Murders of Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw
Rhonda Renee Johnson (December 16, 1956 – August 4, 1971) and Sharon Lynn Shaw (August 11, 1957 – August 4, 1971) were two American teenage girls who disappeared in Harris County, Texas, on the afternoon of August 4, 1971. In early 1972, the skeletal remains of both girls were discovered in and around Clear Lake near Galveston Bay. A local man, Michael Lloyd Self, was charged with the murders in 1972 and convicted of Shaw's murder in 1975. Controversy arose in 1998 when convicted killer Edward Harold Bell confessed to both murders. Bell's confession and corroborating statements from both law enforcement and prosecutors that Self had been coerced into a false confession led many to believe that Self had been wrongfully convicted. Self died in prison in 2000. The case has often been associated with the Texas Killing Fields, a 25-acre section of land off of Interstate 45 in League City where the bodies of dozens of young women have been discovered since the 1970s. A fictionalized film about the area, titled Texas Killing Fields, was released in 2011. Disappearance On August 4, 1971, Rhonda Johnson (born December 16, 1956, in Houston, Texas) and Sharon Shaw (born August 11, 1957, in Mobile, Alabama), both of Webster, Texas, spent the day on a Galveston beach, approximately one week before Shaw's fourteenth birthday. The girls were seen leaving the beach, but did not return home. Eyewitnesses reported last seeing the girls walking on Seawall Boulevard in Galveston. Discovery of bodies On January 3, 1972, two boys fishing in Clear Lake discovered a human skull floating in the water, which they had initially believed to be a sports ball. Six weeks later, searchers discovered the rest of the body, along with that of another girl, in a marsh near the lake. According to a coroner's inquest filed on February 17, 1972, the skull found in the lake was determined via dental records to have belonged to Shaw. Additionally, a crucifix found wrapped around the jawbone of the skull was identified by Shaw's mother to have belonged to her daughter. The other body found in the marsh was positively identified as Johnson. Investigation Michael Lloyd Self In May 1972, a tip was received from Glenn Price, a Galveston city councilman, to look into Michael Lloyd Self, a local gas station attendant. Police visited Self at his workplace and he voluntarily went to the station the following day for questioning. According to Self, Police Chief Michael Morris held him in confinement for hours, remarking that Self would not leave until he had made a confession. Self also stated that he was held against a wall, hit with a nightstick, and taunted by Morris with his pistol, who threatened to kill Self if he did not confess. Self eventually agreed, and was forced by Morris to handwrite a confession to the murders of Shaw and Johnson. Morris allegedly forced Self to rewrite the confession several times. Dave Coburn, a local investigator, corroborated Self's story by claiming