A San Antonio teenager was sentenced to four decades in prison for the fatal shooting of a fast-food manager, concluding a case that began with an argument over counterfeit cash. On Friday, January 30, 2026, Judge Benjamin Robertson of Bexar County’s 226th Criminal District Court sentenced 19-year-old Adiah Roberson to 40 years for murder and a concurrent 20-year term for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The sentence followed a plea deal, though the judge expressed reservations that the agreed maximum of 40 years might not be a sufficient punishment for the crime.
The violent incident that led to the sentencing occurred on the evening of July 7, 2024, at the Sonic Drive-In located at 5510 Babcock Road on San Antonio’s Northwest Side. Roberson, who was 17 at the time, attempted to pay for food with counterfeit money. When manager Daniel Lacy Shrewsbury, 33, refused the transaction, a confrontation ensued inside the restaurant’s kitchen. During the argument, Roberson became aggressive, overturning items and stealing money from an employee’s tip jar before she and her companions left the building.
Manager Daniel Shrewsbury followed the group outside to the parking lot to photograph the license plate of their vehicle for a police report. At this point, Joshua Joseph, a 27-year-old man who was with Roberson, threatened Shrewsbury. Roberson then exited the vehicle, produced a firearm, and shot Shrewsbury. The manager staggered back inside the restaurant and collapsed, where a coworker attempted to aid him. Daniel Shrewsbury was pronounced dead at the scene from his gunshot wounds.
Following the shooting, Roberson and Joseph fled. An intense manhunt ensued, leading authorities to add Roberson to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list in September 2024, with a reward offered for information leading to her capture. She remained at large for several months before U.S. Marshals arrested her at an apartment complex in Dallas on October 22, 2024. She was then transported and booked into the Bexar County Jail. Joshua Joseph was arrested earlier, on August 16, 2024, but the murder charge against him was later dropped.
The legal proceedings culminated in a January 9, 2026, hearing where Roberson pleaded no contest to the charges of murder and assault as part of a plea agreement. During the subsequent sentencing hearing, emotional victim impact statements were presented. Shrewsbury’s mother, Peggy Cofield, addressed the court, expressing her enduring grief and disagreement with the plea deal, stating she would never get her son back. A former manager and friend of Shrewsbury, Carlos Encino, provided harrowing testimony, recounting how he heard Shrewsbury’s last breath after he collapsed inside the restaurant.
With the sentencing complete, Adiah Roberson will serve her 40-year sentence in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The conclusion of the case brought a measure of judicial resolution to a crime that the Bexar County District Attorney described as a “heartbreaking and senseless act of violence”. The court’s decision closes a chapter on a crime that took the life of a man described by friends and family as a jokester who was loved by his coworkers.