A Killeen capital murder defendant received a life sentence without parole after a jury found him guilty for beating and strangling a 2-year-old Temple girl because she didn’t put her shoes on fast enough.
Jadin Nunez, 27, of Killeen, was sentenced in the slaying of Shannah McAlpine in the 426th District Court after a three-day trial last week. Nunez, the boyfriend of the girl’s mother, was charged with capital murder of a person younger than 10 years old in 2019.
Co-defendant Ashley Marie McAlpine, 29, who pleaded not guilty to a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child, will have a pre-trial hearing on Friday, according to court records. She remains jailed by Bell County officials in lieu of $500,000.
Shannah McAlpine was just days away from her third birthday when Nunez killed her on Sept. 22, 2019.
Temple police were called to the 800 block of South 11th Street for an unresponsive child report.
Shannah was found not breathing on the bedroom floor, her body covering with bruises.
Nunez allegedly killed Shannah by “striking and strangling her on or about the head, face and body,” according an indictment.
Shannah’s mother told police that on Sept. 21 she saw Nunez hit Shannah three times in the stomach, an arrest affidavit obtained by the Telegram said. Nunez then choked the girl, causing her to gasp for breath. She later curled up into a ball position.
McAlpine said she work up at 2 a.m. and Shannah was crying in pain. Shannah wouldn’t eat or drink anything, and McAlpine noticed that Shannah’s stomach was swollen and hot while most of her body was cold.
She put Shannah in the shower to try to warm her up, but the girl could not stand on her own and had trouble breathing.
McAlpine called 911 at 2:49 a.m.
Shannah was pronounced dead at 3:31 a.m.
An autopsy showed the cause of her death was blunt force trauma to the abdomen. The death was ruled a homicide, an arrest affidavit said.
Ashley McAlpine told police she knew her children were beaten by Nunez, but said she did to stop him.
A Child Protective Services report said that Shannah’s sister, 3, was beaten because she had her shoes on the wrong feet as the family was preparing to go to a birthday party for Shannah and her brother. Nunez struck her in the face, picked her up and held her in the air, hitting her three times in the stomach and dropped her to the floor.
Shannah didn’t put her shoes on fast enough, so Nunez punched her in the stomach with his fist, the affidavit said. He choked her with both hands, even after she turned blue. The mother said she tried to stop him, but she couldn’t.
Other children — two girls, 2 months and 3 years and a 6-year-old boy — in the home were physically abused by Nunez, the CPS report said. Nunez fathered the youngest child, the report said.
After the death, an emergency order was obtained to remove the remaining children from the home.
The arrest warrant for Nunez was issued Sept. 23 by Bell County Justice of the Peace Ted Duffield.
The U.S. Marshal Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, Waco Division, helped the Temple Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division and the Violent Crimes Enforcement Squad catch Nunez, who was found in Killeen at the corner of State Highway 195 and Chaparral Road.
Nunez remained in the Bell County Jail until his trial as his bonds were set at $1,030,000.
He has previous convictions for debit card abuse and substance abuse, as well as some misdemeanors. He was sentenced in December 2016 to three years deferred adjudication probation for debit card abuse — which was later revoked. Nunez was then sentenced to two years in state jail plus four years probation.
His probation was still in effect when Shannah was killed.
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