Accomplices Sentenced After Guilty Pleas In Murder Case

Clarence "Junior" Jackson

Written by:

News Editor Shawn J. Sopor

SNOW HILL -- Just over a year after a Texas man was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Christine Sheddy, a Delaware woman reported missing in 2007 whose remains were later found buried under a Snow Hill bed-and-breakfast, the other shoe dropped on Thursday for a pair of Lower Shore residents who assisted in covering up the heinous crime.

Justin Hadel

Clarence “Junior” Jackson, 38, of Eden, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Worcester County Circuit Court to first-degree murder for his role in Sheddy’s death and was sentenced to life in prison with all suspended but 30 years. Tia Johnson, 32, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and burglary and was sentenced to 15 years, of which half was suspended.

While Justin Hadel was convicted of striking Sheddy several times with a shovel last year, crushing her skull and resulting in her death, Jackson also had a role in the murder and has since admitted being the “ringleader and mastermind” behind the cover-up. For her part, Johnson knew more about the murder than she originally admitted and drove to the River House Bed-and-Breakfast knowing Sheddy’s remains were in the trunk and waited while Hadel and Jackson reburied her remains.

Sheddy, 26, was reported missing in November 2007 from a farm near Pocomoke where she had been staying with friends. Sheddy had moved to the Byrd Rd. residence just about two months earlier and shared the residence with Jackson and Johnson, along with Johnson’s two children, and Hadel, who is Johnson’s cousin.

Sheddy’s case touched off a massive search in the area of the Byrd Rd. residence where she had been living with her two young children. After an extensive two-year search, Sheddy’s remains were discovered buried on the grounds of the River House Bed and Breakfast in Snow Hill, where both Jackson and Johnson had worked prior to Sheddy’s disappearance.

In February 2010, Worcester County detectives met with Jackson at a corrections facility in Tennessee where he was being detained on an unrelated case. During an extensive interview, Jackson allegedly told the detectives Hadel had murdered Sheddy on the Byrd St. property and laid out in detail the extensive cover-up operation.

Tia Johnson

On Thursday, both Jackson and Johnson appeared in Worcester County Circuit Court to plead guilty for their roles in the murder in a pre-arranged deal. State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby told the court from the beginning of the investigation and throughout Hadel’s trial last year, prosecutors knew Jackson and Johnson were more involved then they let on.

“We never believed Hadel acted alone,” he said. “The overwhelming facts suggest two other people were responsible for this. Our goal is to hold all individuals accountable. Given the heinous nature of this crime, the 30-year sentence is appropriate for Mr. Jackson.”

Jackson and Johnson fled the area after the murder and subsequent cover-up, including the burial of the remains under the bed-and-breakfast. Jackson later got a message to the victim’s mother, Lynn Dodenhoff, that he would provide the location of the remains if she could somehow get him out of jail in Tennessee. In a later interview with local law enforcement, Jackson laid out the details including an initial burial on the Pocomoke farm and later moving the body to the Snow Hill location.

“This case is troubling in so many ways,” said Judge Thomas C. Groton. “The manner in which she was killed was gruesome. The cruelty and inhumanity that was displayed, the burying and reburying, the calling of her mother to report she was missing while all the while you knew is beyond comprehension.”

Dodenhoff said prior to Jackson’s sentencing she was left with the task of raising her late daughter’s three young children. She said she could not comprehend how an individual could commit such a heinous crime.

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