A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to life in prison last week for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl and the rape of a second victim afterward.
Jason Shackelford, 40, pleaded guilty to first degree murder, rape of a child, two counts of rape, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, four counts of sexual assault, and strangulation, WPMT reported.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright sentenced Shackleford to life without parole on the first degree murder charge, 40 years for raping and strangling 12-year-old Elaina Smith, and 25 to 50 years for the second rape.
“Remember Elaina’s name, her smile,” the judge told Smith’s family. “Remember the light and hope she brought into your life.”
“I’m a lifelong Lancaster County resident,” prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick said during the proceeding. “This is one of the most vile, heinous crimes we’ve ever seen here. I hope he thinks about Elaina’s face every day for the rest of his life and he’s tortured by it.”
Police were dispatched to the Wyndham Lancaster Hotel on a disturbance call on February 10, 2023, and encountered the victim who said Shackelford had brought her to the hotel and raped her. She contacted hotel staff to call 911 when he allowed her to go smoke.
The woman said she had been in a relationship with Shackelford but they were breaking up and she had asked him to move out. She said Shackelford admitted kidnapping the 12-year-old girl while she was at work the night of February 8 through 9.
At about 6:30 a.m. on the 9th, she said, Shackelford texted her and said Smith was sick in bed. A little over an hour later, she came home from work and got into an argument with Shackelford, who showed her Smith’s empty bed and told her he’d taken her to New York and that she was safe.
Then, she said, he raped her, forced her to go with him to the hotel, where he raped her again.
The facts, Haverstick said, showed that Shackelford raped and strangled Smith while the two were watching a movie, then put her body in a chest freezer in the basement.
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[Featured image: Jason Shackelford/Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office]
