Appeal rejected in 13-year-old's murder

The Laclede County Circuit Court has denied Steven N. Henderson's petition to set aside his guilty plea and conviction for first-degree murder of a 13-year-old Iberia girl.

Henderson, an Iberia resident, pleaded guilty to the murder of Macala Shelton, who was a member of the same household, Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Winfrey said.

Henderson had entered the plea as an Alford plea, which means he agreed the evidence in the case was sufficient to believe the charge of knowingly killing the teenage girl.

Henderson's plea was heard Nov. 21, 2014, and Judge Kenneth Hayden sentenced him to life in prison without any possibility of parole.

On Jan. 23, 2015, Henderson filed an action seeking to set aside his plea, claiming he had ineffective assistance of counsel. A trial was conducted in July 2016, and the court issued its ruling to deny his petition request Nov. 22.

Henderson has been in custody since his arrest immediately following the discovery of the victim's remains on June 23, 2013, by the Miller County Sheriff's Department, which had taken a report that the child had gone missing from her home the previous day.

Henderson was the brother of the girl's stepfather. The girl and Henderson were living in the same home along with several other people, including a group of children ranging in age from 2-13. The girl's mother is a soldier and was deployed to Afghanistan at the time of the incident.

Henderson was charged with stabbing the girl to death with a "large survival knife," according to a Highway Patrol probable cause statement.

The Patrol said Henderson "detailed" the stabbing during an interview with law enforcement officers.

Shelton was reported missing after relatives told law enforcement she had gone to bed at about 11:45 p.m. Friday but was not in her room when they went to wake her around 1 p.m. Saturday.

That same afternoon, the Patrol issued an "endangered person advisory" and began a search with Miller County Sheriff's deputies and volunteers.

When officers went to the girl's home to question members of the multiple families living there, "they didn't like the way Henderson was answering questions," Miller County Sheriff Bill Abbott said at a 2013 press conference.

"We learned that there was a vacant farm that was owned by a family friend where Henderson had been acting as a caretaker by doing things like mowing," Abbott said. "While searching the wooded area of the farm, the body of the missing juvenile was located."

Henderson was taken to the Miller County Sheriff's Office for questioning and placed on a 24-hour investigative hold. It was while he was being questioned he admitted to the murder.

Prosecutors at the time said investigators obtained some limited admissions from Henderson but had collected considerable physical and circumstantial evidence implicating Henderson in planning and committing the sexually motivated killing.