On March 31, 2025, officers responded to a home in the 600 block of Rice Street, Rockdale, Texas, and found 58-year-old Stephanie McBride with multiple gunshot wounds. The Milam County Justice of the Peace pronounced her dead at the scene and an autopsy was ordered.

Investigators developed McBride’s daughter, 39-year-old Brittney Deshay Shields of Austin, as the primary suspect and concluded she acted alone. Surveillance footage reportedly shows Shields arriving at and leaving the Rockdale residence carrying the weapon and later taking McBride’s truck. Shields was located at her Austin residence and arrested without incident after assistance from multiple agencies. Authorities say she gave a full confession and officers recovered a firearm and bloodstained clothing that will be tested against McBride’s DNA. Shields’ two children, ages five and six, were found unharmed and placed in protective custody.

What did anyone in Rockdale or Austin notice about McBride or her daughter in the days before March 31?