Brunswick County native murdered in Asheboro

SHALLOTTE, NC (WWAY) — Police in Asheboro are investigating the murder of a Brunswick County native. Police say a neighbor out for a walk found 22-year-old Shaunna Walley’s body in some woods Tuesday morning. Walley grew up in Shallotte, but she moved to Asheboro about a year ago.

Her family says she was a loving, family-oriented and intelligent woman with a five-year-old daughter.

“We never, any of us in the family, ever anticipated that there would be some horrible person out there that would beat the child to death and leave her body in the woods,” Walley’s grandmother Marcia Hunt said. “There is no excuse for that. It’s broken all our hearts.”

Walley’s family says she had a criminal record and a drug problem. Walley was supposed to start rehab this month. Her grandmother thinks drugs played a factor in her death.