Marissa Shephard made headlines in the early part of 2016 by evading police for a practically unheard-of 10 weeks during a nationwide manhunt as one suspect in what police called an “extremely violent” murder of a Moncton teenager.
She was eventually arrested on March 1 outside a motel in the city and charged, alongside Devin Morningstar and Tyler Noel—both arrested earlier—with first degree murder in the death of Baylee Wylie.
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According to police interrogation videos played at the murder trial of Devin Morningstar on Monday, Shephard was in the basement of a Moncton triplex in mid-December, with the three guys, all of whom were under 20. Morningstar said the four were smoking crack and having a disagreement about who slept with who.
Morningstar told Codiac RCMP he had recently broken up with his girlfriend, the CBC reported. Morningstar recalled sleeping with Shephard, and then finding out the next day that Noel and Wylie also hooked up.
Marissa Shephard evaded police for 10 weeks. Photo via Facebook.
The claim that Wylie had also hooked up with Morningstar apparently escalated into a dispute, and Wylie threatened to call the cops. Both Noel and Morningstar were dealing drugs at the time, said Morningstar, and Noel also had a gun hidden under a couch.
By Morningstar’s account to police, Noel and Shephard pitched a plan to frame Wylie for drug possession. This allegedly involved Shephard knocking Wylie over the head with a glass bong, Noel beating him bloody, and the two covering his face and body in Saran wrap. Morningstar claimed he heard Noel say “this is what happens to rats.”
Devin Morningstar made a number of disturbing allegations in a police interrogation video. Photo via Facebook.
Morningstar said they then briefly freed Wylie from the Saran wrap, until Noel pulled Morningstar aside to say “this kid can’t leave this house.” In tears, Morningstar described the other two stabbing Wylie simultaneously. Morningstar said he also stabbed Wylie three times, to prove he was “solid” to Noel.
All told, Morningstar said it took an hour and a half for Wylie to die. He said he then poured bleach on the body and claimed Noel and Shephard set fire to the building.
The trial has heard that Wylie had about 200 wounds to his body.
Morningstar’s trial resumes today. Noel and Shephard will face first-degree murder charges in 2017 at the earliest.
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