By Janet Jacobs
Editor’s Note: This article reports on the disturbing sexual assault and murder of a small child in Navarro County. Parts of this report are graphic in nature and may disturb readers.
Shaun Earl Arender, 22, pleaded guilty Friday to murdering 6-year-old Hanna Mack by hanging her in a garage next to her family’s house in Navarro Mills, but claimed that he was led into the crime by Kevin Wayne Anders, the boyfriend of the girl’s mother.
Arender, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and wearing shower shoes and socks, spoke plainly and without much emotion Friday afternoon in 13th District Court as part of a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole by District Judge James Lagomarsino.
In his confession on the witness stand, Arender said he and Anders sexually assaulted the little girl and then together they hung her from the rafters with a cord.
Under questioning by Navarro County District Attorney Lowell Thompson, Arender spoke bluntly, although he seemed to minimize his part in the crime, pointing to Anders as the instigator of the assault and killing.
Arender said that he had been smoking marijuana that night and wandered away from the trailer where he was staying with a family member and his pregnant girlfriend, when he ran into Anders in front of the house where Anders was living with Dana Mack and her three daughters. Hanna was the youngest.
Anders called him over and asked to share Arender’s drugs, and they smoked and talked for an hour and a half or two hours on the porch before Anders offered him a drink. Anders went into the house and returned with a soda, and with a sleepy Hanna Mack, whom he claimed had just woken up. It was around 3 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2007.
Arender claimed it was Anders who first reached into the child’s underwear, and then began choking her to muffle her screams. Arender said that Anders then carried her into the garage and urged Arender to rape the girl on a couch. Arender said the two then molested the girl.
“I don’t know why I tried,” Arender said.
Throughout most of the assault, the girl was unconscious because she had been choked twice by Anders, Arender testified.
Finally, Anders began talking about hanging, and they used a cord to hang the girl from the rafters.
“I didn’t come up with it, I just went along with it and started helping out,” Arender said.
Arender’s DNA was found on the girl, and it was the DNA evidence that linked Arender to the crime. He was already in Navarro County jail on burglary charges when the match came back. He has a history of minor property crimes dating back into his teens. He spent a considerable amount of his childhood in foster care and Texas Youth Commission, and had already been to state jail as an adult when he took part in the murder.
Kevin Wayne Anders, 35, remains in jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. He is charged with possession of child pornography, and has not yet been charged in connection with the Mack murder.
“Navarro County law enforcement will investigate all possible leads in this case,” Thompson said.
Arender said in court that he would return to Navarro County to testify against Anders.
Following his courtroom testimony, Arender’s attorney, Mark Griffith gave a short press conference in which he said that Arender would be transported to prison on Tuesday. He also said that Arender was raped as child by a family member.
His personal history doesn’t excuse the crime, nor bring back Hanna Mack, but Arender will die in prison, Griffith said.
“I hope knowing how it happened helps,” Griffith said. “I hope, as does my client, that it gives peace to the family.”
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