ELYRIA, Ohio - - The guy who extremely shot and assaulted Lorain County mother Shawn Stevens in 2008, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down, is now facing a murder charge for her death in 2019.
Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson announced the charge in a Friday news briefing. Matthew Plas, who's been serving a 33-year prison sentence in the attack, was arraigned Thursday on the new charge, he said.
The attack occurred in May 2008 near the duck pond in Lorain County Metro Parks Carlisle Reservation in LaGrange. Stevens was 43.
" While strolling, Stevens was shot in the back, beaten, sexually assaulted, stuffed in the trunk of an automobile and left for dead behind a deserted structure," Tomlinson said Friday, later on including, "It's just haunted me. … … Every time I drive by the duck pond I think about the matter."
The attack seemed random, he said.
" He strolled past her and stated, ‘‘ Isn't it a lovely day?' And she went to reverse which's when he shot her," stated Stevens' daughter Carol.
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Plas pleaded guilty to all charges in November 2009 and was sentenced to 33 years in jail, Tomlinson stated.
Stevens made it through and lived another 12 years, though was mostly in a wheelchair or a bed, and in consistent discomfort, loved ones said.
" He put her on death row. That's how I see it. She needed to suffer for 12 years in pain," Carol said.
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Shawn passed away in December 2019 at the age of 55. The Lorain County coroner in January 2020 ruled her death was brought on by complications from the gunshot injury to her spinal column, Tomlinson said.
Murder charges were then sent out to Lorain County prosecutors for review, however never presented to a grand jury, he stated. Tomlinson, who took office in January 2020, stated he wasn't warned of the status of the case until Stevens' family connected to him in late 2023 to ask for an update on the case.
An indictment handed up Feb. 21 charges Plas, now 41, with four counts of murder, all with firearm specifications, court records show. He was due back in court on Friday morning. He's presently put behind bars at Mansfield Correctional Institution.
" This is an essential day for Shawn and for the county," Tomlinson said. "Though justice has been postponed in this case, it will not be rejected. We are moving forward."
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