(Cleveland Police Department)
Shirellda Hellen Terry is the last victim to be identified by police in the East Cleveland murders. Here’s what you need to know…
1. Shirellda Terry is the Third Victim ID’d in the Cleveland Murders
(Cleveland Police Department)
Terry is the third victim to be named in the grisly East Cleveland murders after three women were found stuffed in garbage bags in the Shaw and Hayden avenues area of East Cleveland over the weekend, reports WKYC 3 News. A reported odor led police to the discovery of the first body in a garage last Friday and two others were found nearby in the neighborhood the next day. All three bodies were found within a few hundred yards of each other.
2. She’s Been Missing Since July
(WEWS)
Terry, who was just 18-years-old had been missing since July 10. She was last seen leaving a Cleveland elementary school where she worked during the summer around 1 p.m. Terry’s family spent the weekend handing out flyers in the neighborhood where she went missing, but their hopes turned to despair when she was officially identified as the final East Cleveland murder victim on Tuesday.
3. Friends and Family Remember Her as Kind-Hearted
Family of East Cleveland murder victim Shirellda Terry standing together, stepfather says | http://t.co/t69WOLIiZZ http://t.co/RdlS06g7kH
— Margaret Bernstein (@margbern) July 24, 2013
Friends and family members remember Terry as a kind-hearted person who attended bible study groups. She had been home-schooled since she was 2 and would have graduated this year from the Virtual School House in Gates Mills.
“She was a good girl; she was a hugger,” said her mother, Rosetta Terry. “We used to tease her that we were gonna put her on a hug diet.”
4. Angela Deskins and Shetisha Sheeley are the Other Two Victims
Angela Deskins (left) and Shetisha Sheeley were the first two victims named in the East Cleveland murders.
The other two victims named prior to Terry are 38-year-old Angela Deskins and 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley. Deskins had been missing since June 7. She was homeless, though a friend said she was well-liked in the East Cleveland neighborhood. Sheeley was missing since September and came from a troubled family background. She leaves behind a 12-year-old daughter.
5. Michael Madison is the Main Suspect
Registered sex offender, 35-year-old Michael Madison, was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated murder and three counts of kidnapping. The horrific crimes allegedly committed by Madison are believed to be inspired by Anthony Sowell, a former Marine known as the “Cleveland Strangler” who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011. In 2009, the bodies of 11 women were found wrapped in plastic and garbage bags in and around his home. A neighbor says Madison even recently threatened to commit copycat crimes in the mode of Sowell.