The Halloween Bride on ID is examining the horrific crimes of Shaynna Sims, who mutilated the corpse of Tabatha Lynch as the body lay in a funeral home in East Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On April 30, 2015, Sims gained entry to the funeral home by telling Lynch’s family she was a makeup artist and was there to prepare the body for viewing.
A short time later, the real funeral home staff checked on the body just before the family viewing and were horrified to discover Lynch had been brutally mutilated.
Sims had carved a deep gash from the forehead to the nose and cut off a toe and a breast. She also cut the hair, removed Lynch’s clothes, and smeared her makeup.
Lynch had died from natural causes at age 38, and according to the Tulsa Police Department, Sims believed she was having an affair with her husband, Monty Smith.
Smith denies they had a relationship. He would later testify against his then-estranged wife and claimed, “I didn’t even know she’d be capable of doing that.”
Shaynna Sims also stole jewelry from Tabatha Lynch
Sims was also found to have broken into Lynch’s apartment, where she stole the dead woman’s jewelry. She, again, posed as a funeral home worker to trick Lynch’s family into giving her access to the apartment.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelWhen the police arrested Sims, they found a knife and a box cutter in her possession. The knife had Lynch’s hair still attached to it.
Sims’s defense team argued that their client was “not in the right state of mind” and had been humiliated and embarrassed by her husband’s infidelity. The prosecution called her an angry, jealous woman.
Sims was convicted of burglary and mutilating a corpse and was sentenced to 16 years. However, in a twist to the case, four years later, the US Supreme Court ordered that she be released. The court ruled that because Lynch was a Native American and the crime happened on tribal soil, the state of Oklahoma did not have the jurisdiction to convict Sims.
Shaynna Sims returned to prison for mutilating corpse of Tabatha Lynch
However, a year later, in February 2023, the US Supreme Court changed its mind. Sims was deemed eligible for conviction because she was not a Native American. She was returned to prison to finish her sentence.
Tulsa County DA Steve Kunzweiler lambasted the Supreme Court’s initial decision to release Sims: “It was pure manipulation, at least in my opinion, to somehow think that you could go in and do what Ms Sims did and get caught red-handed and be held responsible by a Tulsa County Jury. And then have the audacity to basically say, ‘You can’t hold me accountable because the victim was a Native American.'”
During the time Sims was free, she was charged with stealing a car.
The Halloween Bride airs Monday at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.