Murder of Kathy Blair by Timothy Parlin and Shawn Gant-Benalcazar examined on A Time To Kill

Mugshots of Shawn Gant-Benalcazar and Tim Parlin
Shawn Gant-Benalcazar (L) and Tim Parlin were sentenced to life in prison. Pic credit: Travis County Sheriff’s Office

A Time To Kill is investigating the murder of Kathy Blair. She was savagely killed by Timothy Parlin and Shawn Gant-Benalcazar during a home invasion and robbery in Austin, Texas.

Parlin was also subsequently convicted for the murders of Sidney and Billie Shelton in a similar home invasion. Gant-Benalcazar was suspected of also being involved with that crime, but he was not convicted.

On December 6, 2014, Blair’s son, Joe Hargis, returned home after a night out with friends to find his mom lying on her bedroom floor. The 53-year-old had been stabbed and strangled.

The home had been ransacked, and jewelry and other items were missing. The cops concluded that this was a robbery that had turned violent.

A week later, on December 15, 2014, a home help nurse discovered the remains of elderly couple Sidney and Billie Shelton. The couple had been strangled, and their home, just like Blair’s, was ransacked, and jewelry was missing. The cops instantly noticed the similarity between the two murder cases.

During the investigation, the police began to focus their attention on Timothy Parlin. A neighbor of Blair had surveillance footage that led the cops to a Toyota Camry that belonged to Parlin’s sister. She admitted to loaning her car to her brother.

A search of the car revealed bloodstains that contained Blair’s DNA. Furthermore, Parlin provided the cops with a fake alibi for the night of the murders, and he had sold some of his victim’s jewelry the next day.

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Parlin told the cops that Blair’s killer had actually been his accomplice Shawn Gant-Benalcazar. The detectives were pretty sure that Parlin was the actual killer, but they were required to speak to Gant-Benalcazar in order to eliminate him from their investigation.

Shawn Gant-Benalcazar admitted to killing Kathy Blair

The cops questioned Gant-Benalcazar and were shocked when during the course of the five-hour interview, he confessed to killing Blair. He admitted to being Parlin’s partner in crime and to stabbing his victim in the neck when she awoke while they were robbing her home.

Parlin was charged with the murders of the Sheltons and Blair. He was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Gant-Benalcazar later retracted his confession and pleaded not guilty to killing Kathy Blair. However, a jury disagreed with him, and he was convicted of her murder.

Despite the evidence suggesting that Gant-Benalcazar was also present at the Shelton’s home, he was only convicted of Blair’s murder. However, he was also sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

More from A Time To Kill

Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on A Time To Kill.

Alan Helmick was shot in the back of the head by his second wife Miriam Helmick at his home in Whitewater, Colorado. She then pretended to give him CPR and tried to blame the crime on an intruder.

Rafael Hernandez-Torres was a popular taxi diver from Tulsa, Oklahoma, when killer Ramon Medrano lured him to a remote area to rob and kill him. Medrano shot him nine times and took his wallet before shoving him in the trunk of his cab, which he then pushed into the Caney River.

A Time To Kill airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.

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