Shannon Graves vanished in mysterious circumstances in February, never to be heard from again.
Her boyfriend, Arturo Novoa, wasted no time moving on – quickly making space for his new girlfriend, Katrina Layton, to move into the house he once shared with Shannon.
Layton started using Shannon’s credit cards and mobile phone, as well as driving her car and even taking over looking after her dog.
“Basically, Ms Layton moved in with Mr Novoa and started living her life,” prosecutor Dana Lantz told the New York Daily News.
“She didn’t hold herself out to be Shannon, she just lived her life, using her phone, caring for her dog.”
When Novoa asked his landlord if he could store an icebox in the basement a few weeks ago – saying his electricity had been cut off and that he “didn’t want his freezer full of meat” to go off – Kenny Eshenbaugh and his wife were, at first, happy to oblige.
But the icebox, which was closed with a huge padlock, quickly gained the couple’s curiosity, and after a few days they broke it open to see what was inside.
What they found is the stuff of nightmares.
The dismembered remains of a human body were packed into several different plastic bags, The Independent reports.
Tests revealed the grizzly remains were that of Shannon Graves, and Novoa and Layton were arrested less than 24 hours later.
Tributes to Shannon have poured in with a friend, Sebastian Rucci, writing on Facebook: “It’s very sad to see the news that Shannon Graves died so violently.”
“She did not deserve to die so young and so violently.”
