Decades old cold case solved, homicide investigation closed

The Miami County Sheriff’s Office has closed the investigation into the 1964 homicide of Daisy Shelton whose body parts were found in the Tipp City area.

Shelton, 43, of Dayton was believed killed in Dayton before being dismembered and body parts disposed of in a gravel pit and a channel of the old Miami Erie Canal.

Sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Lord said Friday, March 29, that county Prosecutor Tony Kendell had reviewed the case file including information obtained from a key witness who said he observed the murder. In addition, admissions made through an interview with the suspect identified by the key witness were reviewed.

Kendell considered the case solved and closed based on evidence obtained before the death of the key witness, Lord said.

In addition, admissions made during an interview of a suspect identified by the key witness helped lead to the solving and closing of the case by Kendell.

Shelton’s murder was investigated in June 1964 after a fisherman pulled a severed arm from the gravel pit on State Route 571. Four days later, another man fishing found a bag containing a dismembered torso, and, later, a head and leg were found, all in the canal.

The remains were identified as Shelton and an investigation was initiated. The investigation later was defined as “cold” until the witness to the murder made a confession to a nurse, Lord said. The confession came as the man feared he was dying. The man survived and was interviewed in 2017 by detectives.

The witness said he saw someone kill Shelton by hitting her with a hammer in the head at a residence on Springfield Street in Dayton. He said the body was dismembered in the residence and discarded in water in the Tipp City area.

The named suspect was cooperative but initially denied knowing Shelton, Lord said. He later admitted knowing her and said the box used to transport body parts had been in his home.

The eyewitness testified before a county grand jury but died before the case was prosecuted. The suspect, then age 92, died in fall 2022.

Lord thanked the Dayton Police Department Cold Case Squad for its “invaluable assistance” in the case.

A review of newspaper reports located from 1964-1965 included interviews with then Miami County Sheriff’s Deputy James McMaken who said in January 1965 that “the trail to the killer of Mrs. Shelton was cold when we found the body … and it’s even colder now.” The article in the Dayton Journal Herald noted that Mrs. Shelton had disappeared in September 1963. By January 1965, around 75 witnesses/suspects had been interviewed, each who knew or dated her or lived in the area where she did in Dayton, McMaken said.

He said then that "only a fluke or great good luck can solve the 18-month-old crime... If it's ever solved, it will be a tip or someone arrested for another crime will be connected to this one."