Missing Vallejo woman Renia Lewis found dead behind hidden attic wall; Douglas Irwin Shaw arrested after admitting to her murder.

 

Renia Lewis, 28, was reported missing on Friday, prompting the California Highway Patrol to issue an Ebony Alert. According to Vallejo Police, investigators discovered her remains on Tuesday inside a Vallejo residence, concealed behind what they described as a “secret entry” into the attic.

Detectives had initially searched the house on Sunday after finding indications that Lewis had been there before her disappearance. That search, however, turned up no results. A subsequent warrant allowed police to return, where they made the grim discovery.

Family members described the home as resembling a hoarder’s house. “My baby girl was hidden behind a wall — a secret wall they placed her behind,” her cousin, Latoya Lewis, told KTVU.

Pictured, Renia Lewis missing, Vallejo, California woman found dead behind secret wall at hoarder home.

Later that day, authorities arrested 41-year-old Douglas Irwin Shaw at his workplace. Vallejo Police said Shaw confessed to being responsible for Lewis’s death, though investigators have not disclosed how he was connected to her or the residence where her body was found. The cause and manner of death have not yet been released.

Family members had been conducting their own searches before the discovery, even locating Lewis’s phone on the roof of a nearby school. “We all came to search for her, not knowing she was here in the wall — gone,” her mother, Teri Lewis, told reporters. She added, “He needs to sit there and suffer for my daughter because she didn’t deserve this.”

The investigation remains ongoing.

 

Body of Renia Lewis, 28, missing woman subject of Ebony Alert, found behind wall of home near 14th & Starr, family tells @bett_yu @KTVU. Suspect in custody, per @VallejoPd pic.twitter.com/XAep9lmTXY

— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) October 1, 2025