Posted 6:08 am Monday, January 07, 2008
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Friends Remember Jana Shearer As Beautiful Woman Who Loved Life
By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer
WHITEHOUSE — At nearly 6-feet tall with long blonde hair, green eyes and a bounce in her walk, Jana Shearer turned heads.
“She looked like a skinny Barbie, except with a goofy little grin,” said friend and neighbor Jennifer Landfair.
Outside Shearer’s Whitehouse apartment Sunday friends consoled each other, half expecting for the 21-year-old to come prancing out of her apartment in 4-inch heels carrying an oversized tote bag.
“She never left home without her makeup bag, and she didn’t have it with her that night,” Landfair said.
Staff Writer
WHITEHOUSE — At nearly 6-feet tall with long blonde hair, green eyes and a bounce in her walk, Jana Shearer turned heads.
“She looked like a skinny Barbie, except with a goofy little grin,” said friend and neighbor Jennifer Landfair.
Outside Shearer’s Whitehouse apartment Sunday friends consoled each other, half expecting for the 21-year-old to come prancing out of her apartment in 4-inch heels carrying an oversized tote bag.
“She never left home without her makeup bag, and she didn’t have it with her that night,” Landfair said.
Smith County Sheriff’s Office investigators said Shearer’s boyfriend, 25-year-old Christopher Lee McCuin abducted her Friday evening from the apartment she shared with her mother.
Saturday morning investigators found Shearer’s mutilated body inside a brick home in the 400 block of Princess Place — parts of her flesh were carved out and an ear was found on the stove boiling in a pot of water.
Friends were sickened as the learned of her violent death.
“She was so beautiful,” Landfair sobbed.
Shearer graduated from John Tyler High School in 2002 and was a drill team officer. Friends said she loved shopping, shoes, hoop earrings and was a sales associate at WetSeal.
“It didn’t matter where she was going, she always had makeup on and her hair done,” friend Amy Gage said. “She could be going to the gas station, but would still be wearing stilettos.”
On her Myspace page titled “Jana Loves Life” she said she wanted to visit Paris; her favorite pizza topping was cheese and her biggest fears were fire and being alone. Her last log in was New Year’s Day.
“I get along with any and everybody! I have my own style and love life. We only live once so you got to give it all you got,” her “about me” section reads.
The last time her friends saw the bubbly blonde who loved life was Friday night.
She was supposed to be having a “girls’ night,” but McCuin was at the apartment complex waiting for his girlfriend to return home from a shopping trip.
“He came over and talked to us, waiting for Jana to get back. That’s what’s so weird. He seemed so nice,” Ms. Gage said.
When Jana returned, friends watched the couple go into her apartment arguing.
“I talked to him an hour before they left. He was fine. I don’t understand it,” Ms. Gage said. “He hugged and kissed and played with my kids. That scares me. It’s like something just snapped.”
The next morning Ms. Landfair was at Jana’s apartment when the phone rang. It was Chris, and he kept repeating to Jana’s mother that he killed her daughter.
Jana’s mother handed the phone to Ms. Landfair.
“I said, ‘what are you talking about?’ There was no remorse in his voice. He said, ‘she’s dead. I killed her, she’s dead,’” Ms. Landfair said. “I didn’t believe him.”
When she demanded to know where her friend was, she said McCuin told her, “Jana is in my truck.”
“We were just praying to God she was alive. We thought he hurt her and was maybe high and thought she was dead,” Ms. Landfair said.
Each hour friends and family begin to learn a little bit more about how the girl, known to many as “Jana Banana,” died.
“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to us. We’re a small town. I watch this … on Lifetime,” she said. “It’s not fair it’s not right. She didn’t deserve this,” Ms. Landfair said.
Saturday morning investigators found Shearer’s mutilated body inside a brick home in the 400 block of Princess Place — parts of her flesh were carved out and an ear was found on the stove boiling in a pot of water.
Friends were sickened as the learned of her violent death.
“She was so beautiful,” Landfair sobbed.
Shearer graduated from John Tyler High School in 2002 and was a drill team officer. Friends said she loved shopping, shoes, hoop earrings and was a sales associate at WetSeal.
“It didn’t matter where she was going, she always had makeup on and her hair done,” friend Amy Gage said. “She could be going to the gas station, but would still be wearing stilettos.”
On her Myspace page titled “Jana Loves Life” she said she wanted to visit Paris; her favorite pizza topping was cheese and her biggest fears were fire and being alone. Her last log in was New Year’s Day.
“I get along with any and everybody! I have my own style and love life. We only live once so you got to give it all you got,” her “about me” section reads.
The last time her friends saw the bubbly blonde who loved life was Friday night.
She was supposed to be having a “girls’ night,” but McCuin was at the apartment complex waiting for his girlfriend to return home from a shopping trip.
“He came over and talked to us, waiting for Jana to get back. That’s what’s so weird. He seemed so nice,” Ms. Gage said.
When Jana returned, friends watched the couple go into her apartment arguing.
“I talked to him an hour before they left. He was fine. I don’t understand it,” Ms. Gage said. “He hugged and kissed and played with my kids. That scares me. It’s like something just snapped.”
The next morning Ms. Landfair was at Jana’s apartment when the phone rang. It was Chris, and he kept repeating to Jana’s mother that he killed her daughter.
Jana’s mother handed the phone to Ms. Landfair.
“I said, ‘what are you talking about?’ There was no remorse in his voice. He said, ‘she’s dead. I killed her, she’s dead,’” Ms. Landfair said. “I didn’t believe him.”
When she demanded to know where her friend was, she said McCuin told her, “Jana is in my truck.”
“We were just praying to God she was alive. We thought he hurt her and was maybe high and thought she was dead,” Ms. Landfair said.
Each hour friends and family begin to learn a little bit more about how the girl, known to many as “Jana Banana,” died.
“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to us. We’re a small town. I watch this … on Lifetime,” she said. “It’s not fair it’s not right. She didn’t deserve this,” Ms. Landfair said.
