Maricopa woman guilty of murdering toddler

A judge found a Maricopa woman guilty in the 2015 murder of 3-year-old Tiana Rosalie Capps. 

Shawn Main, 53, was found guilty of first-degree murder during a bench trial at the gavel of Pinal County Superior Court Judge Daniel Washburn. 

On Nov. 19, 2015, Pinal County Sheriff’s Office responded to a medical distress call from Main who was driving Capps to a hospital. 

Deputies and paramedics said they met Main near Amarillo Valley Road and Century Road, where she pulled to the side of the road at the dispatcher’s request to start CPR on the child. Deputies found the child and began emergency life-saving measures. 

The child was transported to Banner Casa Grande Medical Center, where she died.  

A hoarder’s residence 

The toddler lived with her biological mother, Tina Morse, and two other adult women — Main and her wife, Maria C. Tiglao, at a home on North Ralston Road in unincorporated Maricopa.  

Deputies who showed up at the residence for the initial investigation reported the residence was filthy, with animal feces and belongings stacked throughout the house, typical of a hoarders’ residence. 

They found three young boys living at the home too, all biological children of Tina Morse. They were aged five months, 4 and 5. 

PCSO requested the surviving children be removed from the home by the Arizona Department of Child Safety. 

“When our detectives interviewed the women living in the home, they established that Shawn Main was responsible for caring for the three oldest children and Maria Tiglao cared for the infant,” then-Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said. “The biological mother, Tina Morse, admitted to providing no care for her children. Shawn admitted that Tiana was under her care at the time of her fatal injuries. Although Shawn claimed the child’s injuries were self-inflicted, the medical examiner’s report did not support the claims.” 

Reports showed the 5-year-old boy had injuries to his head and all the other children were malnourished. 

At the bench 

Main, Tiglao and Morse were all arrested on Christmas eve in 2015, 35 days after Capps died. 

Main was booked on charges of murder and child abuse, while Tiglao and Morse were booked on five counts each of child abuse. 

On Jan. 18, 2018, Jennifer Chen, the medical examiner who examined Capps, testified the child suffered at least 12 “impact sites” to her face and head from blunt force, which caused abrasions, contusions, two hemorrhages on the brain and eventually death.  

Capps was “undernourished,” weighed 24 pounds at the time of her death, and had poor dental health and a severe diaper rash, according to Chen’s autopsy report. 

Despite Main’s claims, the court found Friday the injuries were “not at all consistent with a child falling on their own.” 

Her sentencing is set for April 10. Murder is punishable by death or life in prison.

Pinal County Judge Kevin White accepted a plea bargain in 2016 and sentenced Morse to two years in prison on two counts of child abuse, while three other charges were dismissed, according to court records. Morse was placed on lifetime supervised probation and is not allowed to contact her children. 

Tiglao still faces three counts of child abuse, according to PCAO spokesperson Michael Pelton, whose next court date has not yet been scheduled.