REMEMBERING SHANE

Shane Daniel Walls lived for only 120 days. He was still at the very beginning of infancy when his life ended in February 2013.mBecause Shane was so young, there are painfully few public details describing the personality he might have developed as he grew. But one surviving detail from his funeral gives us something much more personal than the criminal records surrounding his death. During Shane's visitation, his family displayed a montage of photographs from his short life. Among them was an image of baby Shane sleeping peacefully on his father's chest. It is a heartbreaking photograph to know existed because Shane should have been safest in those arms. At four months old, Shane could not understand danger. He could not tell anyone when he was hurting. He could not ask another adult for help. He depended completely on the people caring for him to recognize his needs, soothe him when he cried and keep his tiny body safe.mInstead, evidence uncovered after his death indicated that Shane had been seriously injured more than once during the final weeks of his life.

SHANE'S STORY

In early February 2013, Shane suffered injuries so serious that he required emergency medical care. He was first taken to a Henrico hospital and was then transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center because of the severity of his condition. Investigators would later allege that Shane had suffered abusive head trauma, commonly referred to at the time as shaken baby syndrome. But authorities did not believe that what happened to Shane began with his final medical emergency. A grand jury indictment later alleged that Shane had been subjected to felony child abuse during a period beginning December 15, 2012, when he was approximately two months old, and continuing through February 2, 2013. A second felony child abuse charge concerned what investigators alleged happened to Shane on February 3. Those dates are important. Shane was not two months old when he died. He was approximately two months old when the period covered by the first abuse charge began. Less than a week after the February 3 incident alleged in the second charge, Shane was dead. On February 9, 2013, Shane Daniel Walls died at VCU Medical Center. He had lived for only 120 days

WARNING SIGNS

The most disturbing warning signs in Shane's case were discovered only after he could no longer be saved. The grand jury allegations described serious abuse occurring over a period beginning in December 2012 and continuing into February 2013. A baby that young has no ability to explain an injury. Crying is communication. Changes in eating, sleeping, movement or behavior can be communication. And injuries to a baby who is not yet independently mobile require careful explanation and attention. What remains difficult to establish from the public records I found is whether anyone outside Shane's home knew about his earlier injuries while he was still alive. For that reason, there is not enough verified information to say that child protective services, medical professionals or another agency had previously been alerted and failed to protect Shane. What the criminal case does establish is that investigators believed Shane had been subjected to abuse before the final incident that led to his hospitalization and death. By the time the full picture was being investigated, Shane was already gone.

JUSTICE FOR SHANE

Three months after Shane died, Cory Daniel Walls was arrested. A grand jury initially indicted him on felony murder and two counts of felony child abuse causing severe injury. The murder allegation stemmed from conduct prosecutors alleged was not necessarily intended to kill Shane but was dangerous enough to result in his death. The case ultimately did not end with a felony murder conviction. Virginia conviction records show that on May 20, 2014, Cory Daniel Walls was convicted in Henrico Circuit Court of involuntary manslaughter and abuse or neglect of a child.

Cory Daniel Walls

Relationship to Shane: Father

Convictions: Involuntary manslaughter and abuse or neglect of a child

Conviction date: May 20, 2014

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Shane Walls had 120 days. Four months. That was all the time he was given. There were photographs taken during those months. There was a funeral visitation where those photographs were gathered together so the people who loved him could look back at a life that had barely begun. And somewhere among those photographs was the image of Shane sleeping. A tiny baby resting peacefully against his father's chest. Knowing what later happened makes that image extraordinarily difficult. But Shane's photograph belongs to Shane. It captures a baby who was here before there were indictments, criminal charges and court records. A baby who slept. A baby who needed comfort. A baby whose entire world consisted of the people and places immediately surrounding him. Shane should have been protected long enough to become someone whose personality could fill pages. We should know what made him laugh. What foods he hated. Whether he would have been shy or outgoing. What he would have wanted for his birthdays. What he would have loved when he was five, ten or fifteen. Instead, so much of the surviving public record tells us about what was done to Shane rather than who Shane would have become. That is one of the cruelties of losing a child this young. His story stopped before he had the opportunity to write any of it himself. Abuse Angels remembers Shane Daniel Walls, a baby boy whose 120 days mattered and who deserved a childhood far beyond them. We remember Shane. We speak his name. And Shane Daniel Walls will not be forgotten.