In Nevada, Sheyenne Shore was convicted after investigators compared her account with phone records, receipts and medical findings.
NEVADA, Iowa — Text messages sent on a June afternoon became part of the evidence against Sheyenne Shore, an Iowa mother convicted of killing her 7-month-old daughter after saying the baby hit her head during tummy time.
Jurors found Shore, 26, guilty April 2 of first-degree murder and child endangerment in the death of her daughter, Xena. The verdict followed an investigation that linked a hospital report, a search of the family’s apartment, store receipts, surveillance footage and messages sent between Shore and the baby’s father, Juan Angel Montalvo Jr. Shore is scheduled to be sentenced June 1 in Story County.
The timeline prosecutors relied on began before the hospital call. Police said Shore told them she had not left Xena alone or with anyone else during the last three days of the baby’s life. Investigators said records contradicted that statement. Surveillance video and store receipts showed Shore left the Nevada apartment without the infant around 11 a.m. on June 11, 2023. Montalvo was elsewhere in Nevada that day, according to the complaint. Later, at 3:10 p.m., Shore began sending messages to Montalvo saying Xena was unresponsive and that she was taking the child to Story County Medical Center. The complaint said Montalvo did not answer until 3:46 p.m., when the two had a short phone call.
At 3:59 p.m., Shore sent the message that marked the point at which the emergency had become a death investigation. She told Montalvo the baby was gone and that medical workers had tried everything they could. By then, doctors had attempted lifesaving measures and found the infant in a condition they later described as cold and stiff, with fixed, dilated pupils. Shore told police Xena had hit her head on baby toys during tummy time. Montalvo also repeated that explanation, according to investigators. An acquaintance later told police that Montalvo said he was going to the hospital because his daughter had hit her head. The same acquaintance said Montalvo indicated around 6 p.m. that he would be back at work by 7 p.m.
The medical record pushed the case beyond the parents’ explanation. Doctors found cuts and bruises on Xena’s face and torso, a broken wrist, bleeding in her right eye and hemorrhaging in her liver. They also found evidence of older fractures healing in both arms and in a femur. Those findings suggested injuries from more than one moment in time. The Iowa State Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide and determined that the baby’s head injuries were not accidental. Court documents described the brain and eye findings as consistent with non-accidental head trauma. Authorities have not publicly said that a specific object caused Xena’s injuries, and the complaint did not present the tummy time account as consistent with the condition doctors reported.
Investigators also searched the apartment shared by Shore and Montalvo in Nevada. They found baby clothes and blankets with bloodstains, according to the complaint. That evidence gave detectives a second scene to examine after the hospital and helped connect the medical findings to the place where Xena had spent her final hours. The apartment search, phone records and video evidence formed a paper trail that jurors could weigh against the statements made by the parents. Shore’s defense position at trial has not been fully detailed in the public summaries of the verdict, but the jury’s decision showed that members accepted the state’s view that the child’s death was criminal and that Shore was responsible.
The case took another turn after Xena’s death when Shore and Montalvo left Iowa. Authorities said both were taken into custody in Fresno County, California, on unrelated charges before being returned to Iowa. In September 2023, Nevada police announced that both parents had been charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death. The charges came months after the infant died, reflecting the time investigators used to review medical findings, collect records and assemble the complaint. At that early stage, both parents faced the same main accusations. Their cases later split.
Montalvo resolved his case before Shore’s trial. In February 2025, he pleaded guilty to an amended child endangerment count. He was sentenced to an indeterminate prison term of no more than 10 years and was ordered to pay financial penalties connected to the case. Shore remained charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death by intentional act. When the jury returned its verdict April 2, it did more than decide guilt. It left Shore facing the punishment tied to an adult first-degree murder conviction in Iowa. Under state law, that conviction carries life in prison unless a governor later commutes the sentence.
The difference between the two cases is now one of the central facts as the court moves toward sentencing. Montalvo admitted guilt to a lesser child endangerment charge and received a term measured by a 10-year maximum. Shore was found guilty of murder and will return to court with the life sentence framework already set by statute. The child endangerment verdict remains part of the case and reflects the jury’s finding that Xena died because of an intentional act. The sentencing hearing will allow the court to enter the formal judgment and hear statements allowed under Iowa procedure.
For investigators, the afternoon messages did not stand alone. They were one piece in a sequence that included Shore’s shopping trip, the father’s delayed response, the hospital examination and the later search of the apartment. Together, those details gave prosecutors a way to show jurors what happened before and after Xena was brought for medical care. The case also left unresolved details in the public record. Authorities have not publicly described every action taken in the apartment that day, and no single public document explains how each old and new injury occurred.
For now, Shore is due back in Story County court June 1 for sentencing. The conviction remains the latest public action in the case, and Xena’s death remains classified by the medical examiner as a homicide.
Author note: Last updated April 28, 2026.