Wife opens up about 11-year-old cold case

by Portia Booker, Molly Ying, Marissa Barnhart

“He was inspiring, good natured, and good loving” said Virginia Shaw, wife of the late Douglas Shaw.

Douglas Shaw, a 61-year-old urban studies professor at the University of Akron, was found dead on Sept. 29, 2004, in his home in Kent, Ohio. The University of Akron professor suffered from a beating to the head. His wife was heading to Wisconsin and decided to stay in a motel after getting caught in a rainstorm.

“I didn’t call home that night,” she said.

Virginia Shaw, whose only plan was to pick up a horse trailer, arrived in Wisconsin to some unexpected news. The woman she was meeting told her to call the Kent Police. The detective she spoke with was frank: “Your husband has been murdered.”

“I couldn’t read anything after Doug’s murder,” Virginia Shaw said. “I didn’t have a cellphone. The detective didn’t hold back and asked what they needed to know.”

[pullquote]I looked at the rug and there was a pinkish-gray substance on it. I realized it was my husband’s brains.”

-Virginia Shaw

[/pullquote]

Douglas Shaw died in his dining room after a blunt force trauma to the head. The weapon used for the murder was never recovered.

“Doug had 15 to 16 blows to the head,” Virginia Shaw said. “I knew it was quick. Vicious, but quick.”

When she finally arrived at the house, Virginia Shaw walked to the kitchen to find blood spattered on the walls on curtains.

“I looked at the rug and there was a pinkish-gray substance on it,” she said. “I realized it was my husband’s brains.”

The murder of Douglas Shaw stands as a cold case. There have been no arrests made in his murder, though Kent Police records say the case is still open.

According to Akron Police Department Detective James Pasheilich, cold case information is held for a long time.

Virginia Shaw continues to live in the house where the murder occurred, and though 11 years have passed, she has a security dog to keep watch.

She said she no longer calls police for tips in her husband’s murder because the prosecutor doesn’t want to pursue it. Detective Pasheilich said many people don’t call in for tips.

In moving on, Virginia Shaw spent time in grief counseling trying to look ahead.

“There has been a lot of stress getting justice, which hasn’t happened,” she said.