An Arizona, USA man who brutally murdered his 2-year-old daughter by setting her on fire in a remote desert area has died in prison, 26 years after the crime that shocked the nation.
Shawn Ryan Grell, 50, was found dead at the Arizona Prison Complex in Tucson on April 19, according to state officials. The Arizona Department of Corrections did not disclose the cause of death but confirmed that the incident is under investigation in consultation with the county medical examiner.
The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released a public statement.
Grell was convicted of killing his daughter, Kristen Salem, in 1999 in a case that Arizona’s highest court later described as “horrific.” According to court records, Grell picked up Kristen from her Mesa day care on December 2, took her to McDonald’s, and told her they were going to see Christmas lights. Instead, he purchased a gas can and gasoline from a Target store, drove into the desert, and carried out a killing that authorities later called “especially heinous, cruel, and depraved.”
Grell waited until his daughter had fallen asleep, then placed her on the ground, doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. Kristen briefly woke up and stumbled about 10 feet before collapsing in flames. Afterwards, Grell went to a convenience store to buy beer and told the clerk he had seen teenagers setting a dog on fire nearby. Hours later, he turned himself in to authorities and confessed at a press conference the next morning.
“I took the gasoline and I poured it on her,” he said during a videotaped interview. “I took the match and threw it on her.” He spoke with no apparent emotion.
Grell was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. However, in 2013, the Arizona Supreme Court overturned the sentence, citing a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Atkins v. Virginia) that declared the death penalty unconstitutional for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Grell’s attorneys successfully argued that their client, who had low IQ scores and documented mental health issues, qualified under that ruling. As a result, his sentence was commuted, and he remained in prison until his death last month.
Kristen Salem was just two years old when her life was taken in what remains one of Arizona’s most horrifying cases of filicide.
