Suspect, victim have local ties
BY SUZANNE LOUDAMY Staff writer

The investigation of an alleged kidnapping and gruesome murder of a Whitehouse woman continues by the Smith County Sheriff's Department along with other law enforcement agencies.

Friends recount the events of Jan. 4 when Christopher Lee McCuin came to the Whitehouse apartment of his girlfriend, Jana Shearer, as nothing unusual until Shearer left the apartment without her shoes, purse or cell phone and never returned.

The following morning McCuin appeared at the home of his mother asking her to come to his truck and see what he had done. The discovery of Shearer's mutilated body in the truck sparked the beginning of details of horror which still continue to be uncovered.

The victim of this brutal crime was Jana Shearer, 21, of Whitehouse. She was a 2004 graduate of John Tyler High School. She is remembered by her family and friends as loving, giving and happy young woman

who had a bright future. (See memorial

ser vice information

page 3.)

While he did not currently live in Whitehouse, McCuin did attend Whitehouse schools in the past.

"We cannot verify the years he attended because those records are microfiched," Richard Peacock, WISD executive director of Student and Support Services said. "We can verify that he did attend school in Whitehouse, but did not graduate from Whitehouse."

The 25-year-old McCuin, already a convicted felon, remains in custody following his bond being set at $2 million for the capital murder.