Cleveland man given $1M bond in 2019 murder of Cleveland Clinic employee

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) – The 22-year-old man accused of killing a Cleveland Clinic employee in 2019 pleaded not guilty in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday.

Sheila Wallace, 58, was shot and killed while walking her dog in Cleveland’s Bellaire-Puritas neighborhood on Cleveland’s West side on Jan. 17, 2019.

A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury previously charged DaJuan Evans, who was 18 at the time of the crime, on charges of aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault.

A judge issued a $1 million bond for Evans and issued no-contact order for the victim’s family.

“Sheila Wallace was not and will not be forgotten. Her horrendous murder shook the Bellaire-Puritas community to the core and my thoughts and prayers remain with the victim’s family,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley previously said.

According to O’Malley, Evans and another man were also walking in the park and when their paths crossed, Evans stopped, turned around and fired four shots.

One shot struck Wallace in the head, one shot struck her in the chest, and the two additional shots missed the victim, said O’Malley.

Residents found Wallace’s body shortly after the shooting and called police. Wallace was pronounced dead at the scene.

O’Malley said on April 3, 2019, there was an unrelated shooting near West 48th Street and Storer Avenue in Cleveland and that gun was later linked through a National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) lead to the McGowan Park murder.

DNA evidence, a NIBIN lead, witness testimony, and video evidence all linked DaJuan Evans to the crime, said O’Malley.

Wallace worked as a medical administrative assistant at the Cleveland Clinic.

“For four years, our community has sought answers to the senseless homicide of Sheila Wallace,” Ward 16 Cleveland City Councilman Brian Kazy said. “I am elated that this first step in bringing justice to the victim and her family has been taken.”