A Washington state inmate has been sentenced to an additional 24 years in jail for murdering his cellmate, who came out to be a convicted child molester who had raped his sister. Shane Goldsby, 26, was sentenced this week after he beat to death his cellmate Robert Munger, 70, in June 2020.
Goldsby ended up sharing a cell with Munger at Airway Heights Corrections Center in Washington, United States. He decided to kill Munger when he learnt that he was the same person who had raped his sister years ago. Munger was serving a 43-year prison sentence on multiple child molestation and child pornography charges including rape.
Settling Old Score
Call it a coincidence, Goldsby ended up sharing the same cell where Munger was staying. At that time Munger was just his cellmate. However, slowly things started getting clearer for him.
Goldsby said he snapped after hearing Munger brag about his crimes, and while in a prison common area, came up from behind and attacked Munger, knocking him to the ground. He then punched and kicked him in the face 14 times and then stomping on his head another four times, before walking away, according to according to KHQ.
However, the gory graphic details of Munger's child sex crimes were't the only reason that disturbed Goldsby. He said that he killed Munger after discovering his younger sister, who is still a minor, was one of Munger's victims.
Three days later, Munger died from his injuries.
"I had so much stuff going on in my head. "I wasn't stable at that point. I wasn't. I was getting to that point, because (Munger) kept wanting to give me details about what happened, what he did – about the photos and the videos of him doing this stuff. It was building up," he told the outlet.
The child's mother, Cindy Elliott, and an anonymous tipster told the outlet that Munger had raped the girl. The Washington Department of Corrections insisted it has a policy that should have stopped Goldsby and Munger being assigned to the same cell.
Taking His Revenge
Goldsby said that he was in disbelief after learning that he had been assigned the same cell where the man who had molested and raped his younger sister was lodged. Following that, he requested a different cellmate, but was ignored.
"I was in shock," he said. "I was like, 'what the f***?'... This stuff doesn't happen. You're talking the same institution, the same unit, the same pod in the same cell as this dude. That's like hitting the jackpot in the casino seven times."
He also said that he pressed the emergency cell button ahead of the murder – but no prison guards responded.
Munger had been convicted in December, 2019 for child rape, child molestation and possession of child pornography. The prison said it was conducting its own internal investigation as well as cooperating with the police and courts.
Following Munger's murder, Goldsby apologized to his family during the sentencing hearing. "I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a loved one in this kind of way," the statement read. "To his wife and his whole family I apologize. I am so sorry and I hope you are able to heal from what I caused."
Meanwhile, Goldsby was serving time for a 2017 incident in which he stole a police vehicle and took police on a lengthy chase before crashing it into a Washington State patrol vehicle and injuring the trooper inside. He has now been sentenced to an additional 298 months behind bars.
