Court rejects appeal by killer who’s being blamed for indirect role in death of victim’s son on NYC subway in May

The man who murdered his Bayonne girlfriend and dumper her body inside a suitcase on the side of a New York highway has lost yet another legal battle in his bid for a new trial.

In a 10-page decision released Friday, an appellate court panel ruled 61-year-old Shawn Southerland remain in prison serving a 30-year sentence for the strangling of 36-year-old Christine Neely in the Bayonne home they shared with Neely’s son, Jordan, on April 7, 2007. Neely’s body was found a few days later on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York.