Trial to begin for Cleveland man accused of killing Cleveland Clinic employee in 2019

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) – The jury trial for a 24-year-old man accused in the 2019 murder of a Cleveland Clinic employee, is scheduled to begin Tuesday in front of Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo.

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

In May 2023, DaJuan Evans, who was 18 at the time of the murder, was indicted by a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury on the charges of aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault.

“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,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley in a previous statement.

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) to the McGowan Park murder.

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

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