(YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced a plea agreement containing 47 felony counts for Arturo Novoa relating to the murder of Shannon Graves and the dismemberment of her body.
“Murder most foul – this is the stuff of nightmares,” Yost said. “This plea shows the defendant’s callousness not only to kill, but to butcher his victim in an attempt to escape the justice he now faces.”
Arturo Novoa, aka Anthony Gonzalez, participated in the cover-up of the murder of Shannon Graves by mutilating, destroying and concealing her body after she died. Novoa murdered Graves, tampered and destroyed evidence, and then dismembered, moved and abused her corpse. Novoa, along with others, shared a common purpose, which was to ensure that Graves disappeared forever.
The plea agreement entered into today includes 47 felony counts of murder, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, possession of criminal tools, theft of food stamps, grand theft of a motor vehicle, drug trafficking of marijuana and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Novoa will be sentenced at 11 a.m. on June 14 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The Youngstown Police Department, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were integral to the investigation of the case. The Special Prosecutions section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case.