speaker 1: in fifteen days. In early twenty twenty five, a Houston
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  Speaker 1: Police Department detective reopened her missing person investigation. The detective
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  Speaker 1: obtained a DNA sample from her mother and submitted it
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  Speaker 1: to the Combined DNA Index System or CODIS. At nearly
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  Speaker 1: the same time, investigators at the University of North Texas
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  Speaker 1: Center for Human Identification compared that family reference sample to
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  Speaker 1: DNA recovered from the unidentified remains found in Wharton County.
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  Speaker 1: In June twenty twenty five, the results came back after
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  Speaker 1: four years, almost to the day, Wharton County Jane Doe
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  Speaker 1: finally had her name back. She was sixteen year old
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  Speaker 1: Jamie Maciela Beltrand. The identification transformed an unidentified death investigation
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  Speaker 1: into a homicide investigation with a victim. Law enforcement could
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  Speaker 1: finally fight for authority now believe Jamie was murdered in
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  Speaker 1: Harris County before her body was transported to rural Wharton
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  Speaker 1: County and abandoned along County Road two to five. The
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  Speaker 1: identification also renewed attention to information investigators had received years earlier.
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  Speaker 1: A witness told the Harris County Sheriff's Office she had
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  Speaker 1: been riding with Jamie and Jamie's boyfriend, a now twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven year old named Luis Omar Beltran Mendoza, on Interstate
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  Speaker 1: forty five in April twenty twenty one. According to the witness,
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  Speaker 1: Beltran Mendoza struck Jamie during an argument when she threatened
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  Speaker 1: to report him for other crimes. The witness alleged he
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  Speaker 1: pulled out a handgun and shot her three times in
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  Speaker 1: the head. The witness said Beltran Mendoza then threatened to
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  Speaker 1: kill her as well. According to investigators, she was held
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  Speaker 1: against her will for several days before eventually being released.
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  Speaker 1: She later identified Beltran Mendoza in a photographic lineup. On
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  Speaker 1: August seventh, twenty twenty five, the Harris County Sheriff's Office
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  Speaker 1: Cold Case Unit filed a murder charge against Luis Omar
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  Speaker 1: Beltran Mendoza, but the man fled before he could be arrested.
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  Speaker 1: As of the filing of that charge, he has remained
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  Speaker 1: a wanted fugitive. There is no promise that justice finds everyone.
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  Speaker 1: Even his advancements in forensic science continue to achieve the
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  Speaker 1: once unachievable. Sometimes it's not enough, and sometimes the evidence
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  Speaker 1: simply isn't there to test. Sanjana Velasquez Moreno or Wana
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  Speaker 1: should have worked her shift, clocked out and gone home
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  Speaker 1: to her husband. On August ninth, nineteen eighty eight. Mary
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  Speaker 1: Diaz should have grown into the woman she never had
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  Speaker 1: the chance to become. Jamie Maciela Beltrand would have celebrated
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  Speaker 1: another birthday and then many more. And Michelle Deborah Hicks
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  Speaker 1: should have walked out of that house on West Spanish
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  Speaker 1: Camp Road in Wharton, gotten in her car, and driven home.
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  Speaker 1: Jean Shaanneberg should have finished her walk and gone on
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  Speaker 1: to teach English classes for the rest of the nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety nine two thousand school year, and then many more.
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  Speaker 1: But none of that happened. If justice always prevailed, their
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  Speaker 1: murders and disappearances would have been quickly resolved, convictions secured.
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  Speaker 1: All of the families of these victims, even those that
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  Speaker 1: have gotten some answers, are still left with the uncertainty
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  Speaker 1: and anguish of not knowing what happened to their loved one,
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  Speaker 1: not for sure, And that is the uncomfortable truth about justice.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't handed out equally, and time keeps moving. Children
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  Speaker 1: grow up, parents grow old, perhaps family members die of
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  Speaker 1: disease or old age, and the rest of the world
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  Speaker 1: quietly moves on, most of which has no idea about
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  Speaker 1: the case or the countless other unsolved and cold cases.
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  Speaker 1: For the families left behind, the calendar never really changes.
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  Speaker 1: Every birthday, every holiday, every empty chair is another reminder
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  Speaker 1: of the life that should have been lived. Wharton County
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  Speaker 1: has seen feuds, lynchings, murders, disappearances, and generations of families
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  Speaker 1: searching for answers. Some found justice, some found only the
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  Speaker 1: truth or some semblance of that truth. Some have found neither.
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  Speaker 1: If you have any information of the murder of Gene
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  Speaker 1: Shauneberg or the whereabouts of Luis Omar Beltrand Mendoza, suspected
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  Speaker 1: in the murder of Jamie Maciela Beltrand, please contact the
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  Speaker 1: Wharton County Sheriff's Office at nine seven nine five three
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  Speaker 1: two one five five zero. If you have any information
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  Speaker 1: about the disappearance of Michelle Debrah Hicks, please call the
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  Speaker 1: Wharton Police Department at nine seven nine five three two
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  Speaker 1: three one three one. If you'd like to join gon
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Cold's mission to shine a light on unsolved homicides and
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  Speaker 1: missing persons cases, get the show at free and have
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