houstonpd

This week's story focuses on a 19 year old Houston, Texas man named Alexander "AJ" Silva III. His relatives say the last time they saw him was either April the 5th or 6th of 2021. Nearly a year has passed since anyone has heard from Silva. Friends and family say there is a reason for this. Although AJ's case is considered a missing person's case, his family claims that he is deceased.


Silva was charged with felony retaliation. As part of his bond conditions, he was ordered to wear an ankle monitor. The family assumed since AJ had a monitoring device, then law enforcement would always know his whereabouts.


However, they would learn this wasn't the case because law enforcement wasn't always monitoring him. He would eventually disappear and neither his family nor law enforcement know where he is. For this story, I spoke to Paul Vasquez, who is AJ's uncle. After being frustrated with law enforcement's efforts, Paul has traveled between his New Mexico home and Houston to perform his own investigation into his nephew's disappearance.


Paul found a young woman who witnessed someone chase and shoot AJ to death. She even showed Paul where AJ's deceased body lie after he died. Paul recorded the woman's statement and shared it with authorities. According to Paul, the Houston Police Department have discredited the witness. However, Paul believes her because she had nothing to gain by lying and he felt she risked her life to share this information.


Paul has since interviewed many witnesses and has pieced together the final days of his nephew. He told me he doesn't have a good relationship with Houston PD and they will no longer speak to him. At this point, he has said he just wants justice for his nephew and for police to acknowledge that AJ is not a missing person but indeed deceased.


The family is determined to find out what happened to AJ. They are worried that law enforcement will not give this case attention because he is a young black man with a troubled past. According to AJ's electronic monitoring records, he was at a warehouse on Lumberdale Road in Houston. And it's this warehouse where a witness told Paul Vasquez she witnessed AJ's homicide.


If you know what happened to AJ Silva III, please report your tips to the HPD at (713) 884-3131. And if you would like to know more about this case, please visit the Justice for AJ Facebook page. There is also a Tik Tok account with even more information. The address is @justice4lilaj


Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by purchasing a cup of $5 coffee every month. To help support the podcast, please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/catchmykiller. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please visit my websites www.catchmykiller.com or www.themarcabe.com

This week’s unsolved homicide story is about the murder of a 20-year-old Houston woman named Shelbey Thornburgh. Shelbey eventually settled into a Houston apartment. She took a job as an escort. She told her family that it didn’t involve sexual relations with clients. However, Krystina had her doubts. She suspected her younger sister engaged in prostitution. She attempted to convince her younger sister to move to Alabama and give up prostitution. Shelbey told her sister that she couldn’t because she feared leaving her pimp.

On November 4, 2015, Shelbey had arranged to meet with a client sometime in the evening. Hotel video surveillance showed the man enter and leave the apartment within 30 minutes.
Kristina received an early morning phone call that her sister was deceased. She learned that someone had brutally murdered Shelbey. Her killer had slashed her throat and nearly decapitated her in the process.

When Krystina visited her sister at the funeral home, she was horrified by what she saw. The funeral home had basically sewn Shelbey’s head onto the body. Seeing Shelbey’s body gave Krystina and indication of just how horrific her sister was murdered. Krystina has worked with a Youtuber named Gavin Fish who has worked with her to find out who killed Shelbey.

Do you know anything about Shelbey's killer? Do you recognize him? If you know anything about Shelbey Thornburgh’s homicide, please contact Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). If you would like additional information about this case, please visit the Support Team Shelbey FB page. I have also included links to Gavin Fish. Please review his page or the Support Team Shelbey FB page to see a video of Shelbey's killer.

Gavin Fish

https://gavinfish.com

Shelbey’s case page: https://gavinfish.com/cases/shelbey-thornburgh/

My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GavinFish/


***Opening News clip: https://www.click2houston.com/

Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by making a Paypal donation to augustlake@fuse.net at https://bit.ly/39iw6iz. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please email me at catchmykiller@gmail.com.