Daughter helps find missing mum's body on girlfriend's porch after 'foul smell'

A daughter helped capture her mum's murderer after reporting a strange smell coming from her mum's girlfriend's porch.

Last week, Shannon McCarthy from Jacksonville was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing her partner Heather Sheppard and leaving her remains out on the front porch of their home for nearly a week in 2023.

McCarthy has been sentenced to 30 years in Florida State Prison after changing her plea from not guilty to guilty on charges of second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and written threats to kill or do bodily injury. It comes aftera boy, 5, is murdered by kidnappers because his mum couldn't pay a £39 ransom.

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On July 3, 2023, the victim's daughter contacted the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to report her mother, Heather Sheppard, missing.

According to the Office of the State Attorney Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, she last saw her mum a few days prior at the Colonial Avenue home where she stayed with her girlfriend, McCarthy.

When the victim's daughter and another person tried to go inside the home to check on Heather, McCarthy would not allow them inside the home and claimed the victim had already left.

On 4 July, McCarthy told Heather's daughter and a friend they could pick up Sheppard's belongings; but once at the house, McCarthy would not allow them on the front porch, and they reported smelling a foul odor.

The following day, detectives responded to the home and were given consent to search the home by McCarthy, at which point they witnessed her throw a tarp over items on the front porch. They removed the tarp and found Sheppard’s body in a state of decomposition.

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Detectives subsequently interviewed neighbors who reported hearing gunshots on 28 June and 30 June, and multiple firearms were removed from the home as evidence.

Officers detained and questioned McCarthy who admitted to sending her girlfriend texts in which she threatened to kill her. Sheppard's autopsy confirmed she was shot multiple times and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was able to confirm the projectiles matched McCarthy’s gun.

It comes after a British man was sentenced to serve at least 18 years in prison after viciously knifing his girlfriend 27 times.

Mother-of-two Megan Hughes, 31, died from the knife wounds she sustained at the hands of Corey Dryden, 32, at their home in Chirnside in the Scottish Borders in February. Police picked him up shortly after the murder and took him into custody, where he initially told investigators he had no recollection of what had happened.

Weeping during the interview, he blubbed: "I did really love her, you know." After his arrest, he told the mental health nurse assessing him it was "unlikely" he would be released on bail because he had "hacked" his girlfriend until she died.

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Lili Prais KC, defending the killer, said her client was bewildered how he could have killed his partner - who he had known since childhood. The pair had become an item in February last year and moved in together a few months later.

However, there had been violence in the relationship before, with Dryden being fined £300 in December 2024 for threatening and abusive behaviour towards Ms Hughes.

Ms Hughes left behind two children from a previous relationship. Detective Chief Inspector Laura White said the attack was "vicious and calculated".She added: "His actions have robbed a family of their mum, daughter, granddaughter, sister and niece. Our thoughts very much remain with Megan's family and friends as they come to terms with what happened to her."