Shirley Mae Slope was a 12-year-old girl whose final days unfolded on the road, far from anything that looked like a safe childhood. In early February 2016, she was traveling with her mother, Marilyn Elizabeth Slope, and two acquaintances on a long drive from Louisiana toward Ohio, while already ill and living in a precarious situation back home.
As the miles passed, the warnings didn’t stop with her discomfort.
Reports later described Shirley as suffering from juvenile diabetes, yet no medical care was sought as the trip began and continued. Her condition steadily worsened until, in West Tennessee, she became unresponsive inside the vehicle on Interstate 40 in Henderson County. A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper was called, and the emergency response escalated quickly as it became clear this was a child in crisis.
On February 11, 2016, Shirley was airlifted from the Wildersville area to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Hospital staff, alarmed by what they saw and by the circumstances surrounding her decline, relayed concerns that led to the medical examiner’s office being contacted and, in turn, the police becoming involved. Four days after the helicopter ride, on February 15, 2016, Shirley died in Nashville.
Investigators treated the case as more than a heartbreaking medical emergency. The Metro Nashville Police investigation focused on alleged neglect during the trip and the conditions Shirley had been living in, with public reports describing a mobile home in Louisiana without utilities. In June 2017, a grand jury indictment followed, and Marilyn Elizabeth Slope was charged in connection with Shirley’s death, including a murder charge and aggravated child neglect. She was arrested in Pennsylvania by Nashville detectives on July 6, 2017, then extradited back to Nashville, where bond was set at $100,000.
The case did not end with an unresolved file or an unknown suspect. Court reporting later stated that Marilyn Elizabeth Slope ultimately pleaded guilty to aggravated child neglect and was sentenced to 15 years in a Tennessee state prison, with the murder charge described as having been dismissed as part of the outcome. No other arrests were publicly detailed alongside hers in the reporting tied to the trip.
