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Affidavit: Man was beaten, bound and robbed before dying in Dallas motel room

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Affidavit: Man was beaten, bound and robbed before dying in Dallas motel room


Four people conspired to rob a man of a few thousand dollars before two of them beat him unconscious and tied him up in a far northeast Dallas motel room where he was later found dead, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.

Shaun Michael Smith, 48, was found dead by police at about 11:45 a.m. on Aug. 11 in the 11500 block of Plano Road, police said Wednesday. Four people, Byron Louis Nelson, 56; Jared Collin Russell, 27; Deanna Marie Palmer, 23; and Marissa Krystin Mitchell, 36; have been arrested and face murder charges in his death, police said.

Dallas police: Four facing murder charges in August death

According to a Dallas police arrest affidavit, police were called after a housekeeper entered a room at the motel and found Smith dead with his hands and feet tied behind his back. The furniture in the room was in disarray, consistent with signs of a struggle, investigators wrote in the affidavit.

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Police learned Smith had rented the motel room at about 4:30 a.m. Aug. 10. Officers reviewed surveillance footage and found Smith had spent the day coming and going from the motel room with a woman, who was identified as Mitchell after police determined the two had arrived at the motel in a car registered to her.

During the evening of Aug. 10, Mitchell and Smith were inside his motel room when a Ford F150 arrived at the motel, the affidavit said. Three people were seen on security footage entering Smith’s motel room, and shortly after they entered, Mitchell and a woman, later identified by police as Palmer, left the room. Mitchell was then seen leaving the motel in her car, and shortly after, two men left Smith’s motel room.

The two men and Palmer then got into the F150 and left the scene.

Police later interviewed Mitchell, who told police she and Smith had spent several days together at her house before going to the motel. Mitchell told police Smith was in possession of a large amount of cash, roughly a few thousand dollars, and said she left the motel room after she and Smith got into an argument.

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Mitchell stated the first names of the two men, the affidavit said. The F150 was found to be registered to Russell, and Mitchell also provided a phone number that police connected to Nelson. Mitchell later identified Nelson and Russell as the two men at the motel room when shown pictures by police, the affidavit said.

Police then obtained a robbery warrant for Russell, and he was arrested Aug. 28. Palmer was with him at the time of his arrest, and both were taken to Dallas Police Headquarters. Palmer told police she, Russell and Nelson were informed Smith had a large amount of cash on him, and were called to the motel room by Mitchell with the intent of robbing Smith.

Russell told police after Mitchell and Palmer left the room, he assaulted Smith by punching him in the ribs and putting him in a chokehold, leaving him unconscious. Russell then said he took money from Smith’s pocket and Nelson tied him up with a phone charger, the affidavit said.

The four then met later to divide the money, Palmer and Russell told police.

According to the affidavit, Smith was found to have injuries to his head and broken bones, and the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office told police Smith’s injuries and the restraining of his hands and feet contributed to his death. The medical examiner’s case file said Smith’s time of death was 7:50 a.m., roughly four hours before he was found by police.

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All four face a capital murder charge, according to jail records, while Russell also faces a robbery charge. Russell, Mitchell and Palmer were arrested in late August, while Nelson was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday.

As of Thursday, Russell is being held without bail in the Dallas County jail, while Palmer is being held on $250,000 bail and Mitchel is being held on $1 million bail in the Dallas County jail.

Nelson is in the custody of the Gregg County jail in East Texas on $1.14 million bail. It is unclear if any of the four have retained an attorney.



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Dallas, TX

Johnston scores twice, Stars hold off Wild in Game 2 to even West 1st Round | NHL.com

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Johnston scores twice, Stars hold off Wild in Game 2 to even West 1st Round | NHL.com


Johnston gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 8:58 of the first period. His slap shot from above the right face-off circle deflected off Wild forward Danila Yurov and then bounced off the end boards and in off Wallstedt’s left arm.

“I’ve had a goal like that go in on me, too, that’s a tough bounce,” Oettinger said. “Like I said in Game 1, we got some bad bounces. We got a nice bounce there. We had one where I was behind the net, and the guy was shooting it in the net and our (defense) stopped it, so we got some good bounces. The way we played the last 40 minutes of the game, I think, didn’t give up much, had a ton of good chances offensively. The power play, we got looks and our (penalty kill) was great. If we kind of build off the game that we played the last 40 minutes, I think we should feel very good for the next few games.”

Faber tied it 1-1 at 11:33. He took a pass from Hughes, skated around Robertson in the left circle and cut to the slot, where his wrist shot ramped up and in off Oettinger.

Duchene put the Stars back up 2-1 with a power-play goal at 4:02 of the second period. Mikko Rantanen gained the offensive zone along the right boards and sent a backhand pass to Duchene, who snapped the puck between Wallstedt’s pads from in front.

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Robertson made it 3-1 at 7:09 of the third period when he tipped Lundkvist’s wrist shot from the blue line past the right pad of Wallstedt.

“I think we got to do a better job, I mean, the odd-man’s, right? I thought we played a really good game. Probably their best game, you know, meaningful game. And, yeah, we didn’t get fazed by it. Was really good by us. Just got to be smarter in some areas, and we get to go back home and in front of our crowd,” Minnesota forward Marcus Foligno said. “They want (penalties). I mean, they’re looking to play 5-on-4. I mean, that’s their game. They can’t hang with us 5-on-5. We got to just be smarter, and myself included. But it’s a heated game out there. You’re gonna have emotional swings and learn from it. We got a split series.”



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Dallas Cowboys 2026 NFL Draft debate heats up

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Dallas Cowboys 2026 NFL Draft debate heats up


Jeff Kolb and Sam Gannon welcome Cowboys insiders Clarence Hill (All City Dallas) and Calvin Watkins (Dallas Morning News) for a hilarious breakdown of the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Giving insight, arguments, and plenty of laughs as two of the best Dallas Cowboys writers in the business go head-to-head on what Dallas should do next.



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New video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes

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New video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes


Investigators say last month’s explosion, which critically injured a woman, was caused by a natural gas leak. Atmos Energy said its crews later detected an isolated leak on a short section of pipe buried in the area. The company said the pipe was installed by a predecessor utility company and was made of a material used only in 1970 and 1971.



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