PINEVILLE, Mo. — A 33-year-old cold case has finally been settled after the McDonald County Sheriff's Office named a new suspect in the 1990 murder of Shauna Garber, who was formerly referred to by investigators as "Grace Doe."
At one point, it was speculated the notorious BTK killer was the prime suspect. However, after Detectives Lorie Howard and Rhonda Wise spent decades gathering evidence, they announced Shauna's killer as Talfey Reeves who is now dead.
"Through statements, sources, witnesses, pounding the ground, and driving people absolutely insane for 30 years, we finally have the answers that we needed," Detective Howard said.
Detectives Howard and Wise say Reeves had multiple charges dating back to the 80s including first-degree assault and drug trafficking.
They were able to confirm Reeves was Shauna's killer through six corroborated sources and a witness who came forward after Reeves died in a car accident on Nov. 5, 2021.
"I can tell you Talfey Reeves was a suspect in this case for years," Howard said. "I just couldn't get anybody to talk to me on the record, as an affidavit, I couldn't corroborate their stories until years later. I had nobody who had the missing piece until he died. And that's how we are here today."
On Halloween night of 1990, Howard says Shauna was picked up by Reeves from the Tanglewood Ginger Blue area off of Missouri State Highway 59. He then hogtied her wrist and feet and took her to an abandoned farmhouse.
"He raped her. He bound her, and he overdosed her to shut her up because she was screaming so loudly, that it began to scare him in that valley, because it echoed," Howard said. "So we know that's how she passed."
Two months later, in December 1990, her body parts were found at the farmhouse located on Oscar Talley Road in McDonald County. The sheriff's office and Missouri State Highway Patrol conducted the initial investigation, but they were unable to identify her remains at the time.
"Detectives continued to work on the case and were told that it may be by the Grace of God that her identity would be found. This is how Jane Doe became 'Grace Doe,'" a press release from the McDonald County Sheriff's Office said.
For decades, Shauna's identity was unknown due to a lack of DNA evidence. That changed in 2021 when they finally received familial DNA evidence and found her half-sister Danielle Pixler.
"This lady had a hard-luck life," Howard said. "She was set on fire when she was 3 years old by her mom. And after that, she wound up in a foster care situation, and it was a failed adoption."
Shauna was born in 1968 and entered foster care when she was 6 years old, according to the press release. She aged out of the foster care system and went to the Vinita and Claremore area in Oklahoma to find family.
Pixler spent 30 years searching for Shauna. Despite never knowing her, she says she found closure in learning Reeves was her killer.
"I'm happy," she said. "I didn't know for sure if they were going to find anybody ... but they never stopped and none of them stopped."
According to the press release, the case has been changed from an open murder to cleared by exceptions. Detectives said if Reeves was still alive, he would have been charged with first-degree murder.
Detectives have been granted a subpoena to the Kansas Department of Child Services to learn more about Shauna's childhood.
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