Man indicted in 1995 murder

Fourteen years after Ann Marie Shaw disappeared, a Prince William grand jury has indicted the father of her children in her death.

Former Catharpin resident Walter Godbey, now serving a 30-year sentence in the 2000 shooting death of an AOL executive in Washington, was indicted last week on a murder charge in Shaw’s disappearance — two years after a cold case detective with Prince William County police began digging in to the case.

Shaw’s body has never been found, though police say they may now know where it is.

The last anyone heard from the 33-year-old Shaw was December 1995. In November 2001, Shaw’s sister, Jewel Terry, called detectives in Prince William County after hearing about Godbey’s arrest in the death of Douglass Small in D.C.

She told police she hadn’t heard from her sister since a falling out five years earlier, and she suspected Godbey.

Godbey at the time told police that Shaw had abandoned him and their two children and went back to her native Philippines to live with her mother. Shaw’s sister told detectives that she didn’t have a passport and that her mother had died years ago.

Police found Shaw’s birth certificate, Social Security card, driver’s license, credit cards and pictures of her children hidden in boxes under a stairway in Godbey’s house, according to court records.

In November 2001, Godbey was charged with shooting and killing Small, an AOL executive, in Washington. Godbey had done some renovation work for Small and the two had argued over the quality of the work, according to court records.

Godbey, now 40, is serving a 30-year prison term in that killing at a federal penitentiary in Petersburg.

Prince William police began investigating Shaw’s disappearance after Godbey was arrested in Small’s death, but they were never able to arrest him.

“He was always a suspect, we just didn’t have any proof,” said Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert.

Two years ago, police Master Detective Paul Masterson took another look at the case and developed new evidence, police Maj. Ray Colgan said. On Nov. 2, a grand jury handed down direct indictments charging Godbey with murder, robbery and use of a firearm in Shaw’s death.

Ebert and Colgan would not comment on new evidence in the case.

Godbey is scheduled to be returned to Prince William County today to be arraigned.

Communities editor Kari Pugh can be reached at 703-878-8056.