Morgan Mengel, Kevin's wife, has also been charged in the crime, which involves spiked Snapple, a bludgeoning and the dumb criminal's worst enemy: his cell phone.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has details on the sordid story, which reportedly was spurred by an affair between Shappell and Morgan Mengel.
Earlier in June, Morgan told local police, she and Shappell put a drug of some type into Kevin's lemon Snapple. Afterward, she added, Shappell killed Kevin with a shovel.
Kevin's mother subsequently reported that her son was missing. Detectives who began looking at the case apparently spooked Shappell, who hit the road shortly before Kevin's body was found in a shallow grave by cadaver dogs.
How was Shappell found so quickly? The usual way: Instead of ditching his cell phone, he kept it with him, giving cops an easy way to track him. And they did, locating him in Denver.
He probably won't get a chance to enjoy his Colorado jail cell for long, Pennsylvania authorities have begun the process of extraditing him. He'll have a tough time digging himself out of this mess, despite his reputed skill with a shovel.