A New York woman named Shemene Cato has been arrested in association with the violent death of her nine-year-old child in a case that is currently going viral due to the downright horrifying details. The manner in which the child’s death was discovered is disturbing, as well as the details surrounding the abuse-related death of nine-year-old Shalom Guifarro.
True Crime Daily reports that a business owner called police on Sunday reporting that a bad odor was emanating from the apartment directly above his shop. This resulted in a sort of welfare check performed by authorities, who were seeking out the source of the smell. The source of the smell, come to find out, was the body of nine-year-old Shalom Guifarro — who had been violently murdered. According to arresting documents, the little girl had been bitten multiple times on her back. She was also evidently beaten with a cable. According to the medical examiner on this case, the nine-year-old ultimately died by blunt force trauma.
The victim’s mother, 48-year-old Shemene Cato, has been arrested and charged with numerous crimes including manslaughter, murder and criminal possession of a weapon. People who knew the mother and child said that Shemene was frequently abusive, and would push her daughter and yell at her. Neighbors have complained that they could hear her yelling and mistreating her child on a regular basis leading up to the gruesome crime.
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
