Shelbey Thornburgh was the happiest she had ever been. The 20-year-old had just lost 180 pounds and she was dating a man named Marcus who spoiled her with lavish gifts including a luxury high-rise apartment in Houston, Texas. There was only one thing standing in the way of Shelbey’s dream to become a model: costly plastic surgery. In order to pay for breast implants and a tummy tuck, she started working as a high-end escort.
Shelbey assured her loved ones she was being safe. Little did she know that a cold-blooded killer was on the hunt for a woman who looked just like her.
Shelbey advertised her services on a website called Backpage. On November 4, 2015, she received a message from a man who wanted to hire her for the night. Shelbey told her sister Krystina that she would contact her afterward. Instead, Krystina never heard from her best friend again.
Marcus texted Shelbey several times that night but she never responded. At 10 pm, he used his key to enter apartment 3B — and made a chilling discovery.
Shelbey was nude and lying face down on her bed in a pool of her own blood. She had a 5-inch cut across her throat and was nearly decapitated. Marcus immediately dialed 911 and said, “Someone has killed my girl!”
Investigators determined that Shelbey was attacked from behind as she was dressing herself. She had multiple defensive wounds on her hands, wrists, and shoulder. An autopsy concluded that she slowly bled to death.
Marcus was ruled out as a suspect. He had an alibi that was substantiated and surveillance footage proved that he didn’t enter Shelbey’s apartment building until 10 pm. There was, however, someone else who quickly became the prime suspect: the man who hired Shelbey from Backpage.
At 8:33 pm, the man texted Shelbey “Hey, I’m here.” CCTV footage captured a man walking into the lobby of her apartment building at that exact same time. The strange man was then captured leaving the building at 8:57 pm.
As it turned out, Marcus was Shelbey’s pimp, not her boyfriend as she had led her loved ones to believe. At 8:40 pm, she texted him “Gud” — their code word that everything was okay. She did not respond to any calls or texts after 8:40, leading investigators to believe she was killed just before 9 pm.
Investigators discovered that Shelbey’s murder was premeditated and that her killer was searching for a victim matching her exact description.
The suspect purchased a burner phone shortly before Shelbey’s death and used it to contact several escorts — all were White with blonde hair. He used cash to pay for the phone so that it could not be traced back to him, and it was never used again after that day.
Four months later, the authorities finally released the CCTV footage of Shelbey’s killer. He was a Caucasian man wearing a light-colored long-sleeve shirt, shorts, tennis shoes, and sunglasses despite it being nighttime.
It is theorized that the suspect is a serial killer based on the fact that he had no blood on his clothing when he left Shelbey’s apartment building. Unfortunately, his identity remains a mystery nearly 8 years later.
Sadly, Shelbey’s murder has received very little media attention due to her line of work but her big sister Krystina has never given up the fight for justice. She runs a Facebook page called Support Team Shelbey and is pleading for anyone who knows anything at all to come forward.
“Shelby was a very loving person. She had so many friends and so much family that cared about her. My sister was my best friend. She was only 20 and didn’t deserve to have her life taken away.” — Krystina Scott
A $5,000 reward is available for any information leading to Shelbey Thornburg’s killer. Contact Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS (8477).