Indianola, MS—Alfonso Waller, Jr., of Belzoni, was convicted on Friday, November 14, 2025 by a Sunflower County Jury following a three-day trial, District Attorney Dewayne Richardson announced today.
On December 13, 2019, around 8:00 am a resident of the Royal Oaks Apartment discovered the body of 28-year-old Travis Shaw in the ditch in front of the apartment complex. Officers of the Indianola Police Department responded to the scene to begin their investigation. While on scene, officers with the Indianola Police Department discovered a blood trail that led from the victim’s body to his apartment at Royal Oaks. Officers discovered the rear window to Travis Shaw’s apartment broken, but no evidence of a blood trail inside of the apartment. Evidence of shell casings were collected on scene.
An autopsy was conducted on Mr. Shaw’s body. The autopsy results revealed that Mr. Shaw died from a single gunshot wound. The bullet was recovered during the course of the autopsy.
Investigators with the Indianola Police Department spoke with witnesses that identified Ladarius Snipes and Alfonso Waller, Jr. as being persons of interest. Later investigators with the Indianola Police Department spoke with Alfonso Waller, Jr. where he admitted being a part of a plan and scheme to rob Travis Shaw’s home along with Ladarius Snipes, Iradell Johnson, III, and Leramske Gardner. Investigators learned during the breaking and entering of Travis Shaw’s home that the victim was home, and was gunned down running from his own home.
The information provided, which corroborated with evidence from the crime scene, led to suspects Alfonso Waller, Iradell Johnson, III, Leramske Gardner and Ladarius Snipes being arrested. The defendants were all charged for the homicide and indicted for Capital Murder. Mississippi law deems the killing of another during the commission of Burglary of a Dwelling as Capital Murder.
Alfonso Waller, Jr.’s case was tried separate from his codefendants Iradell Johnson, III, Ladarius Snipes and Leramske Gardner, and their trials are pending.
Assistant District Attorneys Takiyah Perkins and Austin Frye prosecuted the case. During closing arguments, they explained, “the home is supposed to be a person’s sacred space, a safe place, but it wasn’t for Mr. Shaw.” And they stressed for jury members not to turn a blind eye to justice. Alfonso Waller, Jr. agreed, participated, and planned to be a part of robbing of Travis Shaw’s home; the law holds him just as accountable as the person who pulled the trigger; as it should.
Following the third day of trial, the verdict of the jury was announced in open court after approximately one hour of deliberation, finding the defendant, Alfonso Waller, Jr. guilty of Capital Murder. Capital Murder convictions carry a mandatory sentence of Life Imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
ADAs Perkins and Frye are proud to have advocated on behalf of Travis Shaw, his family, and the people of Sunflower County. Perkins stated, “My heart still aches for the family of Travis, especially his parents; he was the only child and son of his mother. He was at home, the one place in this world that should have been safe. Senseless killings cannot and will not be condoned or overlooked; and all participants will be held accountable.”
The Office of the District of Attorney is very grateful and applauds the witnesses that came forward and testified about what they saw in December 2019. Without their willingness to come forward, we would have never known where to begin to hold those accountable for killing Travis Shaw.
Our office extends its appreciation and thanks for the work of former and current officers and investigators with the Indianola Police Department, the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory, and the Forensic Pathologists at the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s Office.
Richardson added, “Evil will never triumph as long as good citizens are willing to stand up for justice. We must all speak up when will see wrongdoings and we must all do our part to protect our communities, whether that is by calling and reporting to law enforcement when we witness crimes or by serving when called to serve on a jury.”