Evidence shows that Ron Shumway, the Dallas gay man missing since April 25, was not the person who signed documents in June to sell his house in Oak Cliff’s Winnetka Heights neighborhood.
According to the Oak Cliff Advocate, Shumway was apparently present the June 12 closing on the house on Winnetka Avenue. But when Sean Chien, who bought the house, was shown a picture of Shumway, he said that wasn’t the person who sold him the house the Advocate reports.
Dallas police began actively looking into Shumway’s whereabouts last month when Chien discovered a body in the yard of the house he purchased from Shumway. Chien was digging up a concrete block in the yard on Sept. 26 when he found a plastic bag containing human bones embedded in the concrete. Police have been looking for Shumway ever since, considering him a murder suspect.
The Advocate found that someone paid off the $56,000 loan on Shumway’s house the day before the closing. That’s unusual. A loan is usually paid off as part of the closing process.
Considering that information and other information collected by Dallas Voice, rather than being a murder suspect, Shumway may well be a murder victim, instead.
These text messages were posted on Shumway’s Facebook page after the last time he was seen. One Facebook friend of Shumway’s told Dallas Voice that he and Shumway had spoken earlier in the year about Shumway having a new boyfriend in Austin. These texts, posted on Facebook, indicate there was, indeed, a new boyfriend.
Shumway apparently said on April 26, two days after he was last seen, that he’d be moving to Austin to be with the new boyfriend. On May 8, he indicated he’d be going back to Dallas to pack some things. These Facebook posts are not visible to anyone who isn’t Shumway’s Facebook “friend.”
If the body turns out to be Shumway’s, the “cowboy” he met in Austin would be suspect No. 1.
