Aranda Briones vanished on January 13th, 2019. The then-16-year-old teen left her Moreno Valley, California home that day after telling her family that she was going to spend the day with a male friend from school. Aranda never returned home and was never seen or heard from again.
The male friend - later identified as then-18-year-old Owen Skylar Shover - stated that he dropped Aranda off at Moreno Valley Community Park between 6:00 and 6:30 PM. However, investigators looked at footage of the park, and Aranda was not seen at any point that day. Additionally, Owen said that he saw Aranda get into a four-door grey sedan. Aranda’s family reportedly does not know anybody with a car of that description, and said car was not seen on the park’s surveillance footage either.
According to Aranda’s brother, her Snapchat map feature placed her phone at a completely different location on the evening of January 13th. A female friend reportedly told Aranda’s family that she noticed Aranda’s Snapchat was showing her in Rubidoux that evening. When the friend texted Aranda to ask what she was doing there, Aranda’s phone was abruptly shut off. The phone was never turned on again.
The investigation into Aranda’s disappearance picked up quickly. Moreno Valley police began investigating a day after she was last seen. Shortly thereafter, the FBI joined the search. The investigation led detectives back to the person Aranda was last seen with: Owen Shover.
A few weeks later, Owen Shover and his older brother Gary Shover, (then 21) were arrested and charged with Aranda’s murder. At the time of their arrests, investigators did not reveal many details in the case. They also did not reveal the extent of Gary's involvement. Additionally, it was noted that the search for Aranda was still ongoing.
It was initially reported that both Owen and Gary planned to plead not guilty. After that, news about the case went stagnant. Years passed without any updates in the case. Aranda remained missing and still remains missing today.
Over five years later, the case finally began to have some movement. In 2024, news about the events leading up to Aranda's disappearance - and a possible motive for her murder - was finally revealed.
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The November 2017 incident.
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| Source: Facebook |
A 2024 report cites an incident that occurred all the way back in November 2017 that might have been a motivating factor in Aranda's murder. As previously noted, Aranda and Owen were friends who met in high school. In 2017, the two teens attended Moreno Valley High School together.
On November 7th, 2017, Aranda and Owen were amongst a group of teens who decided to skip school and go to Community Park instead. Owen had a small-caliber handgun in his possession during this outing. At some point, a school resource officer looking for truants spotted the group.
As the officer approached them, the teens began fleeing in different directions. In the midst of this, Owen tossed his handgun to Aranda and told her to hide it. Frightened, Aranda tossed the gun into a drainage canal. The officer saw this, and Aranda was subsequently detained.
The expulsion.
Aranda was later questioned by both officers and school administrators. She then explained that the gun belonged to Owen; he is the one who brought it to the park that day. As a result, both Aranda and Owen faced disciplinary action.
In February 2018, the school board voted to expel both teens from Moreno Valley High School. Owen was reportedly furious over the expulsion from Moreno Valley. According to the trial brief, he was angry in particular about "what he evidently perceived as Aranda’s betrayal of trust."
After the expulsion, Aranda enrolled in a local continuation school. Owen moved in with his father and enrolled in a continuation school in Hesperia. It appears that the friendship between the two teens deteriorated as a result.
In fact, a report on Aranda's disappearance from February 2019 alludes to this lapse in her friendship with Owen. Aranda's uncle is quoted in the article, saying "He used to go to Moreno Valley High School, and they stopped hanging out for, like, a year. She never talked about him and then, all of a sudden, they started hanging out and out of the blue air she disappeared."
Evidence of premeditation.
It's clear that Aranda and Owen had reconnected by January 2019. According to the prosecution, there is evidence that shows Aranda's murder was premeditated before even they got back in touch. The prosecution stated Owen planned to feign interest in rekindling a friendship with Aranda so he could lure her to her death.
Let's back up to November 2018 - just two months before Aranda's disappearance. During this time, according to detectives, Owen began using social media and text messages to try and purchase a gun. Detectives reportedly found "a series of Snapchat, Facebook and other conversations initiated by the defendant" in which he expressed interest in buying a firearm.
Those messages reportedly occurred between November 2018 and January 2019. By January 2019, Owen finally obtained a gun. Shortly thereafter, he contacted Aranda.
January 12th - 13th, 2019: Aranda and Owen make plans.
On January 12th, 2019, Owen reportedly sent Aranda a text message, "inviting her to join him the following day while he made drug deliveries and 'robs drug dealers.'” Aranda accepted the invite. The two agreed to meet up at Bayside Park the next day.
Aranda arrived at the park shortly before 5:00 PM on January 13th, 2019. She was accompanied by friends before she left the park with Owen. The two friends watched as she got into Owen's Nissan Ventra. According to reports, the two then "headed north toward Box Springs Mountain."
By all accounts, Aranda appeared happy to be spending time with Owen. The trial brief states that she "posted several pictures to social media accounts within an hour, showing her and Shover in his car, expressing elation to be with her “homie,” who was letting her do some of the driving."
At some point, though, Aranda went silent. She abruptly stopped posting on social media and responding to her messages from friends and family. Owen's phone activity, however, remained active for the next few hours.
January 13th, 2019: 6:00 PM - 10:15 PM.
Cell phone pings indicate that Owen's vehicle started heading towards San Bernadino around 6:00 PM. While in route towards that area, Owen reportedly sent his older brother, Gary, a message that read, "Be ready for tonight. Get shovels and lighter fluid ready."
At some point afterwards, Owen picked Gary up from a mobile home park. Phone pings tracked the two brothers traveling "north into the San Bernardino Mountains via state Routes 138 and 18." Then, between the hours of 8:33 PM and 10:14 PM, Owen's phone was reportedly shut off. By time it was turned back on, Owen and Gary were back at their father's residence.
Aranda, on the other hand, had not returned home. She was reported missing shortly thereafter.
Investigating Aranda's disappearance.
Police identified Owen Shover as the last person Aranda was seen with very early into the investigation. Owen denied knowledge of Aranda's whereabouts. He acknowledged spending time with her on the day she vanished, but he said he dropped her off between 6:00 and 6:30 PM and never saw her again. As previously noted, he also said he saw Aranda getting into a different vehicle.
Police were unable to corroborate Owen's story, which inevitably made him look suspicious. As the investigation continued, more and more evidence pointed to Owen's guilt. Owen's car was searched, during which Luminol was used. The spray reported showed "the possible presence of a significant amount of blood that had pooled toward the bottom of the trunk, underneath the carpeting."
Investigators had learned about Aranda and Owen's friendship rift after they were both expelled in 2018. This pointed to evidence of motive. Additionally, the evidence from Owen's cell phone data implicated not only him, but his older brother Gary, as well.
February 11th, 2019: The arrests.
Owen Shover and Gary Shover were arrested at their father's residence in Hesperia on February 11th, 2019. Reports state that both homicide and SWAT investigators went to the home to detain the two men.
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| The Shover brothers. (ABC News) |
At first, police remained quiet about the evidence they had against the two young men. Eventually, it was revealed that Owen Shover was charged with both conspiring to commit murder and first-degree murder. Gary Shover was charged with first-degree murder and a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait.
The slow road to justice.
Both Owen and Gary pleaded not guilty to their respective charges. After that, news about Aranda's case grew scarce. The case was inevitably slowed down by the onset of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. However, it continued to be hit with delays, even after the world began to function regularly again after quarantine.
After a preliminary hearing in 2022, a judge dismissed the first-degree murder and lying in wait charges against Gary Shover. Instead, he was to be charged with accessory to murder. Gary still maintained his not guilty plea.
Summer 2024: Gary pleads guilty; Owen is found guilty.
After years of waiting, Aranda's case finally began to move forward in 2024. In June 2024, Gary Shover pleaded guilty to accessory after-the-fact to first-degree murder. He was immediately sentenced to a year in jail, plus another year of probation and he will be required to pay victim restitution.
Two months later, in August 2024, Owen Shover's trial began. During the trial, the prosecution presented the evidence that supported the theory that Owen wanted revenge on Aranda after getting expelled.
After killing her, it was stated that Owen, with the help of Gary, hid Aranda's body in the San Bernardino mountains. The jury deliberated for less than a day before they returned a guilty verdict.
October 2024: Sentencing.
On October 25th, 2024, Owen Shover was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. During the hearing, several of Aranda's loved ones gave victim impact statements, describing the devastation that Aranda's disappearance has brought upon their lives.
While declaring the sentence, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy J. Hollenhorst spoke directly to Shover, saying, "Mr. Shover, from what I can tell about you, it appears that you are not capable of feeling remorse, so I do not intend to lecture you on how devastating your actions were in this case. However, there is no question in this court’s mind that you are the face of pure evil."
Aranda's body has still not been found. Her family still hopes to one day give her a proper burial.
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