A man from Capitol Heights, Maryland, is now in jail after authorities say he murdered the mother of his child, concealed her body in a plastic bin filled with concrete, and then built a wall to hide the crime.
The victim, 29-year-old Alexis Shuler, was reported missing by her family on January 14. The mother of three hadn’t been heard from in a couple of days, and her loved ones suspected she was with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, 30-year-old Devontae Gray, at his home in Capitol Heights. When police initially visited the house, they noticed a strange smell but didn’t find anything suspicious. There was also no sign of Alexis at the time, according to the arrest affidavit.
However, things took a dark turn in the following days. Surveillance footage revealed that Alexis had been inside Gray’s home. The footage also showed Gray making multiple trips in and out of the house on January 12 and 13, carrying construction supplies like cement, cinder blocks, chemicals, and large storage containers. This activity raised red flags for investigators.
On Sunday, police obtained a search warrant for the home. Inside, they found something chilling—a newly constructed wall. When officers broke through it, they discovered a plastic bin hidden under a stairwell. Inside the bin, Alexis’s body was “entombed” in concrete and covered with soil and hay. Authorities said she had been shot to death.
The recovery process took nearly three hours, as police carefully worked to retrieve her remains.
Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz spoke about the case in a press conference, noting the extensive effort Gray went through to cover up the crime. “Evidently, some major construction work was going on inside that house,” he said.
According to the affidavit, Gray admitted to killing Alexis during a heated argument. The two shared one child, and Alexis had two other children from previous relationships.
Her family, devastated by the loss, attended the press conference and shared their grief. Derrick Felder, Alexis’s cousin, expressed the family’s sorrow in a statement, saying, “Although the outcome is not what we had hoped, we take solace in knowing that Alexis has been found, and we now have the closure to lay her to rest in peace. Alexis will be deeply missed, and there is a void in our family that can never be filled. Her three children will no longer feel their mother’s embrace or hear her voice.”
Gray is currently being held at the Prince George’s County Jail on a murder charge and is being held without bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for February 19.
