Man Who Burned His Sleeping Daughter In Desert 26 Years Ago Dies In Prison

NDTV

05-06-2025

An Arizona man, who admitted to setting his two-year-old daughter on fire with gasoline in 1999, has died in jail. Shawn Ryan Grell, 50, was serving a life sentence until he died on April 19 at ASPC-Tucson facility.
On April 19, authorities found the body of the convicted killer in the prison complex, but they withheld information concerning his cause of death, The New York Post reported.
In December 1999, Grell picked up his daughter Kristen Salem from daycare with the intention of taking her to see the Christmas lights, per the East Valley Tribune.
Instead, they headed to a department shop in Mesa, where Grell bought gasoline and a plastic gas can. He then reportedly drove to an isolated desert region in east Mesa, where he laid his daughter down and set her on fire.
Kristen woke up, staggered 10 feet through the flames, then fell to the ground, and died, as per reports.
Having murdered his daughter, Grell proceeded to a local convenience store to purchase alcohol. He further informed the shopkeeper that he had witnessed some youngsters burning a dog in an empty lot.
Grell later contacted the police and turned himself in. At a press conference early the next morning, he subsequently admitted to the murder.
"I took the gasoline and I poured it on her. I took the match and threw it on her," he admitted in a recorded interview to investigators.
Grell was given the death penalty in 2001 after being found guilty of first-degree murder and burglary. The court ruled the senseless killing was carried out in an "especially heinous, cruel, and depraved manner."
That was reversed in 2013 when the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously decided that his death sentence was "cruel and unusual punishment."
The court declared that Grell had mental retardation, and his death sentence was revoked. He received a life sentence in prison until he died in prison in April.