Murdered Riverview teen's father charged in her death

RIVERVIEW (FOX 13) - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says it has made an arrest in the investigation into a murdered 13-year-old girl.

Janessa Shannon was reported as a missing runaway by her father on July 3. She had not been seen since two days prior. Her body was found by a hiker at Triple Creek Preserve in Southern Hillsborough County nine days later.

Janessa's father, Nahshon Shannon, has now been charged in her death, HCSO said in a press conference Thursday.

Back in July, the sheriff's office said detectives interviewed Nahshon after Janessa's body was found.

Deputies say Nahshon cooperated at first but refused to answer more questions at the advice of counsel.

Deputies secured a search warrant for Nahshon's home in Riverview back in July and forensics teams collected evidence, but the sheriff's office did not say what, if anything, was found.

HCSO said they have a good "understanding" of what happened to Janessa, but the agency was not able to give the details of how they came to charge Nahshon Shannon in his daughter's death due to the ongoing investigation.

HCSO said no one else was facing charges in the case, but the investigation would continue.

Shannon was taken into custody at his Riverview home and was awaiting transport Thursday afternoon.

HCSO revealed some information about Nashon Shannon's past. Investigators say he has three children. He has a criminal history, including 11 felonies and 9 misdemeanors on his record. 

HCSO says Nahshon has been convicted of sexual assaults, felony batteries, burglaries, resisting arrest with violence, and a number of misdemeanor traffic offenses.

Shannon has also been accused in the past in cases of abuse against his children, but HCSO says there was never enough evidence to arrest him.

HCSO said allegations of abuse had been made about more than one of his children, but did not elaborate on which children or when the allegations were made.

During the investigation, there were rumors about Shannon's travel, including trips he was taking to Philadelphia. HCSO said it has since confirmed those trips were legitimate business trips taken for his employer.