A 16-year-old West Virginia girl who disappeared was found dead in her own home, and the stepfather who reported her missing now sits in jail on child sex abuse charges as authorities investigate her death as a homicide.
Shayln Shantel Harvey was last seen May 2 in the Big Chimney area of Kanawha County. Her stepfather, 52-year-old James Warren Truman, reported her missing two days later. Days after that, Truman was arrested and charged with one count of incest and one count of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian, or other trusted adult to a child.
Court records show Truman’s criminal complaint states he admitted to committing child sex crimes that “mostly occurred in April at the Big Chimney property.”
Search Warrant Leads to Grim Discovery
Deputies executed a search warrant at the Offutt Drive residence. At a press conference, authorities said they had obtained a search warrant as they looked for evidence related to Harvey’s whereabouts. Cadaver dogs from the West Virginia Search and Rescue had been brought in and were actively assisting on the property.
Human remains were discovered on the property. They were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for examination and identification.
The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office announced that an autopsy positively identified the remains pulled from the residence on Offutt Drive in Big Chimney as those of Harvey, who had vanished more than two weeks earlier. Her death has been ruled a homicide.
A Missing Person Case Takes a Darker Turn
Sgt. Jeremy Burns said the investigation initially began as a missing person case, but as detectives continued their work, new details pointed them in a different direction. He explained that those developments led authorities to obtain a search warrant for the property, where they ultimately discovered the remains of Harvey.
Detectives began following leads that pointed inside the home where Harvey lived with her mother and stepfather. Chief Deputy Sean Snuffer confirmed to local media that Truman’s arrest was connected to the investigation into Harvey’s disappearance, though sheriff’s officials repeatedly declined to publicly link the criminal case to her death while the search was active.
Homicide Investigation Continues
The sheriff’s office said in its announcement that the cause of death will not be made public until the examiner’s findings are complete. Authorities have declined to disclose how Harvey died, citing the pending work of the medical examiner.
“This homicide investigation remains active and ongoing. Investigators will continue conducting interviews, processing evidence, and following up on all leads associated with this case,” the sheriff’s office said.
Harvey’s death marks a reported homicide in Kanawha County. Officials extended condolences to Harvey’s family and friends and indicated additional information would be released as it becomes available.
Truman waived his preliminary hearing and remains incarcerated at the South Central Regional Jail on a cash-only bail of $100,000. Whether Truman will face additional charges in connection with her death remains unclear. The sheriff’s office refused to comment publicly on any link between her killing and the man already jailed on sex abuse charges tied to her — even as the basic facts of the case grow harder to ignore: a 16-year-old girl reported missing by the same stepfather who, days later, would be accused of abusing her, found dead inside the home they shared.
The teenager’s disappearance had drawn community attention across the Big Chimney area, with neighbors and family hoping for a different outcome. The discovery on Offutt Drive, and the autopsy results that followed, closed that possibility.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at 304-357-0556 or leave a tip on the department’s website at kanawhasheriff.us.
