Police found the body of a 28-year-old woman hidden behind a wall in a Vallejo, California, home Tuesday, authorities said.
The Vallejo Police Department said officers discovered Renia Lewis’s body inside a concealed attic entry at a residence in the city, according to a press release. Lewis had been reported missing two days earlier. (RELATED: Teen Walks Free From Murder Charge After Serving Just Over Four Years Probation)
Investigators first searched the home on Sunday but did not find her. Detectives issued an Ebony Alert the next day and asked the FBI for help before returning to the property on Tuesday, when they located her body.
Police named Douglas Irwin Shaw, 41, as a suspect and said he later admitted to the killing. He was booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of murder.
Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta called Lewis’s death “a heartbreaking, senseless act of violence” and said he was proud of investigators for making an arrest.
“Above all, our thoughts are with the decedent’s family during this incredibly difficult time,” Ta said in the press release.
Lewis’s mother, Teri, told KTVU News she last texted her daughter on Friday but never received a response. She assumed the phone was on “Do Not Disturb” until she later saw her daughter’s location near 14th Street in Vallejo on a tracking app.
Family members said it was not unusual for Lewis to spend time in Vallejo, where she had friends and relatives, according to the outlet.
“I know she fought,” Teri Lewis told KTVU News. “What did she do to you for you to kill her, and then put her in a wall? And she’s been gone since Friday, so we were out here looking for my daughter, and she’s in the wall — dead.”
The relationship between Shaw and Lewis remains unclear, and her family told the outlet they had no ties to the home where her body was found.
Lewis’s death was the 14th homicide reported in Vallejo this year, KRON 4 News reported.
The Vallejo Police Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.