Ronald Shanabarger

 

I have a few cases researched and generally I try to go through them and put them together in the order I researched them but from time to time I will come across one that I really want to do before the others. I have often said that the most difficult cases for me are those involving children so when I get in a mood to do those types of cases I generally have several at one time and then you will not see them for a while. This one however, is like no other that I have researched, regardless that the victim was a child. I was extremely surprised that this happened more than twenty years ago and even in my state and I had never heard about the case. From a legal standpoint there is very little evidence that a crime even technically occurred. In fact, if Ronald Shanabarger had not confessed repeatedly he would have clearly gotten away and not sitting in prison right now.

On the morning of June 20, 1999 in Franklin Indiana, Amy Shanabarger went in to check on her six month old son, Tyler. What she found will, I am sure, stay with her forever. She found her son face down in his crib and blue. In fact, by all accounts rigor mortis had already set in. There was nothing that could be done for the infant. The local coroner would rule Tyler's death as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Two days after Tyler's funeral Amy's husband, Ronald made a confession to her. He informed her that he was certain Tyler had not died of SIDS but that he had been suffocated and he did it himself. The following day Ronald went to the local police station and again confessed to murdering his son, and the story he told law enforcement is one that amazed everyone.

In 1996 Ronald and Amy Parsons were dating. Amy was on a cruise ship when Ronald's father passed away. It was said that “she refused” to cut her vacation short and head back home to comfort Ronald in his grief. This is when Ronald says he planned his future. Ronald and Amy would get married in May of 1997 and on November 26, 1998 Tyler was born. According to Ronald the wedding and the birth of a child was all part of his plan. He claims that he not only purposely got Amy pregnant but waited until she bonded with the child and the child was able to roll over on its own for the sole purpose of murdering the child. He claimed he wanted Amy to know what grief felt like and get revenge on her for not coming home to be with him when his father died.

Ronald claimed that on the night of June 19^th, the day before Father's Day, while Amy was at work he had gone into Tylers room and had put plastic wrap around his face. He said he went into another room where he ate and about twenty minutes later returned to the bedroom. He then removed the plastic wrap and turned the baby over to his stomach. When Amy got home from work she had not checked on the baby and had gone to bed. It was said that on the day that he confessed to the police he begged the officers to shoot him.

Clearly things had gone the way Ronald had planned, including the medical examiner determining the cause of death to be SIDS. This is why he had waited until Tyler could roll over on his own. When asked why he would confess when he had gotten away with murder he claimed it was because he could not get the image of his child out of his head. It is unclear if he was immediately arrested or if investigators attempted to collaborate his story before moving forward. It was said that three pieces of plastic wrap had been found in the trash at his home but I am uncertain whether anything was done with this evidence. But, Ronald was arrested and charged with the murder of his child.

While in custody Ronald continued to repeatedly confess, first to his sister and her husband and in several letters he wrote to Amy. This is really the most damning evidence they had against him and the letters would later be used against him in court.

Ronald went on trial on the last day of April in 2002. The trial last nine days. Aside from the evidence of his confessions and Amy's testimony, the police chaplain also testified. According to the chaplain soon after Ronald's confession he had visited him in his cell. He said Ronald began talking about all that he had lost including his job, his wife, house and money. The chaplain testified that he pointed out to Ronald that he had also lost his son Ronald replied, “Oh yeah, I lost the boy too.”

The prosecutor had debated on seeking the death penalty but apparently there was an agreement of some sort that because he had confessed they would not seek an execution. Reality is that no one even knew a crime had occurred until he confessed. Despite all of this the defense still attempted to say that the cause of death was SIDS. When they did not work they tried arguing that Ronald was essentially “mentally retarded.” At some point they even attempted to blame Amy saying that she did it for life insurance money. None of their claims seemed to be based on facts. On May 8, 2002 Ronald Shanabarger was convicted in the murder of his son (It was not clear the “degree” of murder). It was said that upon his conviction Ronald was heard to say “I'm shocked. I'm just shocked.” It amazes me that he was shocked at all.

On June 13^th Ronald was sentenced to forty-nine years. The judge who presided over his trial said he decided against a life sentence because of his “lack of prior convictions, diminished mental capacity, and the extraordinary circumstances of the case.” Amy Shanabarger, who had long since divorced her husband, and her father very publicly criticized the sentence.

Appeals were filed in 2003 and 2006. In the latter appeal there were various things mentioned including jury misconduct and ineffective counsel. The courts affirmed the conviction and sentence in both instances. One article I read stated that the earliest that Ronald could be released was in the year 2023 but according to the Indiana Department of Corrections website the earliest is in March of 2025. This could indicate that he has misbehaved while inside. I can also say that in Indiana if an inmate does get a “shot” the dates can go up and then back down again later. In the same respect Indiana is a state in which approximately only 50% of a sentence is served in most cases so it is likely that he will be released in the next few years.

I am sure there are many here that look at this case and think about false confessions and I have to admit there is a part of me that agrees with you on this issue. However, in cases in which there are false confessions the person almost always immediately changes their story and will claim that they were coerced. That is not the case here. On top of that Ronald's story apparently never changed in all of the confessions, that is also something you do not see. That being said I must admit that I am confused at Ronald's comment after his conviction.

Something else in this case that I found interesting was the fact that while Ronald's dad died in 1996, his mother died just a month and a half prior to Tyler being murdered. I used the Findagrave website and I could not confirm his father. There was a Shanabarger man who did die in 1996 and in fact is buried at the same cemetery in which Ronald's mom is buried but neither in the man's or the man's daughter who died is Ronald mentioned so I cannot confirm this was his father. However, his mother, Carmen's obituary is also listed and show Ronald living in Franklin as well as Ronald's sister who I found mentioned by name.