Westrip gets life sentence in murder of Mt. Vernon alum Shisler

Republic man who murdered 80-year-old woman to spend 30 years in prison, could be released in his 40s
 
A Republic man who murdered a Strafford woman when he was 16 was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to the crime on Thursday, May 12.
Now 22, Trystan Westrip pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He received the life sentence for the murder charge and was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for the armed criminal action charge, with the sentences set to run concurrently. In Missouri, a life sentence is legally defined as 30 years.

Guilty plea part of plea bargain
Westrip made the plea as part of an agreement with the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office. As part of the deal, an original charge of first-degree murder was amended to second-degree murder, and two other charges, first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle and second-degree arson, were dismissed.

Neighbor suspected something wrong when seeing strange vehicle at Shisler’s residence
It was previously reported that Westrip murdered the victim, Mary Shisler, 80, on Oct. 21, 2016. Shisler was a 1954 graduate of Mt. Vernon High School.
According to the probable cause statement filed in the case, Greene County deputy sheriffs were dispatched to Shisler’s residence in Strafford after a neighbor reported seeing a vehicle in Shisler’s driveway which he didn’t recognize.
The neighbor said he went to the house to check on Shisler and found the back door open and a strong smell of propane or some other fuel coming from the house. The neighbor said he went inside and noticed a gas heater and a burner on the stove were turned on, so he turned them off and called 911. The neighbor also said the house looked like it had been “ransacked.”
When the deputies arrived, they did a protective sweep to find Shisler, but were unable to locate her. They did find a bottle of lighter fluid, which had been cut open and some toilet paper set on the kitchen table with a match sticking up out of it. They also found a couple of drops of possible blood inside the door, near the door handle.
The deputies checked the vehicle in Shisler’s driveway and found it was linked to Westrip. They then provided information about Shisler’s truck to surrounding law enforcement agencies; a Missouri State Highway patrolman located it later and stopped it; Westrip was driving the vehicle.

Westrip admitted to killing, led investigators to body
After being stopped, Westrip made a spontaneous statement that he “killed the old lady” who owned the truck and dragged her body into a field.
Westrip was taken back to the crime scene, and he showed investigators where Shisler’s body was. He was transported to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and read juvenile certification rights, with a juvenile officer and his stepfather present.

Westrip repaid Shisler’s kindness by killing her
In a post-Miranda interview, Westrip said he decided to leave home after an altercation with his parents. He intended to go to Canada, but didn’t believe his vehicle could make the trip, so he drove along some backroads until he came across Shisler’s residence, which he said appeared to be abandoned.
Westrip said Shisler came out and offered to go to the gas station with him and buy him some gas, but he didn’t want to go to the gas station with her, so he parked his vehicle behind hers so she couldn’t leave in her truck.
According to the probable cause statement, Shisler allowed Westrip to come into her house, gave him a cell phone and told him to call someone who could help him. Westrip told investigators he pretended to dial some numbers. Afterwards, Shisler said she wanted him to go with her to a neighbor’s house and see if the neighbor could help him.
As they walked along the road, Westrip took a knife and stabbed Shisler repeatedly and dragged her body into a field to hide it. He thought he saw her still twitching, so he stabbed her about seven more times.
According to online court records, Westrip was remanded back to the Greene County Jail pending his transfer to the Missouri Department of Corrections