Jason Shackleford (left, via Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office) received a life prison sentence for the rape and murder of his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter, Elaina Smith (right, via obituary). He stuffed her body in a freezer at their home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in February 2023.
A man will spend the rest of his days behind bars after he admitted to raping and killing his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter in what prosecutors called “one of the most vile, heinous” crimes they’ve ever seen.
Jason Shackelford, 40, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, rape of a child, two counts of rape, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, four counts of sexual assault and strangulation. He murdered Elaina Smith, a girl remembered for her love of animals and her curious spirit, at their Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home in February 2023. Shackelford received an additional life sentence for raping an adult woman.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright on Friday accepted the guilty pleas and sentenced Shackelford to life in prison.
“I’m a lifelong Lancaster County resident,” Lancaster County Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick said during the proceeding. “This is one of the most vile, heinous crimes we’ve ever seen here. I hope he thinks about Elaina’s face every day for the rest of his life and he’s tortured by it.”
Shackelford raped and strangled Elaina at their home in Columbia on the night of Feb. 8, 2023, and into Feb. 9, 2023, while they were watching a movie. He then stuffed the body in a basement freezer. Shackelford was apparently upset that his girlfriend had recently asked him to move out.
Cops were first alerted to the incident when they were called out for a domestic disturbance between Shackelford and Elaina’s mother at the Wyndham Lancaster hotel on Feb. 10, 2023. She told police that she received a text message from Shackelford around 6:35 a.m. Feb. 9 while she was at work saying Elaina was sick and in bed. She returned home about an hour later and Shackelford showed her Elaina’s empty bed and claimed he took the girl to New York where she was “safe.”
That’s when Shackelford forced her to go with him to the hotel. The mother went for help after Shackelford went to smoke a cigarette. Cops found Elaina’s body at the home during a search.
“Remember Elaina’s name, her smile,” Wright said to her family during the sentencing hearing. “Remember the light and hope she brought into your life.”
Elaina’s father Dwayne Smith said in a video tribute posted to YouTube that his daughter had her life all planned out. She knew what car she wanted to drive, the school she wanted to attend and aspired to be a veterinarian.
“We made the promise to never forget who she was,” he said. “The young lady that shaped so many lives. The young lady that would make friends with everybody she came across.”
Her obituary said she was a “light to all who knew and loved her.”
“Her curious spirit, love of life, sparkling personality, beaming smile, and infectious laugh could bring light to the darkest room,” the obit said.
