News

Woman at center of deadly fight convicted of second-degree murder

Cecilia Ann Goodman

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 4, 2026

Two men fighting over a woman ended up with one of the men dead and the other headed to prison, prosecutors announced earlier this month. Now, the woman herself has been convicted and sentenced to prison for her role in the death of Daniel Case.

A 53-year-old Saluda man, Shane Archie Waters, was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty on May 1 to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Case, 47, in October 2022, District Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced on May 4. 

On Wednesday, May 13, Cecilia Ann Goodman, 36, of Saluda, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, Murray announced Thursday. Superior Court Judge Athena Brooks, who presided over the session of Henderson County Criminal Superior Court Session, sentenced Goodman to up to 20 years in prison pursuant to a plea agreement.

According to the investigation reports, Case, of Hendersonville, was reported missing in September of 2022 after he failed to show up for work at Meritor in Fletcher. According to his employer, it was unusual for him not to show up to work, so supervisors tried to contact Case via his phone and his emergency contact, with no success. 

Goodman, who was driving a vehicle registered to Case, told law officers that she had last seen Case with Waters on Pinnacle Mountain Road in Henderson County, the D.A. said. She said that she was driving the car with Case in the back seat and Waters in the front passenger seat while the two men were arguing over her. Goodman said she had pulled over several times and they got out of the car to fight. When she pulled over the last time, she heard what sounded like three gunshots from the woods. She said Waters returned to the vehicle and told her to leave the area.

When law officers found Waters, he admitted to shooting the victim three times, supposedly in the neck and chest in October of 2022, the D.A. said in a news release. On Dec. 1, 2022, Waters led law enforcement to the place where the victim had been shot on Pinnacle Mountain Road, where detectives found a human skull and several scattered long bones. They also recovered a shirt with signs of bullet holes and faint red blood stains.

Examination by a forensic anthropologist revealed extensive animal scavenging activity on the recovered skull and remaining bones. A DNA analysis confirmed that the deceased was Daniel Case.  An autopsy at Wake Forest Medical Center found circumstantial evidence of gunshot wounds of the body and concluded the death was a homicide.

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Superior Court Judge Craig Croom of Wake County sentenced Waters to at least 16 and up to 20 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Doug Mundy handled the prosecution and sentencing of the crime. Murray thanked the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office for its professional and thorough investigation of the case.