WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL ) — Police arrested a New Mexico woman in connection to a Wichita Falls homicide from 2022 after DNA was taken from an ill-intended cigarette found at the scene, according to court documents.
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Janea Ariana Aragon, 32, of Albuquerque , was booked into the Wichita County Jail and charged with murder. A judge set Aragon’s bond at $1 million.
The affidavit for Aragon’s arrest was made public on Wednesday, March 19, confirming the murder charge stemmed from October 26, 2022, when 70-year-old James Shierling was found dead inside an apartment in the 1300 block of 11th Street.
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According to the affidavit, a key piece of evidence linking Aragon to the previously unsolved murder may have been something she intended to use to destroy the scene entirely.
Initial observations from the scene of the homicide
The affidavit said officers with the Wichita Falls Police Department were dispatched to the apartment just after 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2022, for a welfare check…