OCALA, Fla. – A judge gave no bond on Thursday morning to the man who deputies say killed his estranged girlfriend in front of their 3-year-old daughter in Marion County.
Johnny Lashawn Shipman, 36, was wanted on a Lake County warrant after deputies say he killed his estranged girlfriend, 26-year-old Kristi Lynne Delaney, in a domestic violence incident at a home on Bay Lake Road in Mascotte.
Shipman was picked up by Ocala Police on Wednesday when they spotted him walking around the area of Fore Ranch, a subdivision in southwest Ocala.
According to the warrant, Shipman's hand was wrapped and was later transported to the hospital before being booked.
At his first appearance, Shipman requested a private attorney to handle his murder charge. Lake County deputies say they will pick him up in a few days.
The child's grandparents said the girl is doing OK, despite witnessing her mother's brutal attack. Investigators said the couple's daughter walked to her grandmother's house, located a quarter-mile away, after the attack.
Shipman, the prime suspect in the death of Delaney, was believed to be traveling north to Alabama when he was arrested Wednesday evening and taken to the Marion County Jail.
"I honestly thought that he was going to get away with this," said the victim's mother, Sandra Delaney. "That's what I was afraid of; I was afraid he was going to be able to escape."
The victim's family told Local 6 they are relieved, and they said Shipman was turned in by his own family.
The family said the domestic violence started years before but boiled over when the young mother filed for an injunction.
"She was going to do whatever she could to get the protection, but obviously, it didn't work," said Delaney. "Even though it doesn't bring my daughter back, this is a relief and a half and thank God he's not able to do this again."
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