There are some real sick people out there. Take, for instance, Christopher Brian Colbert, a 43-year-old hairdresser and freelance photographer for the LGBTQ newspaper Dallas Voice who just pleaded guilty to killing his former landlord, burying his body under a slab of concrete, stealing his identity, racking up $40,000 in credit card debt in his name and then selling his house to someone on the internet.
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The victim was 57-year-old Ronald Shumway, who mysteriously vanished last April. In September, the family that had moved into Shumway’s house started noticing a “bad small” wafting in from the backyard. That’s when police found human remains buried under a slab of concrete. DNA analysis confirmed they belonged to Shumway.
After identifying the body, it didn’t take long for authorities to link Shumway’s murder back to Colbert, who had been his tenant just a few months earlier before one day packing up and jetting off to California.
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According to police, during questioning, Colbert implied that he and Shumway were once a couple and had lived together but “went back to being friends” after Colbert moved out of the house.
Related: Love Hurts: Five Gay Relationships That Ended In Murder
Apparently, however, that friendship didn’t last because Colbert confessed to strangling Shumway during an argument. According to him, however, he was acting in self-defense after Shumway tried to choke him first.
Colbert also admitted to wrapping Shumway’s corpse in a black plastic sheet and burying it in concrete. Shumway’s remains indicated signs of strangulation, and his hands and feet had been bound with neckties.
Afterwards, Coblert said he hacked into Shumway’s email account and sent his boss a message saying he was quitting his job, then he went onto Shumway’s Facebook page and told his friends he had found his “midnight cowboy,” moved to Austin and was “loving the ranch life.” Then he opened a credit card in Shumway’s name, sold his house to a man on Craigslist, and fled for California.
Colbert, who is being held in a Los Angeles County jail, is awaiting extradition to Texas. His bond is set at $150,000.
Related: Trans Woman Found Stabbed at Bottom of Pond, Body Tied to Concrete
h/t: Gay Star News
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Jamey Arnold
Think that happened on an episode of Jane the virgin
John Kuehnle
Seen too many horror films have we?
JonahM01
Is this art imitating life or vice versa?? It’s like the plot of an especially horrifying “Forensic Files!”
Jerry Green
Can you say “The Tell-Tale Heart”?
Dylan Walker
They’re only dead if someone reports them missing…
Bob LaBlah
It would not surprise me if this low-life hair dresser scoped this guy out and found what he thought was the perfect victim. It sounds like a classic case of the victim having no one really close to him to follow up on as to why he suddenly disappeared. This is common with middle aged men. They tend to have people they “know” but no one really that “close” to investigate when they go missing.
When he sent out the Facebook message that alone should have alerted anyone who knew this guy that something was wrong. People generally leave more detail as to who this “midnight cowboy” was/is and would gave given more of a clue as to why they suddenly quit their job via email instead of walking into the office and explaining why. After all, a good reference from a past employer is always helpful.
Too many signs point to this guys killer made the mistake of telling someone who put two and two together and he wouldn’t give them anything to shut them up. I love a “smart ass queen” and the look on their face once they find out they were not as smart as they thought. I hope she was wearing the latest Andrew Christian panties when they threw her ass in jail and that the inmates acted “accordingly”.
Glücklich
… “‘bad small'” , “‘bad small [sic]'” , or “‘bad smell'”?
Who knew bad smalls could permeate a concrete slab? Aye yai yai!
Bob LaBlah
@JonahM01: It seems ironic but the same exact thing (as to why and where) happened to a guy who won a $13 million dollar lottery a few years ago. The guy was poor, could not understand huge dollar amounts, and was a victim just waiting to be pounced upon.
Up steps this low-life white girl who befriends the guy, convinces him to give her power of attorney, and then has the guy killed. She then buries the guy in the newly cemented driveway. His family KNEW she had killed him but did not know what she did with him. His family had kept on telling him something about that low-life POS didn’t add up but he refused to believe it. It go so bad an accountant of the guy told her to wait outside while he talked to the guy in private and strongly suggested to the guy this woman was “out for herself”. Still, he refused to listen.
A while later up steps a “friend” of a “friend” of this little witch who had helped bury the guy. At first he refused to believe it. After he meets this bitch ONCE he goes to the police with the story. They dig up the driveway and find the body and the gun used to kill him. She denies to this day she had anything to do with it but WONT explain why she didn’t report him missing and made TREMENDOUS withdrawals from this guys account.
As I said before and say again I love a smart mouthed ass queen/con person who thought they knew it all. In the end, it is always THEIR mouth and ignorance/arrogance that gets them caught.
Poncho Sanchez
I tend to think there may be a correlation between psychopathy and homosexuality. After reading a lot about serial killers on wiki, about 60 percent were homosexual, bi-sexual, trans or something of the like. Jeffrey Dahmer has caught the majority narrative, but many others like John Wayne Gacy and “the candy man” Dean Corll get forgotten. It also seems to me, the more feministic gays seem to be the bigger offenders……just my anecdotal observation…..be careful out there.
Kangol
Don’t forget the film Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice, starring Ruth Gordon and Geraldine Page. Just substitute an older (gay?) man and a dangerous, dizzy queen.
Antony Nguyen
Some people are just crazy
joeyty
@Jerry Green: Or Dr. Crippen.
joeyty
@Poncho Sanchez: Ronald Dominique of Louisiana (about 25 victims) is another very overlooked, but very scary, one.
Nixter
@Poncho Sanchez: No way. That belongs overwhelmingly to straight men. And that belief would be inherently anti-gay, so no way.
GC1985
@Bob LaBlah: Was she convicted or did she plead for her crimes? If they proceeded with the case, it seems like it went to trial and she did not plea out.
GC1985
@Poncho Sanchez: I don’t think so. And besides… Some of the worst killers in general have been straight. How about those who commit acts of genocide?
joeyty
@Poncho Sanchez: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_by_number_of_victims Interestingly, if you look at the worst (by number of victims) serial killers worldwide, we get only two out of the worst ten who were homosexual. Once we arrive, down the list, at U.S. serial killers the percentage is higher (about five out of the worst ten) so….unfortunately you’re observations on the statistics alone are correct. But I disagree about the “feministic” ones being the bigger offenders. Most of the gay serial killers on this list were pretty “masculine” types).
Melly Kaye
Guilt will rot u from the inside out…
4 sure.
Ariel Hans Christian
Where is the HORRIFIED emoji!
Ariel Hans Christian
Edgar Allen Poe’s Tall Tale Heart is STILL VALID CENTURIES LATER!
Steve Mancini
he must be catholic
Steve Mancini
Trump for president !
Bob LaBlah
She was convicted and will spend the rest of her life behind bars. The poor guys story was featured on MSNBC’s American Greed. His particular story sometimes comes on in reruns. Its a real heartbreaker because it is a classic case of being a good hearted person surrounded by vultures.
Poncho Sanchez
@Nixter: I’m a gay man and try to b pro gay, but I have also observed a dark side to the gay community that can’t b easily dismissed. Serial killers aren’t the half of it. Btw, Charles Manson has recently declared he’s bi-sexual…..let’s all welcome our newest member.
Glücklich
@Ariel Hans Christian:
“The Cask of Amantillado” is just as apt.
David Zakrzewski
Like that storyline from “Knots Landing”!
Roberto Addoms
Considering what a bitch my last landlord was, on some level I understand.
Michael Griffo
It’s actually a plot from Knots Landing without th identity theft