Dallas County mugshot of Christopher Colbert
Christopher Colbert, 43, accused of murdering Ron Shumway a year ago, is in Dallas County jail. He was arrested in Los Angeles three months ago and has been in Los Angeles County Men’s Jail awaiting extradition to Dallas.
Colbert faces four charges: murder, money laundering, tampering with a government record and securing execution of a document by deception.
Colbert admitted to detectives that after killing Shumway last April in the two-family home they shared in Oak Cliff, he bought cement at Home Depot on Fort Worth Avenue and buried the body in the backyard. The additional charges stem from him having assumed Shumway’s identity to sell the property and taking the proceeds of the sale from Shumway’s account.
Shumway’s murder went unnoticed until September. The property flipped several times during the summer. When an owner began renovating the house, he discovered the body under the cement slab in the yard.
DNA tests weren’t complete until February and at that time, a tip from a Dallas Voice reader lead police to Colbert, who was living in a mobile home in Los Angeles.
Colbert is claiming self-defense as the motive for the murder.