Missing Woman's Remains Hidden in Hoarder Home

How does a missing woman's body go. undiscovered in a house that police had. already searched? Well, I'll tell you. the answer. A hidden attic wall and now. police say a man has confessed to her. murder. Why did he do it? That's the. question. We are going to break down. this chilling case, the search, the. apparent confession, the mystery that. still remains, and we're going to do it. all with the chief deputy of a sheriff's. department. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

If this sounds like something out of a. crime thriller or a horror movie, that's. because it almost doesn't feel real. That's the problem. You have a missing. woman. You have a hoarder style home. You have a hidden attic wall and then. her body found in the very same house. that police had already searched just. days before. This is the story of. 28-year-old Reneia Lewis, whose. disappearance and death shook Valo,

California last month. According to. police, Reneia Lewis, described by her. family as vibrant and family oriented, was last seen Friday night, September. 26, 2025 at around 9:00 p.m. She lived. in Berkeley, which is about 25 miles. southwest, but often visited Valleo to. see friends and relatives. Reneia's. mother, Terry Lewis, says that she. messaged her daughter on that Friday, but got no response. Now, at the time, she just assumed that Reneia had, you. know, put her phone into do not disturb.

mode, something that she says she did. often when she was going to sleep. But. by Sunday, September 28th, after still. not hearing from her, her family got. very worried. Terry used the Life 360. app, saw her daughter's last known. location as being near 14th Street in. Valo. So quite alarmed, the family filed. a missing person's report with the. police that same day. Officers. immediately entered Reeneia into the. missing person's database. They also. searched a home on 14th Street after. learning there were signs that she had.

been there before vanishing. According. to a release from Valo police, quote, "Officers entered the residence to. conduct a welfare check and a cursory. search of all rooms, closets, and places. a person could hide, but found no signs. of the missing woman." So her family, who was desperate for answers, they. didn't just wait for police. They. launched their own search. They retraced. her last known steps using location. data. And that is when they stumbled. onto something deeply unsettling. Reneia's phone. Apparently, it was found. on a roof. Yeah. It wasn't dropped on a.

sidewalk. It wasn't left behind in a. car. So, this set off alarm bells. How. did it get there? What did it mean for. her disappearance? Well, by Monday, the. search intensified after Valo police. requested an ebony search. This is a. California notification system to help. locate missing black youth and women. So, the California Highway Patrol, they. approved the alert. The FBI also joined. the investigation. This lent resources, expertise, but Reneie was still missing.

Tuesday, September 20th, detectives. returned to that home that they. initially searched on 14th Street. And. according to the press release, this. time they had a search warrant based on. new information. And what they ended up. finding was chilling. According to the. release, during this search, they. discovered a concealed entry into the. attic. Officers searched the attic and. located the remains of a deceased female. inside that is suspected of being the. missing woman. And officials were able. to confirm that this was indeed the.

missing woman, Reneia Lewis. Her cousin, Latoya Lewis, told local outlet KTVU, "You would miss it because my baby girl. was hidden behind a wall, a secret wall. they placed her behind." KTVU also. reports that family members told them. that Reneia was dismembered. Her remains. were hidden inside of a detached unit in. the backyard of the home. Now, we wanted. to bring this case to you, and the. reason that we can do that is because of. the support that we get from Morgan and. Morgan, America's largest injury law. firm, our sponsor. This is a firm with.

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Neighbors described it as kind of like a. junkyard. It was almost abandoned at. times. And after finding Reneia, police. made an arrest in this case. Okay, but. here's the thing about it. Here's the. thing about this arrest. Mysteriously, this suspect apparently didn't live at. this house. His relationship to Reneia. isn't even clear. So, we're going to get. into that. We're going to break it down. But first, a lot more to talk about. I. want to bring on a special guest. Let me. bring back on to sidebar Chief Deputy. Alex Payne of the Bullet County.

Sheriff's Office. Uh thank you so much. for taking the time. It's good to see. you again. >> You're welcome. Good to see you. >> So from your perspective, okay, let's. start here. What are the most. significant initial challenges for law. enforcement when a missing adult is. reported, especially when the last known. location is a private residence? >> Well, first of all, it's tough because. as an adult, it it's different. um you. can legally be missing as an adult. You.

don't have to tell people where you're. at, what you're doing, or or anything. like that. So there could be a lapse in. time which makes it unlike Amber Alerts, things of that nature of juveniles where. once that young person uh goes missing, usually the reporting is immediate, the. action is immediate, and we have we do. that because we have a better chance of. of finding them. uh at like I said as an. adult in most states it's not illegal to.

be so-called missing uh because you. don't really have to you know tell. people again you know what you're doing. where you're going or where you're going. to be. So that initially makes it. difficult and then once the. the police actually get enough. information, enough time goes by, uh. maybe there's some exigent circumstance. that uh. uh you know tweaks the interest of law. enforcement enough to say, hey, this. isn't just somebody who, you know, just.

went away without telling anybody. There. may be something uh criminal here. there. may be something that is dangerous to. that person here. Uh then things start. moving quicker. >> And let me ask you about this search. because based on the timeline, the. police, they acted very quickly. They. entered the home for a welfare check. They did what's called a cursory search. within a day or two of the report. Um in. your experience, what is the standard. protocol when you do an initial search. of a house, a residence? What are its.

limitations? Well, you're you're looking for human. beings, number one, you know, stand up. human beings, places human beings could. be. So, that's that's all you're there. to look for. You're not looking. searching like for drugs, weapons, things of that nature. So, you're. looking for people. Um, in this. particular case, the thing that makes it. very difficult is that the way they. describe the residence as a hoarder u. type residence and that's that's a whole. another environment, brother. It it.

that's. I can tell you real well quickly. I'll. give you an example. I had a case very. similar to this. A call that I went on. as a as a young officer. Uh went on a. welfare check. Elderly female. Uh looked. inside the house. Nice neighborhood. Uh. brick home. Um couldn't see anything in. the front. Really couldn't see through. But I did notice that there was a lot of. stuff like piled in. I finally got to a. couple of windows and could see what was. actually in there. And this place was. literally loaded with refues,

um, garbage, you name it, wrappers, trash bags, newspapers nearly to the. ceiling. And there were paths that were. cut through this stuff that you could. have, you would have literally have to. turn sideways and sidestep your way. through. I got around to the back of the. house, was looking through the rear. window of the kitchen door and as then. this is early morning and a glint of. sunlight just kind of caught my eye and. the glint came off a ring that was.

attached to a hand. The hand was. sticking out of the refues and I thought. and I had to sit and look at it for a. while because you know I'm thinking is. this a mannequin? Is this and finally I. said no that's that's actually a real. hand. Long story short got the fire. department over there. We had to break. in to to get through all the garbage and. all that. But this lady had literally. been coming down one of those paths, had. a heart attack, and fell into the refues. and was almost completely buried by it. We we'd have we'd have never found her. till we started getting all that stuff.

out of there if I just hadn't seen her. hand sticking out of the garbage. So, that's the kind of environment you're. dealing with. When people say a hoarder. home or a hoarder environment, it's it's. horrible. that that I I mean that is. horrifying to say the least, but it kind. of highlights a point in this case, right? You know, police, they search the. home, they apparently don't find. anything. Days later, with a warrant, they find Reneia's body in a concealed. attic. You know, when you're talking. about this, so in other words, you're. not surprised by that detail. Even if.

you have seasoned, trained officers. looking through a house like this, it is. possible that they might miss, you know, an entry to an attic or some other. detail. This is not uncommon. >> Oh, no, no. I mean, you you've. it's an environment that is. just total. 180 from a you know, a normal human. being walking around here probably in. the environments that they live in. The. and just trust me, it it's the worst.

If you're going to look for something, a. search, that's the worst possible. environment you could ever be searching. in. Just picture yourself going down to. a major dump and looking for whatever, you know, some kind of little article. and and here you go. You know, here's. your area and you're looking at this. massive pile of of refues. And so all. that refues could hide attic entrances. They could hide uh closet doors. They. could hide it. It's it's quite the. undertaking. And the other thing, and I.

and I don't say this to be uncaring or. polite, but the. a body, a deteriorating body is a. horrible, horrible odor, and. it could even be masked somewhat in that. particular environment. So when you hear this cousin stating. that Reneia was quote hidden behind a. wall, a secret wall they placed her. behind, >> you talk about the smell, you talk about.

the concealment. Does it imply I mean it. seems that it implies intentional. concealment by someone, but when you're. talking about an initial clean search of. the house, then you find the body in. this hidden space. Does it point more. strongly towards a perpetrator who was. there during the first search, actively. deceived others? I again hidden behind. the wall significant. >> No, it could. I mean, evidently it does. show me that there's some extra effort,

you know, to to absolutely, you know, conceal uh this poor victim. Um, and. yeah, I mean, these the people that do. this kind of stuff, you know, I mean, it's it's uh, you know, we've talked about this. before. They're they're just evil. Uh, they'll go to any length necessary to. hide uh evidence in these types of. crimes. So, it that that doesn't. surprise me. >> The evidence, the discovery of the. phone, the victim's phone on a a roof,

that was a dramatic turn in this. investigation. and it was found not by. law enforcement, it was found by the. family. So, two things. A, what do you. take away from the fact that that's. apparently where the phone was found? And is it typical that family members or. the community or friends who may be. active in a search actually discover. something and then hand it off to law. enforcement? >> No. uh as far as the your the latter. question, the the community, you know, I've been involved in I don't know how. many over the years, but on searches. for, you know, people, you know, uh in.

the community, uh that have gone. missing, uh young, uh adults, elderly. folks, uh people with u. mental issues, mental health issues, mental health struggles that might be. going on. uh the community plays a great. part and assists law enforcement in. searches for for these types of. individuals. So that doesn't surprise me. at all. What I find interesting is you. know is how's that phone get on the. roof? You know what's the relationship. between this young lady and you know.

this individual who you know at a. minimum knew of the existence of this. place that he that he put her body even. though he may not have lived there. But. uh to me that's uh the intriguing part. Well, let's talk about this now. Okay, so you had this other cousin, Jake. Green, who told ABC7 that the family. believes Reneia was brought to the house. against her will, saying if she was to. see the condition of the house, she is. not coming in willingly. She is not. going to do that. So, I feel like she. was either drugged or under some type of.

influence. So, on the same day that. police discovered Reneia's body, they. made an arrest in the case. Police say. that their investigation led them to. 41-year-old Douglas Irwin Shaw. He was. arrested at his workplace of all places, the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This is. an amusement park of Lao, according to. the San Francisco Chronicle. Now, KTVU. reports that he worked there as a. mechanic. Shaw was booked into the. Solano County Jail on suspicion of.

murder, but I will tell you there is. some confusion about where he actually. lived. The house where Reneia's body was. found had been apparently boarded up for. a long time, neighbors told ABC7. And. Shaw may have been living in the out. building behind it, but home records. reviewed by KTVU reveal that his address. was actually on Pomona Avenue in Valo, which is apparently walking distance. from where Rene's body was found. Um, what do you make of that? The arrest of. Douglas Shaw on the same day the body.

was found. There's a question of where. he lived. That's just strange to start. with. >> Well, evidently law enforcement has some. pretty strong evidence of some fairly. tight ties between this victim and the. suspect. Uh now, what that may be, I I. have no idea, but it obviously it sounds. it didn't take him very long to put uh. two and two together in this particular. case. >> Do do you think he was under. surveillance? I mean, they pick him up. at work uh without incident. Do you. think they were tracking him for a.

while? >> Could have been. You know that that. that's one possibility. But you know. what I would go back to is you know what. initially linked you know law. enforcement to this particular guy. Now. this guy have a knowledge of his. neighborhood. It sounds like you know. since this house is probably close to. where he grew up. You know it's you know. you that could be common knowledge. within the neighborhood that you've got. this old dumpy house or what have you or. he lived in the in the back shed. He's. just looking for a convenient place to. get rid of the evidence of what he's.

done and he picked, you know, the best. spot to him and that would make it most. difficult for law enforcement to find. But fortunately, evidently, you know, in. this case, there was a a quick strong. tie made between uh this uh this suspect. and the victim. And from a tactical. point of view to make the arrest in a. public place versus let's say a private. residence, why do why does law. enforcement do that? >> Flight risk number one. U you know they.

uh the only time that you know we would. do that if uh and extreme danger you. know they believe this individual poses. an extreme danger to the public if not. apprehended immediately. That would be. the primary reason. And the secondary. reason would be that they have some. knowledge belief that uh if this. individual caught any wind of law. enforcement after they'd leave. >> Now I'm still confused as to what the.

relationship is right what was the. nature of the relationship if any. between Douglas Shaw and Renee Lewis? This obviously could be a circumstance. where we've seen before where complete. strangers could kill. From an. investigative standpoint, and assuming. he did this, from an investigative. standpoint, how do you piece together. the connection, especially if it wasn't. immediately obvious to family or friends. what that connection was? >> Well, I find right there, just right off. the top of my head, the phone would be. interesting because I'm sure that family.

uh would share that phone with law. enforcement. They would use that. And. the first thing of course now these days. that we're going to go through are. social media posts and any of her social. media activity. Uh there could have been. things within that phone that led law. enforcement directly to uh this. individual. So that's that would be the. first thing that would come to my mind. You know, other than that it it uh again. law enforcement were pretty much like. sponges out here. We're at the mercy of. information or the lack thereof. And so.

we depend a lot on the community, the. public to provide us with information. and then we sort through that. information and go where the information. takes us. And so if you're just looking. at this particular case, you know, where. where would one of the the places that. information would come from, it would be. that phone. Other than that then family. members of course who maybe. you know had information that uh you. know she was involved or had made this. acquaintance of uh of this particular. suspect who ended up killing her.

>> Well there is one more thing I have to. mention. It's being reported that police. say Shaw confessed that he confessed to. killing Reneia. Now, even with that. apparent admission, we the public, we do. we still don't know further details. about the motive about a connection. A a. suspect apparently confessing that is. often seen as like the holy grail of an. investigation. Sure, defense attorneys. can come in and say, "Was it coerced?". You know, what were the circumstances of. it? What was exactly said? Was there a. language barrier? But, um, talk to me.

about that. I mean, obviously, you were. in part of this investigation. Why do. you see suspects, you know, potentially. or allegedly confess in these kinds of. cases? How does that affect the. investigation? And you and I imagine you. still have to corroborate it, right? Because there could be false. confessions. Someone might just say they. did it when they really didn't do it. >> Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You have to. cooperate everything. Uh but a. confession is always good. And it's been. my experience. They do it for several. reasons. Uh number one, just to get it.

off their chest. It actually, you know, at some point people can be at. the time the crime was committed uh. under emotional duress. They'll have, you know, great hate, great anger, great. this, great that. After time goes by and. they start to calm down, they literally, some of them have a semicconcience. And. when confronted, they're almost glad. they get caught and they confess. There's there's one reason. Uh I've also. seen others that confessed it because. they want to brag about it, you know. So.

there's the other end of that spectrum. So there's various reasons, but. regardless of the reason why, when that. information comes out of that suspect's. mouth, yes, it's it's law enforcement's. job to cooperate that we either have to. prove or disprove uh that particular. admission. >> Now, Chief Deputy Payne, there's. something else that I want to talk to. you about. It's pretty disturbing. So. apparently, this killing marks the 14th. homicide of 2025 in Valo alone. So from. a command level viewpoint, what does.

that number tell you? >> Well, obviously violent crime, especially homicide, is on the rise. Um, not something that you want to see. U, but it's. a problem unfortunately that a lot of. cities across this country are facing. and have and some of them have been. facing it for a while. And uh it's just. a uh it's a sad state of affairs, you. know, all across the country where, you. know, this type of homicides especially.

Uh this lack of dignity for human life. uh rears its head far far too often uh. than than most everybody would agree. Um. I don't I don't know what the answer is. you know, like it u. >> you know, we're going to have to wake. up, you know, as a society and and find. that dignity, that reverence for life. again. >> Does it does it put a strain on the. police department on their investigative.

resources in some way? Is that a sign of. it, too? When you start getting numbers that. begin to. overwhelm. your capacity to deal diligently with. each individual case, then yes. Uh and I. can tell you right now that's that's the. case in in some cities right now. you. know, they and and I'll give you an. indicator. Um, and I'm not I won't mention the city,

but when you have a large police. department that literally has to break. down its shooting shootings into two. categories. And I'll give you this. example. They literally have a unit, a. group of people, a group of. investigators that do nothing but. nonfatal shootings. >> Yeah. And then they have a separate. group. >> that does the fatal shootings or the. homicides. That's that's being overwhelmed.

>> Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Um, now. on Thursday, Shaw was arraigned. He was. officially charged with murder. K4. reviewed charging documents which. reportedly indicated that Shaw said he. killed Reneia with a knife. KTVU reports. he didn't enter a plea on Thursday. But. then you have an ex-girlfriend of Shaw. who's apparently spoke with KTVU saying. that when she had met him when they both. worked at Six Flags, eventually she had. to get a restraining order taken out. against him in 2023. Exact reason.

unknown, but that's quite a detail to. say the least. And for Reneia's family, the discovery of her remains was. absolutely devastating. Loved ones told. reporters that she had been in Valo to. visit family. They don't know how she. could have ended up in this apparent. house of horrors. Her mother, Terry. Lewis, said she collapsed when. detectives told her the news. She told. KTVU, "On our way from Stockton, I was. praying. I just prayed. God, please. don't let it be her. Please don't let it. be. And he didn't answer my prayer.".

Rene's loved ones remember her as. someone full of life who loved cooking, being with family. Her cousin Latoya. told KTVU, "I'm hurt. You would never. thought you would be out posting flyers. and it would be your own family member. My stomach was in knots." Police Chief. Jason Ta summed up the department's. reaction saying, "This was a. heartbreaking, senseless act of violence. that has no place in our community. I am. proud of our officers and detectives for. making an arrest and solving this case. Above all, our thoughts are with the. deedants's family during this incredibly.

difficult time." Alex Payne, thank you. so much for taking the time. It was. really good seeing you. >> Yes, sir. Good seeing you. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcasts. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time. [Music].