Car, Change Said to Spur Homicide
- Share via
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. — A woman was charged with murder Tuesday in the apparent hatchet slaying of an 83-year-old man police say was killed for his car and $510 in quarters.
Shonda Walter, 23, was arrested and charged with murder and theft in the killing of James Sementelli, a World War II veteran who survived Pearl Harbor.
Family members and neighbors hadn’t seen Sementelli, a widower, since last Wednesday. Authorities found Sementelli’s body in his home Monday after another woman reported that on March 25, Walter told her that she had just killed a man.
The woman, Shanee Gaines, said the two went to Sementelli’s home, where she saw the body.
Gaines said Walter told her she killed Sementelli for his car, a 2002 Toyota Camry, and also took a large number of quarters, which turned out to total $510.
Gaines had not been charged with a crime.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
John Orr was a renowned fire investigator who was also a prolific arsonist, and whose thinly veiled novel helped to convict him. In this episode we hear from the fire captain who first suspected him—and from Orr himself.
Madison McGhee is joined by legendary Dateline host Josh Mankiewicz and esteemed L.A. Times Reporter Richard Winton as the three of them dive into all-things Menendez Brothers, the good, the bad, and the still unknown.
NPR climate editor Sadie Babits talks about why the media has long overlooked the climate crisis, and how that’s starting to change.
