Shane Donahue

A young man goes missing without a trace and has never been seen or heard from again. 13 years later, rumors still swirl around this case, there is very little media coverage, and a family is surrounded by tragedy.


Work Cited:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CFCwGfQ3p1X83y4GWCMis3_HRxxoOeCXRYWqYT4FALQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Transcript

Hey, all my fellow Crime Connoisseurs! I'm your host, Grace D! Today's case is a doozy. It takes place in March of 2010 in a small town in Virginia. Just an average Monday that wouldn't end that way. A young man goes missing without a trace and has never been seen or heard from again. 13 years later, rumors still swirl around this case, there is very little media coverage, and a family is surrounded by tragedy. This is the case of Shane Donahue.

On Monday, March 22, 2010, Shane Donahue finished a tiling job for Colgan Air in Manassas, VA. He brought in his friend Timothy (Timmy) Hickerson to assist him with the job. Timmy's family owned a local electrical company in the area. 

Colgan Air was an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. It was phased out on September 5, 2012. 

Shane was paid $5,000 for his work, and he gave Timmy $1,000 for his cut. After the job was complete, Shane and Timmy planned to go out to celebrate finishing the job. 

They stopped at Shane's parent's house in the 14000 block of Aden Rd in Nokesville before heading to Shane's place. Shane lived in a duplex in the 12000 block of Aden Rd, not even 2 miles down the road. Shane got into Timmy's truck and headed to Shane's around 3:45 pm.

When Shane's mom, Donna, didn't hear from her Shane later that night, she started to get nervous. You see, Shane called and talked to his mom every single day. He's the middle child of 3 children. He has an older brother Shawn, and a little sister, Shyanne. 

The following day, on the 23rd, Donna tried calling Shane to check on him, but his phone went straight to voicemail. She repeatedly tried to get in touch with him, calling over and over, and still, her calls went straight to voicemail.

Donna and her husband, Brian, grew even more concerned and decided to go to Shane's to check on him. The lights and TV were on when they entered the home but no Shane.

On March 24, 2010, Donna and Brian reported their son missing. The Prince William County Police Department is handling the case. The Donahues told the police the last time they had seen and heard Shane was Monday the 22nd and that he was with his friend Timmy Hickerson. They said the boys left in a Hickerson Brothers Electric blue box truck. Timmy's dad and uncle own the family business.

Shane doesn't have access to a vehicle. He heavily relied on family and friends for rides. Shane had roughly a dozen traffic violations from what I was able to obtain through criminal and traffic records on TruthFinder. Because of this, it wasn't believed that Shane left on his own accord. 

On top of that, when police checked phone records and with the bank, there hadn't been any activity on them. Shane had two phones, and according to Det Brian Wing with the Prince William County Police Department, both phones went off around 4 pm on the 22nd. Either they were both turned off at the same time, or they both died at the same exact time. 

Now it's unknown why Shane had two phones. No one ever says for sure. There is speculation of one being a burner phone for drugs, but this was not confirmed.

Police performed searches throughout the area for Shane. They also brought in Timmy Hickerson for questioning since he was the last person to have been in contact with and seen Shane before his disappearance.

The police searched Shane's duplex with luminal, looking for blood splatter, DNA evidence, and any signs of a struggle. Donna and Brian paid for cadaver dogs to search Nokesville parks, lakes, and ponds, but the dogs never reacted. 

Time slowly ticks on, and they are no closer to finding where Shane is or what happened to him. Almost two years after Shane's disappearance, Donna did an interview with the Washington Examiner. 

She told them how shortly before Shane disappeared, his duplex was broken into by acquaintances. They stole his medications, and Donna noted how Shane was highly upset. 

Every day, Donna wears a button with a picture of Shane on it, and she has a calendar hanging in her kitchen that marks the number of days since Shane disappeared. The Donahues also have a large sign erected in the front yard that says, we love and miss you, contains the group name on Facebook and a photo of Shane. 

They have the number of days since Shane disappeared that they manually change each day, and it has the anonymous tip line phone number on it. I'll have a picture on Instagram for you guys to see.

There have been a lot of rumors about what happened to Shane or where he might be, but nothing credible has surfaced. There's a local community web forum that people have posted to, the Donahues and friends looking for answers, others trying to help, and those who are sick and twisted posting just awful things. 

The forum is called Fairfax Underground. On April 5, 2010, shortly after Shane went missing, someone posted asking, does anyone know what happened to him with the header titled 'Help find a Shane Donahue.' 

This particular post on the thread said, 'Friends and family and all of Northern Virginia. This group has been created to spread the word for the search of Shane Donahue, last seen on Monday, March 22, 2010, age 23, height, six, three weight, 185 pounds, eyes brown. 

He was last seen Monday, March 22, 2010. Supposedly he was dropped off at his house. And the next few posts supported finding Shane by saying things like, 'Why hasn't this gotten more media coverage?'

On October 1, 2010, several months after Shane disappeared, one poster wrote, "I killed the piece of shit and buried him in a shallow grave just outside of Sterling. Look for that f***** Shane's decomposing body next to a STOP sign off on Route 23. I skull fucked him before digging the grave."

Unfortunately, we are well aware of people reporting false tips and giving false hope to the loved ones of those missing, and it's jacked up, but this is a whole other level of messed up!

Their handle on the forum is Shane's Donapoo. This person is the perfect definition of an internet troll on social media. And sadly, this wasn't the only awful post people made. 

On October 25, 2010, another poster claimed that Shane was at a party on March 20, 2010, just two days before he disappeared, and a fight broke out between him and some others. 

Shane said that Timmy and others broke into his home and stole his medications. The poster claims that people involved said they were going to get even, and Timmy said he would make it right; they had a service job coming up on March 22. Timmy picked up Shane, and Shane was never seen again.

I'm not mentioning the other names because, in all my research, the names the poster wrote have never come up. I'll link the web forum in the show notes to the post for you to read. 

The police have followed up on leads, but nothing has panned out. The interview details with Timmy still have yet to be made public. 

If Timmy knows anything, he isn't saying. In fact, according to Det. Wing, no one is saying anything. There has been a lot of speculation that Timmy has had something to do with Shane's disappearance since he was the last person to see Shane. 

Det Wing did confirm that Timmy is a person of interest in Shane's case. Some people believe that since Timmy's dad was the Chief of the Nokesville Volunteer Fire Department, they have conspired with law enforcement. 

Nokesville is a small town in Virginia that's about 9.5 square miles. It's the kind of area where everyone knows everyone. The population in Nokesville in 2010 was 1,354. 

Prince William County is 348 square miles divided into three patrol districts serving a diverse population of more than 450,000 residents. A District Commander and several Watch Commanders oversee each patrol district. 

The districts operate three patrol shifts (days, evenings, and midnights), providing 24-hour police coverage, seven days a week, 365 days a year, to the residents and visitors of Prince William County.

Give that information about Nokesville and Prince William County; I'll leave it to you guys to decide if any colluding was involved.

One month after Shane was last seen, on April 22, 2010, Timmy Hickerson broke into the Guns & Ammo Warehouse at 10951 Nokesville Rd in Nokesville. Timmy tore out a section of metal beneath a windowpane at the store but couldn't get in that way. 

He then broke the glass to an adjoining business, a nail salon, entered inside Guns & Ammo, and stole a riffle and suppressor.

Another month after that, on May 29, Timmy broke into Guns & Ammo again, smashing a back door and stealing six firearms and silencers. The next day, he attempted to break into the Virginia Arms store on Center St in Manassas, but two employees in the store confronted him. 

The employees realized someone had unsuccessfully tried to break in the previous night. On the night of the 30th, they stayed the night at the store, thinking that maybe the burglar would come back again, and wouldn't you know it, he did. 

They heard Timmy trying to pry open the back door. So the employees confronted him while pointing guns at him. Timmy tried running to his car to escape but couldn't unlock his door. So he decided to run into a nearby wooded area. 

He was eventually caught there by law enforcement, and since he was a regular at the store, the employees recognized him and were able to identify him to the police.

When Timmy went to court for the burglaries, the Donahues went to court and tried to speak with the prosecutor about how they believed Timmy was involved with Shane's disappearance. The Hickersons were upset by this and felt like this was harassment. They didn't think Timmy was involved at all. 

Timmy Hickerson received several charges, including attempted burglary, grand larceny, three counts of destruction of property, and three counts of statutory burglary. He served a four-year sentence in federal prison, which began in 2011. 

Between July 15, 2000, to May 30, 2010, Timmy had 24 charges between criminal and traffic offenses, including burglary and drug possession.

According to Det Wing, Shane did odd jobs for a living and was quite possibly a "low-level" drug dealer in the Nokesville area. 

While Shane relatively stayed out of trouble for the most part, aside from the traffic violations, there were two convictions for possession of marijuana in April 2006 and January 2009. Two years before he disappeared, his roommate was busted by the FBI for narcotics distribution.

During the time of Shane's disappearance, his mom, Donna, had been battling breast and colon cancer for the last six years. Shane had dinner at his parents' house almost every night. Donna said, "Bubba would never leave me like this."

Shane's parents believe that Shane is dead and have even purchased a grave plot for him. Police have not given up hope, and the cold case remains open. Every year, Prince William County posts information on its social media accounts on Shane's missing person case.

In an article I read from Desert News from December 22, 2011, Det. Wing stated, "The tipster who called Crime Stoppers recently, we'd like them to call back."

In April 2013, police searched the area of the duplex Shane had been renting. They even went as far as to drain the septic tank. However, nothing came of this search.

The Hickerson family has lived in Nokesville for generations and is predominant in the community. They even have a street named after them. 

Because Timmy was the last person with Shane before his disappearance, there have been many rumors and issues for both families. 

The Donahues had fliers hung up all over town, and one day, someone vandalized and tore fliers down. It was suspected to be an uncle of Timmy's. 

The Donahues had a photo of the Hickerson Brothers Electric truck on the flier, and some took this as the Donahues accusing them of foul play, but the Donahues say it was just because that was the last truck that Shane was seen in.

In 2015, after serving four years in federal prison, Timmy Hickerson was free. After his release, he moved down to Palm Coast, Florida. He hasn't had any reported run-ins with the law since his release.

In 2018, there was a glimmer of hope for the Donahues when the body of an unidentified male was found in a wooded area in Nokesville. Unfortunately for the Donahues, the body was not Shane. 

It was determined to be that of a local missing teen. Internet sleuths and others have tried matching unidentified John doughs to Shane but to no avail. 

As if the Donahue family hadn't been through enough heartbreak, on June 13, 2019, Shyanne Rose Donahue, the baby of the family, died just ten days after her 28th birthday. At 15, she was accepted into a summer medical internship at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins. She graduated high school a year early, at 16, to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. 

She received a bachelor's Degree in Science and Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University. Shyanne also received a degree in Substance Abuse Counseling, as that was her true passion coinciding with the Shane Donahue Foundation. In recent years her main goal was to make a difference within the community and educate people on addiction. 

Shyanne worked so hard with the Shane Donahue Foundation that it consumed her, but not knowing what happened to Shane was harder. She could no longer deal with the heartache and pain that overwhelmed her and the depression she suffered.

Donna Donahue posted on the Find Shane Donahue Facebook group for Shane's 36th birthday. In it, she states that Shyanne's death is contributed to Shane's disappearance. And in 2022, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, her third cancer, and she underwent radiation treatments. She also states that police have started to reinterview people in relation to his disappearance. 

And that's basically all the information we have. There was very little media coverage of Shane's disappearance during that time and even up til now. Few news articles have been written in the last 13 years. 

Shane Donahue was 23 years old at the time of his disappearance. He would be 36 now. He is 5'11" with brown hair and brown eyes. Shane wore glasses, but they were broken around the time of his disappearance. Shane was an avid golf lover and a family-oriented young man. He has ties to Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and Baltimore, MD.

Shane was last seen and heard from on March 22, 2010. He had finished a tile job for a local business and was paid $5,000. He hired his friend Timmy Hickerson to help with the job and paid him $1,000 for his work. 

Timmy gave Shane a ride to his parent's house on Aden Rd, where they stayed for a bit; Shane told his mom he had to go and that he loved her, and then they left in Timmy's truck and headed back to Shane's. There were no signs of Shane making it home, and both his phones went off around 4 pm at the same time.

Anyone with information that may lead to Shane's whereabouts or what happened to him is encouraged to contact the Prince William County Police Department at 703-792-6500, Case# 10-050509. 

Anonymous Tips can be made at 866-411-TIPS (8477), or you can contact Crime Solvers at 540-349-1000. 

The Donahue family is offering a $25,000 reward, and Prince William County Crime Solvers is offering an additional $1,000 for information leading to Shane's whereabouts. 

And that's the case of Shane Donahue. Again, if you or someone you know has information, even the slightest bit and the smallest tip of information may help. In the meantime, keep it classy, connoisseurs, and I'll catch ya on the next case!