“The Cannon” Shannon Gets Fifteen Years for Murder

Former heavyweight/cruiserweight contender Willie “The Cannon” Shannon was sentenced to fifteen years in Nevada prison for a long-unsolved crime involving a ransom/kidnapping/rape/murder of a teenaged neighbor honor student/cheerleader Jamey Walker in May 1981. The now 64-year old Shannon had boxed for the Nevada State cruiserweight title two months after the murder in August of 1981 against Marvin Camel at the Las Vegas Showboat (he lost by TKO). The six-foot four-inch power-puncher Shannon boxed only once more after losing to Camel, finished his once-promising career with a record of 18-2 (14 KOs) at the age of 28. Periode und thema bestimmt die entstehung großer zyklischer formen! Jamey Walker was a popular black 18-year-old honor student, cheerleader, and homecoming queen, but late one evening in May 1981 she was snatched from her home by two or more kidnappers, who later demanded a $75000 ransom for her return. Before the Walker family could collect the cash, young Jamey was raped, and thrown off a bridge not far from Lake Mead. Her body smashed onto the rocks approximately fifty feet below and was found the next day. Las Vegas detectives pursued hundreds of leads, interviewed dozens of witnesses and suspects. Over the years, seven different cold case detectives participated in the investigation, and each and every one of them identified the same person as their chief suspect – Willie Shannon. Shannon had been living next door to the Walker’s home and had made unwanted advances to the teenager just days before the kidnapping, as he had done to other girls in the neighborhood, according to multiple witnesses. “Jamey was afraid of Shannon. There’s a lot of girls in the community that we grew up in that were afraid of him and think he will always be a predator and will always be a risk to any young person or young girl that’s near him,” Walker’s cousin Gayla Walker Thornton said to Las Vegas Now last year. Police said Shannon was linked by underwear DNA evidence connected to the slaying but testing wasn’t done until shortly before an arrest in 2010 while he was in Florida Prison for an unrelated murder charge. According to the Bradenton Herald, Shannon “had a troubled childhood in Florida and served a previous prison stint as a teenager after he was convicted of robbery. Shannon was freed in his twenties and began his professional boxing career in the 1970s. ”

Shannon was also convicted in another case in July 1985 of kidnapping and beating a woman he was dating in 1983 – he served thirteen years in state prison for that crime. Shannon’s best career boxing wins were against Lee Burkey and Walter Santemore.