March 14, 2023 • 37 mins
Shauna Tiaffay was murdered in her own home when she arrived home from work. Her husband had an alibi, but was he innocent?
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
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twenty at checkout. Just before wedive into this week's episode, here's a
promo. Autumn's Oddities is a strangeand unusual podcast made by the strange and
(02:14):
unusual me, Autumn Grooby. Eachweek, I'll be taking you through some
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(03:29):
Hello, I'm welcome to Crime diversI'm Laura and I'm Gel. Welcome
back. Hello, everybody, Welcometo Today's a lot of swords. We
have a lot of sold today.So Laura, we're in the world,
our way, we're in the USA. And do you have a title?
Because I know you told me youdidn't have a title. So have you
got one? Now, very lastminute title? Okay, I have called
(03:52):
it hired to kill. Okay,So do you want to dive in?
Let's dive in. So this tragiccase takes place in the famous city of
Las Vegas. Oh, Las Vegas. Last, it's not be a Las
Vegas on this occasion. What doeswell Las Vegas mean a song? Ba?
Yeah, but what does viva mean? I don't know. Well,
(04:13):
you said it doesn't mean that.Well, I thought it was just like
a happy song. So I don'tknow what I mean. It meant something,
No, I just thought, well, it's not like a happy song
that we're singing here is well,obviously not, but never mind. I
don't know. So we're in Vegas. Ye, we're in Vegas. So.
Shawana and Castleton was born on thethirteenth of March in nineteen sixty six
(04:35):
in Salt Lake City, Utah.She grew up in a Mormon family,
and in nineteen ninety four, atthe age of twenty eight, she decided
to make the big move to LasVegas, which was five hundred miles away.
So for a while she worked sellingcosmetics at Sacks Fifth Avenue. But
Seana she loved the fan, theglitz, and the glamor of the Vegas
(04:55):
right life, and she saw alot of opportunity for herself. So she
started working as a cocktail waitress atthe Fiesta, which was like a casino
hotel, right before moving to oneof the bigger places called the Palms Hotel
and Casino. She's you know,she settled in quickly. Her colleagues became
like a second family to her.The customers, they loved her. And
(05:17):
you know, san I loved herjob. So she was so so happy
and what she was doing, youknow, she was always just laughing and
she just really you know, livingin the moment. She was happy.
And her friend, you know,they said that she had such an innocence
about her and she was, youknow, a free spirit and always had
a positive outlook on everything no matterthe situation. So true, just a
(05:40):
bright, bubbly, full of lifegirl. Yeah, enjoying her job totally.
So in two thousand and two,Seana met George t Fe at the
Palms at work. George, shewould go there a lot, and said,
you know, he was quick tonot Shawna because of how hard she
worked. She was always busy runningaround and just even guests happy. So
(06:00):
you know, totally just picked herout of the tower almost And yeah,
so you know George, he wasa star athlete and a homecoming king in
his school days, and he wasdescribed as being a charismatic, charming,
and funny, and he was alwayswilling to lend a hand to those who
needed it. He had trained atthe United States Military Academy also known as
West Point, and he was nowworking as a five fire So the attraction
(06:24):
there, you know, it wasjust instant. You know, George and
Shauna they hit it off instantly,becoming you know, almost unseparable, immediately
separable, um, yeah, immediately. So you know, George totally sisters
that Shauna was his whole world,you know, totally head over heels,
had fallen like totally for her.So it was only a year later that
(06:46):
they actually welcomed baby girl together,who they called Parison, also known as
Maddy. Friends said that George wasvery protective of his new family and of
course George Sea she was totally witha little girl. And then a couple
of years later, Shanna and Georgethey got married and they had a beautiful
beach wedding in Hawaii. Oh soundsfancy. I'm quite a nice place to
(07:10):
get Yeah, yeah, it was, Yeah, it was. I wouldn't
have to wear shoes. No,that's true. You could just just remember
it your wedding, like my feetwere killing, Yeah I had so feet.
Yeah, yeah they were. Iactually saw a memory on Facebook color
day about us going wed and dressedand justin tell you that you had to
wear your shoes all day. Youdidn't. No, I don't have one
(07:32):
at night. I don't think Ijust had. You said that you managed
the first dance and they took themall. Yeah, I had mine off
before then. Yeah, they weren'tto be honest, like, I totally
get drives that get like flat shoesfor like later in the day because they're
not They're not doable for all.Definitely not. Thank god I did spend
fortune on them. Yeah mums onI had to wear a pair of mums
(07:53):
shoes on Yeah oh I did.Actually, yeah, I bought a pair
for myself when I was just likethey were made a comfy. So Mom's
like here, I've got a pair, you come and I was like,
oh they feel better. No,they still weren't comfy. No, no,
she was like that just done thecomfy. Let's let's be honest.
But anyway, so, yeah,so that they had their wedding in Hawaii.
So two more years passed, butyou know, nothing made your happening.
They just kind of on my life, you know, nothing interesting,
(08:16):
none of not just a different daypretty much yet But so dude, So
but unfortunately, George suffered a setbackwith his finances and he actually lost a
lot of money in the house andmarket crash, making Seawana the main earner
for the family. So she musthave earned more in him being a firefighter.
She must have more casino job,right, Okay, let's have a
Vegas and being a firefight because thatbecause I've read that, I was like,
(08:39):
what I mean, the firefighter shouldget paid more than a cocktail neededsrespect
to anybody, But come on,unless she got like loads of tips and
stuff. Oh yeah maybe. Anyway, apparently she became like the main earner,
so of course, you know,as it does, quite a lot
of the financial stress began to impacta couple of so Seawana she started to
con biden people that George had becomequite jealous and resentful. It wasn't long
(09:03):
before his behavior escalated and it justbecame quite controlling. On one occasion,
George said to Shauna that she lookedlike a slut as she was getting ready
to head to work, and shewas even more upset as Maddie had actually
heard George say it. She waslike, oh my god, how one
you've come with that, But especiallyin front of our daughter, who's call
(09:24):
with that? That's just you know, that's I mean, as you said,
you shouldn't be saying that anyway,but that's even worse in front of
your child. Totally. So,Sean had told friends that things got even
more strange when George became friends witha homeless almost man and would get him
to do odd jobs around the houseand garden, and Seana said that,
you know, she found the mancreepy and when he was around, it
(09:45):
really really unsettled her. Of course, tensions continued to mount in the relationship.
With so much financial strain and George'ssudden and spiteful change and personality,
Sana she had had enough, soshe moved out and in her own place,
to be honest, So they startedto share custody of Maddie and they
also started to see a marriage counselor. Seana was, you know, she
(10:07):
was devastated at the breakdown of therelationship, and although Although she was hopeful
that they would work through their problems, she also knew that divorce was a
strong possibility. So one day shesent Georgia tech saying, quote, once
we lived separate, I don't thinkthere's any going back. So George,
you know, he was upset aboutthat, of course, and he told
(10:28):
people the complications that divorce would bring, and it wasn't something that he wanted
to go through. So after livingapart for a while, Shana was beginning
to find a new routine. Andyou know, she was still working long
hours. She was always busy,but you know, she loved her job
again, so she didn't mind.She didn't really mind that at all.
So after one late shift, Shanareturned home to find her apartment had been
(10:52):
broken into. Everything was a mess, Several items of sentimental value, including
her engagement ring, had been stolen. One item that had been taken that
struck everyone is like, really odd? Was there bikini bottoms? You know?
And who Yeah, somebody stole abikini bottom and they clean or dirty?
They were clean? But well thatthis is this is questionable though,
(11:16):
because whoever had broken in had leftbehind a pair of man's boxers. So
I don't, so I don't knowwhy. Oh right, okay, so
whoever broken in because of the boxersweren't there before, so whoever had broken
in and left behind? But soI was thinking that whoever's broken in,
it's got it's wearing the bikini bottomsand took their boxers bikini bottoms on.
I mean maybe, I mean,if that's what you want to do,
(11:37):
but get your own bikini bottoms.You don't have to break it in somebody's.
I was to take your boxes exactly. I don't know what happened.
I don't know why that happened,but basically, if you want to wear
bikini bottoms, go buy yourself.I don't know whether this person warn him
or not, but yeah, itjust it was a bit very odd that
a bikini bombs was missing. Butyeah, a man's pair of boxers were
like yeah, so of course,you know, Sean I was frightened and
(11:58):
totally on edge, but you knowshe did her best just to put incident
behind her. I'd be terrified.I wouldn't. I don't know how I
would go. Well, I wouldbe like, well, I don't know
what her circumstances were, but I'dbe like well, I don't think I
want to live here anymore. Justthat. Yeah, I mean obviously she
would have had Maddie with her sometimes, but not all the time, especially
(12:18):
she was coming home from work ofcourse. So three weeks later, on
the twenty ninth of September twenty twelve, shown I clocked off work and left
as normal just after three am.I've actually seen the CCTV CCT footage or
clocking out, because obviously they've gotto got cameras in the casino and Stuffy
here clocking out and heading on ourway. Um. So, she lived
(12:39):
about a thirty minute drive away fromher apartment, and she arrived home around
three thirty, So she parked hercar up outside and she went in via
the door in her garage. Sixhours later at nine am, George he'd
just finished a long shift at thefire department, and he'd picked up eight
year old Maddie from her grandmas becauseshe'd say because they were both working,
(13:01):
so she would stay at a grandma'shouse. So he'd went to pick her
up, and they both headed overto Shauna's house to collect some of married
stuff. I think she was obviouslygoing to go to stay her dad for
a few days and they went insideto find that it had been totally ransacked,
agating like another, but this timeShauna was lying dead on the floor.
(13:22):
Why was I? How was Inot expecting that? I was getting
all wrapped up in this story forgettingit's actually a true crown case. Yea,
And for some reason I wasn't expectingthat, no, whether she was,
So of course George called name onone. I have heard the name
on one call, So I'm justgoing to give you a rundown of what
(13:46):
was said during the Name on onecall. So he started with police,
I you know, a bit ofstudy. I think I need to report
a break in and a murder.I my wife. My wife is on
the floor, bloody, stiff,not moving. I have my daughter with
me. I want to take herto my mom's house. Operator at this
(14:07):
point and says okay, but youknow, she tells him just to stay
there, to stay there. Hesays, okay. She asks for like
the operator asked for the dress andchecks that he doesn't live there. George
says, no, my wife andI live separate places. Operator asks when
was the last time he saw Seanna. He says, okay, okay,
quite like a a quite panicky morethan he says. I'm a fireman.
(14:30):
I was at work yesterday, soI saw her about thirty six hours ago.
I guess, I'm not sure aday and a half ago, so
I'm thinking something like that. Theoperator then asks how old his daughter is.
He replies, she's eight. She'sright here with me. Operator then
asks his name. He says hisname is George t Fe. The operator
then asks if there's anything suspicious aroundher, like any weapons. He said,
(14:56):
sorry, no, I had toget my daughter out of there.
We came over it and the garagedoor was opened, and it's never opened.
So we went in to grab somestuff for my daughter because my wife
sleeps during the day because she worksat night, and she was on the
floor when we walked in. Theoperator asks where he is, and he
replies, I'm at the garage rightnow, and then again the operator says,
(15:16):
there's an officer on the way,so just stay outside, stay right
outside, and then George says Georgegoes on to say, oh god,
I didn't check the body. Ididn't check for the pulse, and the
operator says that's okay. Medical ison the way on the way to you,
and then the call ends with himsaying okay, thank you. Okay.
(15:37):
So it was clear from the bloodand the position of Shauna's body that
she had been attacked as she hadgone upstairs. The injuries to her body
indicated that the murder weapon was likelya hammer, and that she had suffered
horrendously in our last moments. Herskull was crushed and her fingers were broken,
likely from trying to text yourself.Yeah, and there was a hole
(15:58):
in the of her head that wasso deep that the first paramedics thought she'd
been shot, but it obviously musthave been in front of the hammer.
Oh my goodness. A neighbor toldPlace that they had heard a thudding sound
coming from the apartment between three thirtyand four a m. Which would make
sense because she arrived home at threethirty. Yeah, but as she would
normally arrive home at this time,it didn't strike the neighbors unusual because the
(16:22):
neighbor knew that she obviously worked camehome and we thought she'd I don't drop
something or yea. She would haveprobably heard noises before she would have got
home, and I don't know,she might not went toe to sleep.
I don't know who know, Iwan't unusual for our day. Here signs
out of it. Yeah. Soa little while later, another neighbor contacted
place after finding Seawana's phone, healthcard, and some of our makeup along
(16:44):
the side of a road nearby,and as it's common with most cases,
her strengths husband, George, hewould be the first one to be interviewed.
Of course. Of course, soGeorge was at the fire station the
day before. He had worked attwenty four hour shift. Twenty four hours.
Yeah, I know that's true.So of course that was checked out
with these colleagues, and detectives weretotally happy with these alibi. But this,
(17:08):
you know, it had the policebaffled and confused. Is really where
to start looking then? Because itkind of rolled out George, I'm not
really sure where to where to start. Yeah, they didn't know if the
burglary that happened three weeks earlier waslinked or was that just a coincidence,
because maybe she'd been burgledas earlier,And of course there was like a you
know, the place had been ransacked, the game and she was murdered this
(17:30):
time. But as Seanna's belongings werefound outside of her home. It was
possible that the same person had comeback to take more things and not realizing
Seana would be up and away,killed her and fled the scene. That
was there thinking at that point andobviously, you know, they didn't know
whether also didn't know whether shawn Iwas targeted randomly or if she was targeted
(17:53):
targeted for a specific reason. Andthen this of course left Shawna's colleagues at
the casille was scared as well,as all of them worked a similar shift
pattern and they thought, well,if it was random, could one of
them be next, you know,or were Sunny targeting like workers from there,
So they were all starting to bepetrified as well. Understandable totally um
so showing his sister Paula and herhusband, they believed that there was a
(18:18):
lot more to this than a randomrobbery had gone wrong. Despite George's alibi,
they still wanted personally to ask himmore questions. So Paula decided she
was going to phone George and youknow, just give a call and find
out what was going on. Soshe asked what happened obviously George, and
George said, oh, you know, she's passed away. But paul asked,
(18:40):
you know what I'd been done there, and he said he didn't know.
Basically, all he knew was thatshe was lying on the floor because
I think she phoned. Like thephone call was quite instant after the murder,
so obviously, yeah, sorry,it was quite so like if he
didn't know, then yeah, Sobasically he was I didn't know, just
lying on the floor and you know, there was blood on her head,
and of course Paula asked if herbody was still there, and he said,
(19:02):
I think so. Then he passedthe phone over to a grief counselor
who was at the scene, andPaula just said exactly what she was thinking
to the grief counselor, and shesaid to the counselor, quote, I
have my suspicions that her husband maybe involved in this, based on you
know, many many conversations that I'vehad with my sister. I highly suspect
that he may be involved in quote. So after this, Paula hung up,
(19:25):
and they actually booked her husband bookthe first fight out of Vegas.
Their minds were just all over theplace, and Paula said, you know
that she would just be forever honeyed, in which the way that her sister
had died, saying that, youknow, the excruciating pain that she must
have endured in the terror and realizationthat she was going to die, that
it's just you know, she couldn'tget our head. Yeah, I think
it would be the same. Idon't. I don't think that is something
(19:47):
you could get out of your headthinking somebody you love suffering like that.
But that's like you. I meanimagine like you know, you've you're the
one that's been murdered and I've youknow, I know what's happened to you,
and just imagining that like that wouldjust be that would hunt me for
the rest of my life. Ithink. Also, I totally totally get
it. So she obviously just feltshe had to get out there. So
just twenty four hours after Seanna's bodywas found, police received a tip off
(20:11):
that would blow the case wide open. A man that went by the name
of Big Will Big Will Ye tolddetectives that he had a homeless friend that
he knew only as Greyhound. Greyhoundtold him that he had killed a woman
with a hammer, and Big BigWill recalled it, you know, Greyhound.
(20:32):
He wasn't scared, He wasn't upsetor traumatized. He was just laughing
and happy as if he had justcomplete a mission. Oh my god.
Big Will told Greyhound that if anythingcame up on the news about a woman
killed in the way that he haddescribed, he would have to phone the
place and report him. So,of course, as words spread about Shauna,
this confirmed to Big Will that Greyhoundprobably had been telling the truth.
(20:53):
So of course he did the rightthing and he went straight to the police.
So Greyhound was home us and currentlyliving in a tent on the outskirts
of the city. Bigwill said hewould often go to a shop called Albertsons
to steal food and sell drugs inthe gas station which was across the road.
The police teamed up with Big Willand headed to these locations, believing
(21:14):
that this would be the best placeto find Greyhound. They didn't have to
wait long, though, because beforeso they didn't have to wait long before
they spotted him because when officers approachedhim, they found they had drugs on
him and were able to pull himup on drugs charges. While they looked
in at Big Will's claims or something, didn't arrest him for any of the
Sean at that point. Yeah,but at least I've got something that they
can yeah him. So they gothim for that at that moment. So
(21:38):
Greyhound's real name was Noel Stevens,and he was actually well known to the
police already for various reasons, includingtheft and drugs related charges. Well,
while he admitted to selling drugs,he did deny having any involvement in Seana's
death, because obviously they must havethen questioned them about that. We know
why it was called Greyhound No,because when you when he went you feel
(22:00):
name was I was like, oh, oh no, that doesn't make sense.
No, I have no idea whyit was called Greyhounds nothing. It
doesn't fit with his name at all. It was a fast runner because greyhounds
are fast. Maybe yeah, Idon't have no idea. Or maybe he
used to drive a greyhound bus.No, maybe yes, in the fact
that it was homeless, and Imean I've seen a picture. He's not
(22:21):
always been homeless, and I've seena picture of him and it doesn't strike
me as maybe I would have beenwould have had a job at any point
in its life. I don't know. Judge and totally totally judge people.
Well, he's it was a murderer, then you can tell you're right.
So yeah, he didn't strike meas somebody that maybe would have had a
job driving a bus. That's becausepeople who drive buses. Look, yeah,
(22:45):
anyway, that's a possible place now, So yeah, he did,
I had any involvement in wanting toshot his death, So he was you
know, it was a low levelof criminal and it would be a surprise
for him to travel so far tocome out and murderer then leave without anything
of real value, which she couldhave sold because her name was Yeah,
because if it's homeless and it's knownfor seven then you would think you would
(23:07):
take some of value exactly. Soyou know, something wasn't making sense to
the interviewing officers. I mean,there didn't seem to be any connection between
Nolan Shaana, but you know placethey managed to find out where he was
sleeping, um and whilst it waswhilst in custody, they began searching nearby
his ten. So basically his tenth, like I don't know, like Vegas
is a lot of desert. Yeah, basically he had a ten and I
(23:30):
loved to random in the middle ofthis desert. So they found his ten
um, and of course they startedsearching. But the area was like very
remote, you know, it wasvery secluded, like it was a lot
of desert and not much else um. But officers, officers were worried with
the area being so large that youknow, they could be like they could
be searching for any potential evidence forweeks. But you know, thankfully No
(23:55):
hadn't dumped deathing too far away,I don't know, And just a short
walk away from his tent, theyactually found a pair of his trousers covered
in blood, a price tag belongingto a hammer, and a bloody pair
of underwear. So No, hisunderwear, well, it doesn't specify,
(24:15):
but I'm not sure whether it's hisunderwear or not. He just said that,
just said underwear. I was justwondering if it was the Buginni bottoms
that I don't actually so back atthe station, detectives were checking through his
phone and they soon found a singlecontact that seemed to tie everything together for
them. Who was that contact,the husband George. When No was asked
(24:38):
who George was, he said,that's my friend, the firefighter. No
was the man that George would befriend. Eden had to help him around the
house and the man that Sean hadfelt uneasy about the moment she was right,
it wasn't. So police used thebarcode for the hammer to find out
where so that particular make and fromthis they got a hold of some CCTV
(25:03):
that left them shocked. The camerainside the shop clearly show showed George t
Fa and No Stevens together shopping andbuying the hammer that was used to kill
Shana. They're not the brightest star, they No. You would think I'm
being funny, right, but whatmost people have a hammer of the house.
(25:25):
I'm talking about obviously the homeless guy, but they're not hammer in his
house exactly. And I say,I saw this CCTV footage of them together
like in the shop, so youknow, there's no denying that they were
shopping together. That's just weird.So the police were now sure that George
had been at the center of whathad happened to Seanna. So back at
the station, officers presented No withall the evidence and finally No admitted to
(25:48):
be in Seanna's killer. But justas police suspected, No said it was
George who wanted her dead and hehad paid No six hundred dollars to carry
out the murder on his behalf.Six hundred dollars. That's nothing like he
was, I tell you. Hewas promised a bit more. But anyway,
so No claimed that he and Georgehad spent ages planning it, and
(26:10):
George had got a key cut forNo and paid for some dark clothing and
had asked him to stage a robberyweeks before she was killed, had done
the robbery before. No said thaton the twenty ninth of September, after
he broke in, he hid ina closet for a while, and then
he moved into the limb room andwaited for Shauna as he heard her pulling
up. Seanna was on her wayup the stairs, and No followed her
(26:33):
up and began his attack there.There, he said, she cried and
begged for her life, screaming,screaming, why are you doing this?
Over and why are you doing Hestruck her a total of seventeen times,
and he said the hammer broke,but he continued to hit her with the
hammer head until she stopped moving.That's horred us, that's really horrific.
(26:56):
After telling the detectives the horrific story, he offered to take them where he
had buried the hammer head in thedesert. Finally they had their murder weapon.
So on the eighth of October,nine days after Sewana had been murdered,
detectives and firmed George's mother and sisterthat he was now being investigated in
relation to her death, which I'mconfused about because they were horrified and adam
(27:18):
and he had nothing to do withit. And a matter of minutes later,
George's sister called him and told him, so, I don't know why
they told his mum and sister beforeactually going to arrest him. I don't
That didn't make sense to me.Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all.
I thought that do already had himin custody and then they were letting
his family know or something now becauseshe phoned him. So George jumped into
(27:41):
his truck and set off for afast and dangerous drive around Vegas that would
end with George going head on intoa concrete wall. And he was going
more than eighty miles per hour andpolice noted that there were no marks on
the road, which showed that hehadn't tried to break so he had intended
to crash to try and take hisown life for it good. George survived
(28:03):
thanks to his seat belt and hewas taken to hospital. So two days
later he was arrested at his hospitalbeds. You thought it was just took
your seatbelt, but if that's whatit was really planning, that's what I
did. Just don't understand, Likewhy there he was a moment's sister told
about that before he was actually arrested, and then that does not make sense
at all. I didn't get,I mean, agree all things where we
don't know the exact things. Andof course so I don't know exactly how
(28:26):
that played out completely, but Iwas just wondering unless like one of them
maybe had a friend it was inthe police force or something like that,
and they gave them my heads up. Yeah maybe, I don't know,
but yeah, when it just seemsreally strange, very strange. So yeah,
So, as he was arrested,George simply replied, Okay, I
think folks met defeat. Maybe.So three months later, No pleaded guilty
(28:47):
in exchange for the death penalty beingtaken off the table and said that would
testify for the prosecution against George astheir start witness. So obviously he was
as what we played, a guilty. So his found guilty and he was
sentenced to forty two years to life. So in two thousand August twenty and
fifteen, George entered the courtroom,but he pleaded not guilty. George never
(29:11):
took the stand himself, but Nodid and said that George had promised him
tens of thousands of dollars after hehad killed Seana. Right, He said
that Georgia told him to use afiberglass hammer, as a wooden hammer would
break. He said, so,he said he took both hammers to the
house, but he actually ended upusing the wooden one, which, as
we know, that did break.So but but why did they when they
(29:34):
went shopping? Was it the woodenone that they bought, like they bought
a couple because I see a coupleon a convert because you actually put it
on like the convert belt. Okay, I think they did buy a couple.
But yeah, I don't know whythose more than one bottle. But
anyway, Georgia told him use thefiberglass one, but no good one in
that that didna. Yeah, SoNo admitted in cross examination that he sometimes
(30:03):
had hallucinations and this gave the defensean angle to say that he could possibly
have made the whole thing up,so they try and get him, try
to get George off defense, whichis basically saying because he was getting No
was getting cross examined, and headmitted that he had had hallucine nations,
and obviously the defense was like,oh, well, maybe you made the
whole thing up when you were caughtand CCTV go to by hammers. Yeah,
(30:26):
I mean, I said the defense. They weren't disputing that he had
killed Seanna, but the idea thatGeorge was involved was a lie, right,
Okay, Yeah, but of courseyou know, the prosecution said that
No adored George and it would beeasy for George to manipulate No. Plus
George was the only person that hada reason for what and Showana dead.
Yea. They also believed that Georgehad been intending to kill No as he
(30:48):
had recently bought a gun, soif Nola had been killed, then George
would likely we potentially got me withthe crime completely. So the juries spent
three days deliberating, and he wasfound guilty of first degree murder and guilty
of six other accounts. He wassentenced to life without the possibility of parole,
and he was given an additional eightyone years for conspiracy to murder,
burglary, and robbery. Wow,that's a lot. George did appeal that,
(31:12):
but he lost in his conviction wasupheld, and Shanna's family they went
on to create Justice for Shawna andit's a group that raises awareness of domestic
violence and abusive relationships. And herfamily also moved her grave from Vegas because
she must have been buried in Vegasinitially to her home state of Utah so
(31:32):
that she could be next to herfather and Maddie. She went on to
live with Shawna's mother. I wonderwhy the but she initially got buried in
Vegas then if that's not what aman wanted, because well, our family
would have raised the funeral unless I'mmaybe this was before they realized George was
involved, because usually they could likehis Albi was, they believed it,
(31:56):
they just wasn't involved to Maybe thefuneral was quite quick. I don't know
who. But so why money becausehe didn't want to get divorced. Basically
there's the reason why was that hethought it would cost him so much money
to get divorced because obviously they werein financial crisis. Of it was that
he didn't want the extra expense ofa divorce, so he thought it was
(32:17):
easier just to kill him well financially. He just together, which I thought.
I thought it was maybe for lightlife insurance or something. No,
I mean, there's never any mentionof him looking to do that. I
think he just didn't want to gothrough the expense of a divorce. But
he would. But would he notbecause he was his the husband. Would
(32:37):
he not have to be the funeral, but the funeral not maybe as well,
Maybe that wouldn't be as dear asgetting divorced. I don't know,
because you had to split everything,I guess, and I don't know.
I don't know, But apparently thatwas the angle, was that he didn't
want to go through a divorce becauseof the financial implications of that. So
(32:57):
you obviously thought that that was articulatekiller, which is terrible because from what
I read, you know what's saying, like you know, as I said,
they were totally besotted with each other. They obviously were really happily married,
and that until money problems exactly hemaybe worked through that, yeah,
but he you know, yeah,I mean I said that was her hope
that they could work through it.But no matter what, I'm sorry,
(33:22):
murder it's new, and I justfeel sorry for that poor little girl.
I mean, she lost both herparents in the sense, you know,
she's lost her mum and her dad'sgoing to spend the rest of his life
in prisons. Plus he was theone that he was going, so I
mean, I can't imagine her wantingto have any kind of relationship with her
father. Yeah, she's only eightyears old at the time. She'll be
a few years older now, butI just like, I just thought it
(33:44):
was horrific, like I know,and then and then the worst as you
you know, this homeless guy whowas I think like they sitting there,
you know, it was easily itwas manipulating. So you know, it
doesn't excuse that he's kind of atthe murder. I mean totally for that,
but you know that, but George'spreyed on this homeless guy, take
an advantage of him, and youknow, convinced him probably quite easily to
(34:07):
do the deed. If he's offeringhim, I'm like thousands of pounds.
If you're homeless, then obviously,Yeah, you need the money. Yeah,
exactly. I thought it was somethingworth doing. And yeah, I
think I think he was a bitremorseful, the homeless guy, but George
didn't, you know, he didn'treally show any remorse about it at all.
He just well he think I thinkhe just trying to totally get away
with them and don't by that hewas even involved in it. But I
(34:29):
mean this easy TV on that,but I think he was trying to play
that off as like, you know, well, he was doing all jobs
around my house, so I wasgetting on, yeah, you know,
to go and do it, whichI was. Maybe it could have been
plausible, but you know, consideredeverything else be a while. I'm pretty
sure that he was definitely that wasenvironed the weapons, and of course he
bought them clothes and stuff like darkCloud clothes so that you can be more
(34:52):
because because maybe I don't know,but yeah, I just think it was
absolutely awful. Yeah, and youknow, women as the life from Yeah,
and a poor little girl lost theirmom, and a poor family lost
their daughter, their sister totally ruinedjust because one guy didn't want divorce divorced,
like just get body divorced, youknow what. I mean, did
(35:12):
he get divorced there and just tastebut up separated from now until you can't
afford to get divorced exactly? Imean, I don't know what what her
thoughts on that were. Of coursethoughts were, whether she was just hit
quite happily going along with them beingseparated, and I don't know, I
don't necessary en if she was pushingfor a divorce. You know, there
was nothing mentioned about that. Surelysurely they could have been at like it
(35:34):
sounded like they were still kind ofamicable to a certain extent. So surely
if he'd said, look, money, I can't afforded, there's no rush
for a divorce right now exactly.So there, you know, it just
shows what an absolute monster is.Yeah, totally absolutely, because I just
think, right, you're doing actuallythe person that you love, but not
only that, you're doing that toyour daughter. Yeah, well that's it.
You're you know, you're not justaffecting one person. You know,
(35:57):
it's a total reaction of people thatget affected by that. And I poor
girled it. You know, it'sobviously bad enough that maybe our parents had
separate aid and stuff, and thatwould have been you know, hard going
for her as well, something tosplit our time, but to then actually
just take our mother away from hercompletely and an effect to take yourself away
from her because you've done you know, she's lost it on the chance of
a normal relationship with the dad aswell. How stupid, I mean,
(36:20):
I don't know how. Yeah,like I never understand how these things go
people's heads. No, but ofcourse we don't. We're not murderers,
so I don't understand how murderers thingexactly. So yeah, there we go,
So there we go. Thank youvery much for her, Laura.
So this week we'll see y'all nexttime to you later. Bye. If
you would like to get in contactwith us or follow us on our social
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(36:45):
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(03:29):
Hello, I'm welcome to Crime diversI'm Laura and I'm Gel. Welcome
back. Hello, everybody, Welcometo Today's a lot of swords. We
have a lot of sold today.So Laura, we're in the world,
our way, we're in the USA. And do you have a title?
Because I know you told me youdidn't have a title. So have you
got one? Now, very lastminute title? Okay, I have called
(03:52):
it hired to kill. Okay,So do you want to dive in?
Let's dive in. So this tragiccase takes place in the famous city of
Las Vegas. Oh, Las Vegas. Last, it's not be a Las
Vegas on this occasion. What doeswell Las Vegas mean a song? Ba?
Yeah, but what does viva mean? I don't know. Well,
(04:13):
you said it doesn't mean that.Well, I thought it was just like
a happy song. So I don'tknow what I mean. It meant something,
No, I just thought, well, it's not like a happy song
that we're singing here is well,obviously not, but never mind. I
don't know. So we're in Vegas. Ye, we're in Vegas. So.
Shawana and Castleton was born on thethirteenth of March in nineteen sixty six
(04:35):
in Salt Lake City, Utah.She grew up in a Mormon family,
and in nineteen ninety four, atthe age of twenty eight, she decided
to make the big move to LasVegas, which was five hundred miles away.
So for a while she worked sellingcosmetics at Sacks Fifth Avenue. But
Seana she loved the fan, theglitz, and the glamor of the Vegas
(04:55):
right life, and she saw alot of opportunity for herself. So she
started working as a cocktail waitress atthe Fiesta, which was like a casino
hotel, right before moving to oneof the bigger places called the Palms Hotel
and Casino. She's you know,she settled in quickly. Her colleagues became
like a second family to her.The customers, they loved her. And
(05:17):
you know, san I loved herjob. So she was so so happy
and what she was doing, youknow, she was always just laughing and
she just really you know, livingin the moment. She was happy.
And her friend, you know,they said that she had such an innocence
about her and she was, youknow, a free spirit and always had
a positive outlook on everything no matterthe situation. So true, just a
(05:40):
bright, bubbly, full of lifegirl. Yeah, enjoying her job totally.
So in two thousand and two,Seana met George t Fe at the
Palms at work. George, shewould go there a lot, and said,
you know, he was quick tonot Shawna because of how hard she
worked. She was always busy runningaround and just even guests happy. So
(06:00):
you know, totally just picked herout of the tower almost And yeah,
so you know George, he wasa star athlete and a homecoming king in
his school days, and he wasdescribed as being a charismatic, charming,
and funny, and he was alwayswilling to lend a hand to those who
needed it. He had trained atthe United States Military Academy also known as
West Point, and he was nowworking as a five fire So the attraction
(06:24):
there, you know, it wasjust instant. You know, George and
Shauna they hit it off instantly,becoming you know, almost unseparable, immediately
separable, um, yeah, immediately. So you know, George totally sisters
that Shauna was his whole world,you know, totally head over heels,
had fallen like totally for her.So it was only a year later that
(06:46):
they actually welcomed baby girl together,who they called Parison, also known as
Maddy. Friends said that George wasvery protective of his new family and of
course George Sea she was totally witha little girl. And then a couple
of years later, Shanna and Georgethey got married and they had a beautiful
beach wedding in Hawaii. Oh soundsfancy. I'm quite a nice place to
(07:10):
get Yeah, yeah, it was, Yeah, it was. I wouldn't
have to wear shoes. No,that's true. You could just just remember
it your wedding, like my feetwere killing, Yeah I had so feet.
Yeah, yeah they were. Iactually saw a memory on Facebook color
day about us going wed and dressedand justin tell you that you had to
wear your shoes all day. Youdidn't. No, I don't have one
(07:32):
at night. I don't think Ijust had. You said that you managed
the first dance and they took themall. Yeah, I had mine off
before then. Yeah, they weren'tto be honest, like, I totally
get drives that get like flat shoesfor like later in the day because they're
not They're not doable for all.Definitely not. Thank god I did spend
fortune on them. Yeah mums onI had to wear a pair of mums
(07:53):
shoes on Yeah oh I did.Actually, yeah, I bought a pair
for myself when I was just likethey were made a comfy. So Mom's
like here, I've got a pair, you come and I was like,
oh they feel better. No,they still weren't comfy. No, no,
she was like that just done thecomfy. Let's let's be honest.
But anyway, so, yeah,so that they had their wedding in Hawaii.
So two more years passed, butyou know, nothing made your happening.
They just kind of on my life, you know, nothing interesting,
(08:16):
none of not just a different daypretty much yet But so dude, So
but unfortunately, George suffered a setbackwith his finances and he actually lost a
lot of money in the house andmarket crash, making Seawana the main earner
for the family. So she musthave earned more in him being a firefighter.
She must have more casino job,right, Okay, let's have a
Vegas and being a firefight because thatbecause I've read that, I was like,
(08:39):
what I mean, the firefighter shouldget paid more than a cocktail neededsrespect
to anybody, But come on,unless she got like loads of tips and
stuff. Oh yeah maybe. Anyway, apparently she became like the main earner,
so of course, you know,as it does, quite a lot
of the financial stress began to impacta couple of so Seawana she started to
con biden people that George had becomequite jealous and resentful. It wasn't long
(09:03):
before his behavior escalated and it justbecame quite controlling. On one occasion,
George said to Shauna that she lookedlike a slut as she was getting ready
to head to work, and shewas even more upset as Maddie had actually
heard George say it. She waslike, oh my god, how one
you've come with that, But especiallyin front of our daughter, who's call
(09:24):
with that? That's just you know, that's I mean, as you said,
you shouldn't be saying that anyway,but that's even worse in front of
your child. Totally. So,Sean had told friends that things got even
more strange when George became friends witha homeless almost man and would get him
to do odd jobs around the houseand garden, and Seana said that,
you know, she found the mancreepy and when he was around, it
(09:45):
really really unsettled her. Of course, tensions continued to mount in the relationship.
With so much financial strain and George'ssudden and spiteful change and personality,
Sana she had had enough, soshe moved out and in her own place,
to be honest, So they startedto share custody of Maddie and they
also started to see a marriage counselor. Seana was, you know, she
(10:07):
was devastated at the breakdown of therelationship, and although Although she was hopeful
that they would work through their problems, she also knew that divorce was a
strong possibility. So one day shesent Georgia tech saying, quote, once
we lived separate, I don't thinkthere's any going back. So George,
you know, he was upset aboutthat, of course, and he told
(10:28):
people the complications that divorce would bring, and it wasn't something that he wanted
to go through. So after livingapart for a while, Shana was beginning
to find a new routine. Andyou know, she was still working long
hours. She was always busy,but you know, she loved her job
again, so she didn't mind.She didn't really mind that at all.
So after one late shift, Shanareturned home to find her apartment had been
(10:52):
broken into. Everything was a mess, Several items of sentimental value, including
her engagement ring, had been stolen. One item that had been taken that
struck everyone is like, really odd? Was there bikini bottoms? You know?
And who Yeah, somebody stole abikini bottom and they clean or dirty?
They were clean? But well thatthis is this is questionable though,
(11:16):
because whoever had broken in had leftbehind a pair of man's boxers. So
I don't, so I don't knowwhy. Oh right, okay, so
whoever broken in because of the boxersweren't there before, so whoever had broken
in and left behind? But soI was thinking that whoever's broken in,
it's got it's wearing the bikini bottomsand took their boxers bikini bottoms on.
I mean maybe, I mean,if that's what you want to do,
(11:37):
but get your own bikini bottoms.You don't have to break it in somebody's.
I was to take your boxes exactly. I don't know what happened.
I don't know why that happened,but basically, if you want to wear
bikini bottoms, go buy yourself.I don't know whether this person warn him
or not, but yeah, itjust it was a bit very odd that
a bikini bombs was missing. Butyeah, a man's pair of boxers were
like yeah, so of course,you know, Sean I was frightened and
(11:58):
totally on edge, but you knowshe did her best just to put incident
behind her. I'd be terrified.I wouldn't. I don't know how I
would go. Well, I wouldbe like, well, I don't know
what her circumstances were, but I'dbe like well, I don't think I
want to live here anymore. Justthat. Yeah, I mean obviously she
would have had Maddie with her sometimes, but not all the time, especially
(12:18):
she was coming home from work ofcourse. So three weeks later, on
the twenty ninth of September twenty twelve, shown I clocked off work and left
as normal just after three am.I've actually seen the CCTV CCT footage or
clocking out, because obviously they've gotto got cameras in the casino and Stuffy
here clocking out and heading on ourway. Um. So, she lived
(12:39):
about a thirty minute drive away fromher apartment, and she arrived home around
three thirty, So she parked hercar up outside and she went in via
the door in her garage. Sixhours later at nine am, George he'd
just finished a long shift at thefire department, and he'd picked up eight
year old Maddie from her grandmas becauseshe'd say because they were both working,
(13:01):
so she would stay at a grandma'shouse. So he'd went to pick her
up, and they both headed overto Shauna's house to collect some of married
stuff. I think she was obviouslygoing to go to stay her dad for
a few days and they went insideto find that it had been totally ransacked,
agating like another, but this timeShauna was lying dead on the floor.
(13:22):
Why was I? How was Inot expecting that? I was getting
all wrapped up in this story forgettingit's actually a true crown case. Yea,
And for some reason I wasn't expectingthat, no, whether she was,
So of course George called name onone. I have heard the name
on one call, So I'm justgoing to give you a rundown of what
(13:46):
was said during the Name on onecall. So he started with police,
I you know, a bit ofstudy. I think I need to report
a break in and a murder.I my wife. My wife is on
the floor, bloody, stiff,not moving. I have my daughter with
me. I want to take herto my mom's house. Operator at this
(14:07):
point and says okay, but youknow, she tells him just to stay
there, to stay there. Hesays, okay. She asks for like
the operator asked for the dress andchecks that he doesn't live there. George
says, no, my wife andI live separate places. Operator asks when
was the last time he saw Seanna. He says, okay, okay,
quite like a a quite panicky morethan he says. I'm a fireman.
(14:30):
I was at work yesterday, soI saw her about thirty six hours ago.
I guess, I'm not sure aday and a half ago, so
I'm thinking something like that. Theoperator then asks how old his daughter is.
He replies, she's eight. She'sright here with me. Operator then
asks his name. He says hisname is George t Fe. The operator
then asks if there's anything suspicious aroundher, like any weapons. He said,
(14:56):
sorry, no, I had toget my daughter out of there.
We came over it and the garagedoor was opened, and it's never opened.
So we went in to grab somestuff for my daughter because my wife
sleeps during the day because she worksat night, and she was on the
floor when we walked in. Theoperator asks where he is, and he
replies, I'm at the garage rightnow, and then again the operator says,
(15:16):
there's an officer on the way,so just stay outside, stay right
outside, and then George says Georgegoes on to say, oh god,
I didn't check the body. Ididn't check for the pulse, and the
operator says that's okay. Medical ison the way on the way to you,
and then the call ends with himsaying okay, thank you. Okay.
(15:37):
So it was clear from the bloodand the position of Shauna's body that
she had been attacked as she hadgone upstairs. The injuries to her body
indicated that the murder weapon was likelya hammer, and that she had suffered
horrendously in our last moments. Herskull was crushed and her fingers were broken,
likely from trying to text yourself.Yeah, and there was a hole
(15:58):
in the of her head that wasso deep that the first paramedics thought she'd
been shot, but it obviously musthave been in front of the hammer.
Oh my goodness. A neighbor toldPlace that they had heard a thudding sound
coming from the apartment between three thirtyand four a m. Which would make
sense because she arrived home at threethirty. Yeah, but as she would
normally arrive home at this time,it didn't strike the neighbors unusual because the
(16:22):
neighbor knew that she obviously worked camehome and we thought she'd I don't drop
something or yea. She would haveprobably heard noises before she would have got
home, and I don't know,she might not went toe to sleep.
I don't know who know, Iwan't unusual for our day. Here signs
out of it. Yeah. Soa little while later, another neighbor contacted
place after finding Seawana's phone, healthcard, and some of our makeup along
(16:44):
the side of a road nearby,and as it's common with most cases,
her strengths husband, George, hewould be the first one to be interviewed.
Of course. Of course, soGeorge was at the fire station the
day before. He had worked attwenty four hour shift. Twenty four hours.
Yeah, I know that's true.So of course that was checked out
with these colleagues, and detectives weretotally happy with these alibi. But this,
(17:08):
you know, it had the policebaffled and confused. Is really where
to start looking then? Because itkind of rolled out George, I'm not
really sure where to where to start. Yeah, they didn't know if the
burglary that happened three weeks earlier waslinked or was that just a coincidence,
because maybe she'd been burgledas earlier,And of course there was like a you
know, the place had been ransacked, the game and she was murdered this
(17:30):
time. But as Seanna's belongings werefound outside of her home. It was
possible that the same person had comeback to take more things and not realizing
Seana would be up and away,killed her and fled the scene. That
was there thinking at that point andobviously, you know, they didn't know
whether also didn't know whether shawn Iwas targeted randomly or if she was targeted
(17:53):
targeted for a specific reason. Andthen this of course left Shawna's colleagues at
the casille was scared as well,as all of them worked a similar shift
pattern and they thought, well,if it was random, could one of
them be next, you know,or were Sunny targeting like workers from there,
So they were all starting to bepetrified as well. Understandable totally um
so showing his sister Paula and herhusband, they believed that there was a
(18:18):
lot more to this than a randomrobbery had gone wrong. Despite George's alibi,
they still wanted personally to ask himmore questions. So Paula decided she
was going to phone George and youknow, just give a call and find
out what was going on. Soshe asked what happened obviously George, and
George said, oh, you know, she's passed away. But paul asked,
(18:40):
you know what I'd been done there, and he said he didn't know.
Basically, all he knew was thatshe was lying on the floor because
I think she phoned. Like thephone call was quite instant after the murder,
so obviously, yeah, sorry,it was quite so like if he
didn't know, then yeah, Sobasically he was I didn't know, just
lying on the floor and you know, there was blood on her head,
and of course Paula asked if herbody was still there, and he said,
(19:02):
I think so. Then he passedthe phone over to a grief counselor
who was at the scene, andPaula just said exactly what she was thinking
to the grief counselor, and shesaid to the counselor, quote, I
have my suspicions that her husband maybe involved in this, based on you
know, many many conversations that I'vehad with my sister. I highly suspect
that he may be involved in quote. So after this, Paula hung up,
(19:25):
and they actually booked her husband bookthe first fight out of Vegas.
Their minds were just all over theplace, and Paula said, you know
that she would just be forever honeyed, in which the way that her sister
had died, saying that, youknow, the excruciating pain that she must
have endured in the terror and realizationthat she was going to die, that
it's just you know, she couldn'tget our head. Yeah, I think
it would be the same. Idon't. I don't think that is something
(19:47):
you could get out of your headthinking somebody you love suffering like that.
But that's like you. I meanimagine like you know, you've you're the
one that's been murdered and I've youknow, I know what's happened to you,
and just imagining that like that wouldjust be that would hunt me for
the rest of my life. Ithink. Also, I totally totally get
it. So she obviously just feltshe had to get out there. So
just twenty four hours after Seanna's bodywas found, police received a tip off
(20:11):
that would blow the case wide open. A man that went by the name
of Big Will Big Will Ye tolddetectives that he had a homeless friend that
he knew only as Greyhound. Greyhoundtold him that he had killed a woman
with a hammer, and Big BigWill recalled it, you know, Greyhound.
(20:32):
He wasn't scared, He wasn't upsetor traumatized. He was just laughing
and happy as if he had justcomplete a mission. Oh my god.
Big Will told Greyhound that if anythingcame up on the news about a woman
killed in the way that he haddescribed, he would have to phone the
place and report him. So,of course, as words spread about Shauna,
this confirmed to Big Will that Greyhoundprobably had been telling the truth.
(20:53):
So of course he did the rightthing and he went straight to the police.
So Greyhound was home us and currentlyliving in a tent on the outskirts
of the city. Bigwill said hewould often go to a shop called Albertsons
to steal food and sell drugs inthe gas station which was across the road.
The police teamed up with Big Willand headed to these locations, believing
(21:14):
that this would be the best placeto find Greyhound. They didn't have to
wait long, though, because beforeso they didn't have to wait long before
they spotted him because when officers approachedhim, they found they had drugs on
him and were able to pull himup on drugs charges. While they looked
in at Big Will's claims or something, didn't arrest him for any of the
Sean at that point. Yeah,but at least I've got something that they
can yeah him. So they gothim for that at that moment. So
(21:38):
Greyhound's real name was Noel Stevens,and he was actually well known to the
police already for various reasons, includingtheft and drugs related charges. Well,
while he admitted to selling drugs,he did deny having any involvement in Seana's
death, because obviously they must havethen questioned them about that. We know
why it was called Greyhound No,because when you when he went you feel
(22:00):
name was I was like, oh, oh no, that doesn't make sense.
No, I have no idea whyit was called Greyhounds nothing. It
doesn't fit with his name at all. It was a fast runner because greyhounds
are fast. Maybe yeah, Idon't have no idea. Or maybe he
used to drive a greyhound bus.No, maybe yes, in the fact
that it was homeless, and Imean I've seen a picture. He's not
(22:21):
always been homeless, and I've seena picture of him and it doesn't strike
me as maybe I would have beenwould have had a job at any point
in its life. I don't know. Judge and totally totally judge people.
Well, he's it was a murderer, then you can tell you're right.
So yeah, he didn't strike meas somebody that maybe would have had a
job driving a bus. That's becausepeople who drive buses. Look, yeah,
(22:45):
anyway, that's a possible place now, So yeah, he did,
I had any involvement in wanting toshot his death, So he was you
know, it was a low levelof criminal and it would be a surprise
for him to travel so far tocome out and murderer then leave without anything
of real value, which she couldhave sold because her name was Yeah,
because if it's homeless and it's knownfor seven then you would think you would
(23:07):
take some of value exactly. Soyou know, something wasn't making sense to
the interviewing officers. I mean,there didn't seem to be any connection between
Nolan Shaana, but you know placethey managed to find out where he was
sleeping, um and whilst it waswhilst in custody, they began searching nearby
his ten. So basically his tenth, like I don't know, like Vegas
is a lot of desert. Yeah, basically he had a ten and I
(23:30):
loved to random in the middle ofthis desert. So they found his ten
um, and of course they startedsearching. But the area was like very
remote, you know, it wasvery secluded, like it was a lot
of desert and not much else um. But officers, officers were worried with
the area being so large that youknow, they could be like they could
be searching for any potential evidence forweeks. But you know, thankfully No
(23:55):
hadn't dumped deathing too far away,I don't know, And just a short
walk away from his tent, theyactually found a pair of his trousers covered
in blood, a price tag belongingto a hammer, and a bloody pair
of underwear. So No, hisunderwear, well, it doesn't specify,
(24:15):
but I'm not sure whether it's hisunderwear or not. He just said that,
just said underwear. I was justwondering if it was the Buginni bottoms
that I don't actually so back atthe station, detectives were checking through his
phone and they soon found a singlecontact that seemed to tie everything together for
them. Who was that contact,the husband George. When No was asked
(24:38):
who George was, he said,that's my friend, the firefighter. No
was the man that George would befriend. Eden had to help him around the
house and the man that Sean hadfelt uneasy about the moment she was right,
it wasn't. So police used thebarcode for the hammer to find out
where so that particular make and fromthis they got a hold of some CCTV
(25:03):
that left them shocked. The camerainside the shop clearly show showed George t
Fa and No Stevens together shopping andbuying the hammer that was used to kill
Shana. They're not the brightest star, they No. You would think I'm
being funny, right, but whatmost people have a hammer of the house.
(25:25):
I'm talking about obviously the homeless guy, but they're not hammer in his
house exactly. And I say,I saw this CCTV footage of them together
like in the shop, so youknow, there's no denying that they were
shopping together. That's just weird.So the police were now sure that George
had been at the center of whathad happened to Seanna. So back at
the station, officers presented No withall the evidence and finally No admitted to
(25:48):
be in Seanna's killer. But justas police suspected, No said it was
George who wanted her dead and hehad paid No six hundred dollars to carry
out the murder on his behalf.Six hundred dollars. That's nothing like he
was, I tell you. Hewas promised a bit more. But anyway,
so No claimed that he and Georgehad spent ages planning it, and
(26:10):
George had got a key cut forNo and paid for some dark clothing and
had asked him to stage a robberyweeks before she was killed, had done
the robbery before. No said thaton the twenty ninth of September, after
he broke in, he hid ina closet for a while, and then
he moved into the limb room andwaited for Shauna as he heard her pulling
up. Seanna was on her wayup the stairs, and No followed her
(26:33):
up and began his attack there.There, he said, she cried and
begged for her life, screaming,screaming, why are you doing this?
Over and why are you doing Hestruck her a total of seventeen times,
and he said the hammer broke,but he continued to hit her with the
hammer head until she stopped moving.That's horred us, that's really horrific.
(26:56):
After telling the detectives the horrific story, he offered to take them where he
had buried the hammer head in thedesert. Finally they had their murder weapon.
So on the eighth of October,nine days after Sewana had been murdered,
detectives and firmed George's mother and sisterthat he was now being investigated in
relation to her death, which I'mconfused about because they were horrified and adam
(27:18):
and he had nothing to do withit. And a matter of minutes later,
George's sister called him and told him, so, I don't know why
they told his mum and sister beforeactually going to arrest him. I don't
That didn't make sense to me.Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all.
I thought that do already had himin custody and then they were letting
his family know or something now becauseshe phoned him. So George jumped into
(27:41):
his truck and set off for afast and dangerous drive around Vegas that would
end with George going head on intoa concrete wall. And he was going
more than eighty miles per hour andpolice noted that there were no marks on
the road, which showed that hehadn't tried to break so he had intended
to crash to try and take hisown life for it good. George survived
(28:03):
thanks to his seat belt and hewas taken to hospital. So two days
later he was arrested at his hospitalbeds. You thought it was just took
your seatbelt, but if that's whatit was really planning, that's what I
did. Just don't understand, Likewhy there he was a moment's sister told
about that before he was actually arrested, and then that does not make sense
at all. I didn't get,I mean, agree all things where we
don't know the exact things. Andof course so I don't know exactly how
(28:26):
that played out completely, but Iwas just wondering unless like one of them
maybe had a friend it was inthe police force or something like that,
and they gave them my heads up. Yeah maybe, I don't know,
but yeah, when it just seemsreally strange, very strange. So yeah,
So, as he was arrested,George simply replied, Okay, I
think folks met defeat. Maybe.So three months later, No pleaded guilty
(28:47):
in exchange for the death penalty beingtaken off the table and said that would
testify for the prosecution against George astheir start witness. So obviously he was
as what we played, a guilty. So his found guilty and he was
sentenced to forty two years to life. So in two thousand August twenty and
fifteen, George entered the courtroom,but he pleaded not guilty. George never
(29:11):
took the stand himself, but Nodid and said that George had promised him
tens of thousands of dollars after hehad killed Seana. Right, He said
that Georgia told him to use afiberglass hammer, as a wooden hammer would
break. He said, so,he said he took both hammers to the
house, but he actually ended upusing the wooden one, which, as
we know, that did break.So but but why did they when they
(29:34):
went shopping? Was it the woodenone that they bought, like they bought
a couple because I see a coupleon a convert because you actually put it
on like the convert belt. Okay, I think they did buy a couple.
But yeah, I don't know whythose more than one bottle. But
anyway, Georgia told him use thefiberglass one, but no good one in
that that didna. Yeah, SoNo admitted in cross examination that he sometimes
(30:03):
had hallucinations and this gave the defensean angle to say that he could possibly
have made the whole thing up,so they try and get him, try
to get George off defense, whichis basically saying because he was getting No
was getting cross examined, and headmitted that he had had hallucine nations,
and obviously the defense was like,oh, well, maybe you made the
whole thing up when you were caughtand CCTV go to by hammers. Yeah,
(30:26):
I mean, I said the defense. They weren't disputing that he had
killed Seanna, but the idea thatGeorge was involved was a lie, right,
Okay, Yeah, but of courseyou know, the prosecution said that
No adored George and it would beeasy for George to manipulate No. Plus
George was the only person that hada reason for what and Showana dead.
Yea. They also believed that Georgehad been intending to kill No as he
(30:48):
had recently bought a gun, soif Nola had been killed, then George
would likely we potentially got me withthe crime completely. So the juries spent
three days deliberating, and he wasfound guilty of first degree murder and guilty
of six other accounts. He wassentenced to life without the possibility of parole,
and he was given an additional eightyone years for conspiracy to murder,
burglary, and robbery. Wow,that's a lot. George did appeal that,
(31:12):
but he lost in his conviction wasupheld, and Shanna's family they went
on to create Justice for Shawna andit's a group that raises awareness of domestic
violence and abusive relationships. And herfamily also moved her grave from Vegas because
she must have been buried in Vegasinitially to her home state of Utah so
(31:32):
that she could be next to herfather and Maddie. She went on to
live with Shawna's mother. I wonderwhy the but she initially got buried in
Vegas then if that's not what aman wanted, because well, our family
would have raised the funeral unless I'mmaybe this was before they realized George was
involved, because usually they could likehis Albi was, they believed it,
(31:56):
they just wasn't involved to Maybe thefuneral was quite quick. I don't know
who. But so why money becausehe didn't want to get divorced. Basically
there's the reason why was that hethought it would cost him so much money
to get divorced because obviously they werein financial crisis. Of it was that
he didn't want the extra expense ofa divorce, so he thought it was
(32:17):
easier just to kill him well financially. He just together, which I thought.
I thought it was maybe for lightlife insurance or something. No,
I mean, there's never any mentionof him looking to do that. I
think he just didn't want to gothrough the expense of a divorce. But
he would. But would he notbecause he was his the husband. Would
(32:37):
he not have to be the funeral, but the funeral not maybe as well,
Maybe that wouldn't be as dear asgetting divorced. I don't know,
because you had to split everything,I guess, and I don't know.
I don't know, But apparently thatwas the angle, was that he didn't
want to go through a divorce becauseof the financial implications of that. So
(32:57):
you obviously thought that that was articulatekiller, which is terrible because from what
I read, you know what's saying, like you know, as I said,
they were totally besotted with each other. They obviously were really happily married,
and that until money problems exactly hemaybe worked through that, yeah,
but he you know, yeah,I mean I said that was her hope
that they could work through it.But no matter what, I'm sorry,
(33:22):
murder it's new, and I justfeel sorry for that poor little girl.
I mean, she lost both herparents in the sense, you know,
she's lost her mum and her dad'sgoing to spend the rest of his life
in prisons. Plus he was theone that he was going, so I
mean, I can't imagine her wantingto have any kind of relationship with her
father. Yeah, she's only eightyears old at the time. She'll be
a few years older now, butI just like, I just thought it
(33:44):
was horrific, like I know,and then and then the worst as you
you know, this homeless guy whowas I think like they sitting there,
you know, it was easily itwas manipulating. So you know, it
doesn't excuse that he's kind of atthe murder. I mean totally for that,
but you know that, but George'spreyed on this homeless guy, take
an advantage of him, and youknow, convinced him probably quite easily to
(34:07):
do the deed. If he's offeringhim, I'm like thousands of pounds.
If you're homeless, then obviously,Yeah, you need the money. Yeah,
exactly. I thought it was somethingworth doing. And yeah, I
think I think he was a bitremorseful, the homeless guy, but George
didn't, you know, he didn'treally show any remorse about it at all.
He just well he think I thinkhe just trying to totally get away
with them and don't by that hewas even involved in it. But I
(34:29):
mean this easy TV on that,but I think he was trying to play
that off as like, you know, well, he was doing all jobs
around my house, so I wasgetting on, yeah, you know,
to go and do it, whichI was. Maybe it could have been
plausible, but you know, consideredeverything else be a while. I'm pretty
sure that he was definitely that wasenvironed the weapons, and of course he
bought them clothes and stuff like darkCloud clothes so that you can be more
(34:52):
because because maybe I don't know,but yeah, I just think it was
absolutely awful. Yeah, and youknow, women as the life from Yeah,
and a poor little girl lost theirmom, and a poor family lost
their daughter, their sister totally ruinedjust because one guy didn't want divorce divorced,
like just get body divorced, youknow what. I mean, did
(35:12):
he get divorced there and just tastebut up separated from now until you can't
afford to get divorced exactly? Imean, I don't know what what her
thoughts on that were. Of coursethoughts were, whether she was just hit
quite happily going along with them beingseparated, and I don't know, I
don't necessary en if she was pushingfor a divorce. You know, there
was nothing mentioned about that. Surelysurely they could have been at like it
(35:34):
sounded like they were still kind ofamicable to a certain extent. So surely
if he'd said, look, money, I can't afforded, there's no rush
for a divorce right now exactly.So there, you know, it just
shows what an absolute monster is.Yeah, totally absolutely, because I just
think, right, you're doing actuallythe person that you love, but not
only that, you're doing that toyour daughter. Yeah, well that's it.
You're you know, you're not justaffecting one person. You know,
(35:57):
it's a total reaction of people thatget affected by that. And I poor
girled it. You know, it'sobviously bad enough that maybe our parents had
separate aid and stuff, and thatwould have been you know, hard going
for her as well, something tosplit our time, but to then actually
just take our mother away from hercompletely and an effect to take yourself away
from her because you've done you know, she's lost it on the chance of
a normal relationship with the dad aswell. How stupid, I mean,
(36:20):
I don't know how. Yeah,like I never understand how these things go
people's heads. No, but ofcourse we don't. We're not murderers,
so I don't understand how murderers thingexactly. So yeah, there we go,
So there we go. Thank youvery much for her, Laura.
So this week we'll see y'all nexttime to you later. Bye. If
you would like to get in contactwith us or follow us on our social
media, we are on Instagram andTwitter at Crime Unscore Divers Underscore Pod.
(36:45):
You can email us at Crime Underscore, Divers, Unscore Pod, outlook dot
com. We're on YouTube and that'sCrime Divers Podcast and TikTok is also Crime
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