Remembering Our Dead

Samantha York

Samantha was shot in the chest and pushed into a closet while her house was set on fire by a 19-year-old solider, James Edward Shaffer. Her body was found stuffed in the closet.

FAYETTEVILLE A [trans woman] was found dead in the burned-out remains of [her] home Sunday, said Cumberland County Sheriff Morris Bedsole said.

Volunteer firefighters extinguished a blaze at the home of [deadname] "Samantha" York and found York's body in the closet. Bedsole said York had been shot in the chest and [her] body pushed in the closet before the house was set afire.

York was a familiar figure in the area and often dressed as a woman, investigators said.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-observer-murder-of-transge/143637250/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-observer-murder-of-transge/73274439/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-and-record-samantha-york-samuel-y/124094660/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-and-record-samantha-york-samuel-y/124094449/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-sun-samantha-york-samuel-yo/124094387/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-sun-murder-of-samantha-york/143637014/

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10_JeZ7LEIRhvewTCoL5mVkH6MQJzf7fSXl4-P6QJ0v0/edit#gid=0

Report added: 24 Feb 2019. Last updated: 7 Mar 2026

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