Waynesville, MO. – A certified nursing assistant from Waynesville, has recently been sentenced for the murder of her five-year-old child. Shamira Buford will now spend the rest of her life in prison due to a life sentence passed in court. She had four charges against her including endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death. On April 25, 2024, Buford pled guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and as part of the plea deal, the other three charges were dropped.
In March of 2023, Buford and Angela West were arrested after officers received a report of an unconscious child at a residence in Waynesville. When officers arrived they found Buford and West asleep. The person who answered the door told officers that the child had choked and died. The 5-year-old child appeared to have ligature marks on her wrists, ankles, and neck. There were also three lengths of rope and a bloodied sock lying on the bed next to the child. Police spoke to the sibling who first alerted the police and he said that the child was tied up when his stepmother woke him up that morning. Both women, Buford and West, also told investigators that they tied up the girl’s ankles and wrists so that she wouldn’t be able to steal food at night. Then they would stuff a sock in her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Buford also told the police that the child “continued to steal food and that they tried numerous things to get her to stop”. They said they started with duck tape on her wrists and ankles and then moved on to “hog-tying” her with nylon rope. Doing this eventually led to the death of the child.
During her last hearing, Buford asked her defense attorney for 10 years. She stated that if she were in prison for too long she wouldn’t have a relationship with her remaining 8 children. The Judge denied this plea and sentenced her to life in prison.
