FROM STAFF REPORTS
CHARLOTTE ARMS
BURNET — A case that shocked residents earlier this year took another step forward in June as the Burnet County Grand Jury indicted three suspects for allegedly holding one woman against her will and sexually assaulting another.
Charlotte Elaine Arms, 45, faces a list of felony charges in relation to an investigation that began in January after police went to a residence in the 700 block of North Pierce in response to a report of a deceased person.
According to Burnet Police Chief Paul Nelson, the woman’s cause of death has been ruled a homicide. Officials said it is still under investigation.
Burnet police officers found 29-year-old Rebecca Schaller dead in the residence, but, during the course of the investigation, authorities believe Arms and others allegedly kept a second woman against her will for several months and subjected her to several physical assaults.
The grand jury indicted Arms on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of sexual assault, one count of aggravated kidnapping and one count of assault of family/household member (with) impeding breath/circulation. She was first arrested in March and remains in the Burnet County Jail.
THOMAS SIMON
Along with her arrest, Burnet police charged Walker Shapland, 24, with kidnapping and assault in the case as well. On June 3, the grand jury also indicted the man on two counts of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated kidnapping as well.
The third man, Thomas Allen Simon, was indicted on sexual assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The bizarre case came to light to authorities Jan. 28 when they responded to the residence, where they found Schaller’s body. As investigators followed up on the woman’s death, they noticed no real sense of loss or remorse from the eight adults and six children sharing the home, according to an arrest warrant affidavit issued in March for the suspects.
As investigators continued to look into Schaller’s death, they began to piece things together, both from what they were told and what was missing. According to the affidavit, officers noted several people provided written statements regarding Schaller’s death, but several people hadn’t, including Arms and the alleged kidnapping victim.
WALKER SHAPLAND
Investigators reached out to a Child Protective Service investigator to get information about this other woman and, if possible, get her out of the house so they could speak with her. On March 6, a confidential informant told investigators Schaller and the alleged kidnapping victim were Arms’ nieces by marriage and the informant had witnessed Arms abuse Schaller and the other woman and instructing others to abuse them as well, according to the affidavit.
On March 10, officers were able to get the alleged victim out of the house, and she then confirmed the confidential informant’s information. She also went on to describe several other alleged assaults, including a time between Oct. 31, 2013, and Nov. 5, 2013, when the two kidnapping suspects tied her to a bed and beat her with a wooden paddle and a leather belt, the affidavit stated.
According to the indictment against Arms, she assaulted the alleged victim in November 2013 with a wooden paddle.
The grand jury also indicted Arms for allegedly stabbing the deceased woman the day prior to police discovering the body. The two sexual assault indictments stem from Arms allegedly directing Simon to sexually assault Schaller, who was his wife, in September 2012.
Simon’s two sexual assault indictments also are from that alleged incident. He also faces an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon indictment.
All three remain in the Burnet County Jail. Shapland is being held in lieu of $600,000 in total bonds; Arms is being held in lieu of $980,000 in bonds; and, Simon in lieu of $300,000 in bonds.
editor@thepicayune.com
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