Lori Shields: 38-Year-Old Kansas Woman Killed At Home; Husband Arrested

Lori Shields, 38, was found dead in her Norton, Kansas home on Sunday April 7, 2019. Her husband was found hundreds of miles away in Kansas. Shields was the mother of three children.

Lori Shields, 38, was the kind of person that you just loved to be around. The Norton County, Missouri woman was married and the mother of three children.

Lori Shields, 38, was the kind of person that you just loved to be around. The Norton County, Missouri woman was married and the mother of three children.
"Lori was a very pleasant individual, very charasmatic," Ethan Ross, a neighbor, told local TV station KSN. "Her personality spoke volumes." 
Shields worked at Eisenhower Elementary School in Norton, according to news reports. The school canceled classes in the wake of the murder.

Authorities say they have arrested a suspect 700 miles away in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Forty-two-year-old Damien Shields is the victim's husband.

Lori Shield's sister told the media that she actually talked to Damien right after the incident happened.

"He was talking in a calm manner and I only really answered it because it was her phone," Mary Humphrey was quoted as saying. "After I finished letting him speak, I asked him, I was like, 'Well, Damien where is Lori? Where is she at?' and he just answered in the calmest voice, 'Oh, she's dead. I killed her,'" Humphrey said.

Police said after he was taken into custody, he was taken to a hospital for what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds. He is charged with murder.

The Norton County Sheriff’s Office said the following in a news release: “the Norton County Sheriff’s Office received information Sunday afternoon (April 7) that a female victim was deceased at 16353 U.S. Highway 36, in Norton. At approximately 3:40 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to the residence where they discovered 38-year-old Lori Shields, of Norton, deceased inside.”

The Norton school district said Lori Shields "touched the lives of students and staff in so many positive ways. We are thinking of her children and other family members during this difficult time."

Her family said that she was absolutely selfless toward others.

"She put anyone before herself. She has put me before herself plenty of times. She loved my babies. She just loved everyone and the town that she lived in, Norton, they all just loved her to pieces," her sister said.

Humphrey said on numerous occasions she urged her sister to get out of the abusive relationship, but to no avail.

"I have begged her and begged her to just leave. I begged her to come with me, but you can't make someone do anything until they are ready and I had always told her, 'Lori, it ends one of two ways. Either you leave or he kills you,'" she was quoted as saying.

Damien has a history of domestic violence. Court documents obtained by KSN show that in 2010 he was convicted of domestic battery, aggravated battery and violating a protective order.