Robert Lee Shannahan, 46, was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room on January 17, 1975. A hotel maid discovered him with a bayonet protruding from his chest, and investigators determined he had likely been dead for several days. Shannahan was a U.S. Army veteran, born August 10, 1928, in Florida, and was later buried in Weeks Chapel Cemetery in Newton County, Texas.

Shannahan’s killing was linked to a string of murders attributed to a perpetrator known as the Skid Row Slasher, who targeted vulnerable, down-and-out individuals in Los Angeles and left ritualistic signs at some scenes. The suspect, Vaughn Orrin Greenwood, resumed attacks in December 1974 after a previous prison term and was arrested on February 2, 1975. Greenwood was later indicted on multiple murder counts and convicted on nine counts in December 1976; he received a life sentence in January 1977.

Did anyone who knew Shannahan in Los Angeles or Newton County have information about his movements or contacts in the weeks before his death?