Episode Transcript
Speaker A: Hey, there. Are you true crime fans? I'm Amanda.
Speaker B: And I'm Kori.
Speaker A: And this is Colorado Crime. If you're new here, we cover cases from coast to coast with a special emphasis on cases that happen right here in colorful crime filled, Colorado. If you're returning, thanks for being here. So we're trying something new today. Kori has jokes.
Speaker B: Hey, how do you organize a space party? How you plan it?
Speaker A: Okay, next week, we need the chicken joke.
Speaker B: Okay, I could do that.
Speaker A: Emersyn has been telling my dad and everybody the chicken joke.
Speaker B: It's funny. It's funny.
Speaker A: He likes it. I know it's funny. All right, guys. Well, did you guys know that February 3 is National Missing Person Day? This was set up on May 25, 1983, in order to draw attention to missing persons cases around the US. And the US. Congress created the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children First, which is a nonprofit organization that works to find and reunite missing children with their families. Then, in 1996, the Amber Alert Program was created after the kidnapping and murder of Amber Hagman in Arlington, Texas, which is such a sad case in and of itself. She was a nine year old little girl who was out riding her bicycle with her little brother when she was taken. Four days later, her body was found naked and covered in bruises, and her throat had been slit. Unfortunately, no one has been held accountable for her murder, and it remains unsolved to this day. But before her death, there wasn't really a system in place to alert the public if a child was missing. So in 2000, the program went nationwide, and now alerts go out immediately. I'm sure you guys have all, like, received the alert on your cell phones before. As always, there has been some controversy, as not every missing child case meets the specific criteria for an alert to be released. But overall, I think the idea behind the program is really great. And then also in 1996, president Ah did not have sexual relations with that woman. Clinton established the International Commission for Missing Persons. This is an intergovernmental organization that assists people who have gone missing because of war or human rights issues or natural disasters. And then, lastly, NamUs was started in 2003. And NamUs is a national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, identified and unclaimed person cases across the US. Its resources are provided at no cost to law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, allied forensic professionals, and family members of the missing person. According to the name, its website, there are currently 22,688 open missing person cases and 32,361 resolved cases. There's 14,366 open unidentified person cases and 6059 resolved cases, and there's 15,256 open unclaimed person cases, and 1590 of those have been resolved. So a couple of little trivia facts. Did you guys know that Alaska actually has the highest rate of missing person cases in the US. One out of every 617 people in the state is missing.
Speaker B: I mean, in Alaska, I think that's pretty strange. There's only probably 617 people in the whole state. So that's weird.
Speaker A: That's what I thought, too. I thought it was a pretty high number for Alaska. And then 89% to 92% of reported missing persons are found every year. And a person must be missing for seven years before they can be declared legally dead.
Speaker B: Do you think that's why Carol Baskin's husband mysteriously came back to life after the seven years because he's already been dead?
Speaker A: Maybe Carol was like, you're coming back because everyone thinks I'm a murderer.
Speaker B: I mean, allegedly.
Speaker A: Allegedly, right. Okay, so how can you guys help? Observe National Missing Person's Day so you can share info about missing people? With social media as accessible as it is, it really is a great way to spread information and to get people talking and thinking. You can always donate to a charity. So the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is always in need of support. So anything you can spare would be greatly appreciated. And the last way would be by volunteering with search and rescue teams. And this one isn't as accessible for everyone, I mean, thankfully, because not every city has a search party on the daily. When they do, though, it would be a great way to help. And then I also have three sort of scary facts for you, and then we'll move on. So my first one, white female abductions get the most coverage. Missing white women receive more media coverage than white males and children and significantly more than the abduction of people of color. My second one is missing people need to be reported immediately. So there's this like, big, huge misconception that a person has to be missing for 24 hours before they can be reported. But that's not true. Police are encouraging everyone to report a missing person as soon as possible.
Speaker B: So I think the other thing is that people get a lot of their information from TV. So when it comes to 24 hours, they hear that on TV. And that's why they don't report people for 24 hours because they've seen that on a TV show and they think that that's how real life is.
Speaker A: And I think probably in the maybe even like early 90s, that kind of was the standard. I mean, the police wouldn't even take a report if you weren't missing for longer than 24 hours. But that's not the case. Not anymore. If someone's missing, make a report ASAP, because the sooner you have people out looking, the sooner that person can be reunited with their family. And lastly, so there is a special foundation solely for missing black people. HBO did a series called Black and Missing and then they created a site for people to report their missing loved ones, which makes me so sad that people of color don't receive the same coverage and that they need their own site. I've never seen this show because my husband's cheap and we don't pay for streaming. Thanks, Kori. But if I did have HBO, I would totally watch this one. It seems really interesting. So check it out on HBO, guys, if you have it. It's called black and missing.
Speaker B: I have HBO if you want to borrow it.
Speaker A: Stop listening to us. Government. We're not sharing passwords online. Netflix is cracking down on password sharing. You have to sign in from your home WiFi every 30 days now.
Speaker B: They make you do that anyways. Every time I get on my TV, it's like, you're signed out of Netflix. What?
Speaker A: Hey, that's funny. I don't have your Netflix password, so.
Speaker B: If I sign out to Netflix, all your Netflix users that use my password, I'll just sign back in and you should be fine.
Speaker A: Yay, that's funny. Well, do you have anything that you want to add on the National Missing Person Day?
Speaker B: No, I don't think so. Thank you for asking me.
Speaker A: All right, well, if you guys want to donate to NCMEC, please do so. But let's talk real quick about some other ongoings in the true crime community, which I feel like we could totally do weekly episodes on the current happenings in the true crime community because holy canole. But news that I am super excited for is that on January 26 of this year, it was announced that the Ellen Greenberg case will be reopened. Ellen Greenberg was a teacher who died in 2011 after being stabbed 20 times. Ten of those were in her back, and she was at her apartment while her boyfriend was supposedly at the gym. Her death was ruled a suicide and the case was closed. So the case occurred in Philadelphia. But if you guys would like us to cover this case, let us know. I feel like it was crazy that it was even ruled a suicide. I mean, there was that's a whole thing.
Speaker B: She was stabbed in the back. I've seen a lot of, like, murders and suicides, but I have never seen a suicide person try to stab themselves in the back first before they kill themselves. That's weird, right?
Speaker A: Especially for a woman. On top of that, I mean, women more are more likely to overdose or not really leave something messy. And stabbing is so messy.
Speaker B: Stabbing is a crime of passion.
Speaker A: Yeah, and slippery and dirty. Also, Ann Walsh, the missing mother of two from Cohasset, Massachusetts, her husband has actually been charged with her murder, so the prosecution believes that he dismembered Anna and then discarded of her body. Her body has not been found, and her husband Brian has pleaded not guilty. But there's been some search history brought up, and it was like, how to dismember a body, how to dispose of a body, will blah, blah, blah, get rid of evidence, things like that. And lastly, the Alex Murdoch trial has begun. So if you guys aren't familiar. He was a prominent attorney in South Carolina before he was accused of killing his wife and son at their hunting estate in 2021. Alex does claim that he's innocent, so we'll see what happens at trial. We can keep you guys updated if you're interested. That one I haven't actually followed, but yeah, I'd be happy to look into it if that's something you guys wanted to know about. Corey, do you have any updates for us that you want to add?
Speaker B: I would like to add that the Alex Murdoch case is very interesting. He's got a whole lot of stuff going on. Like, he was pulled over. He's like a whole thing. And I have to say that Ann Walsh, her husband, that guy is an idiot. Why would you search how to murder somebody on your computer?
Speaker A: Right?
Speaker B: I don't understand that. I think it's weird. Like, if you're going to search that, maybe you do it on a public computer, like the library or something like that. Go to the library. Don't search it on your home computer or your son's computer, because that's where he really searched. It was his son's iPad.
Speaker A: Oh, my God.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: I didn't know that.
Speaker B: Yeah. I would like to congratulate Annie Spaulding on winning the Dutch Brothers gift card. We appreciate all your guys'suggestions. You sent in quite a few that we had not heard of, so we're looking forward to covering these cases. They were all super interesting. If this is something you guys enjoy, we can definitely do more giveaways. We have some ideas of some other giveaways and stuff like that. I thought it was a lot of fun.
Speaker A: I did too. So moving on from that that you closed on your new house, so give us some details, but don't tell us where you live because we don't want to stalk you.
Speaker B: Well, I mean, you guys can stock me. I don't have a job right now except for this podcast. So I'm home all day, so I'll know if you're stalking me.
Speaker A: Free motor?
Speaker B: Yeah, feel free. We moved to Illinois on Saturday of this week. It was a super long gas drive with my three dogs in the car. It was 16 hours. We left at ten. We hit a snowstorm in Iowa and it was horrible. My new house is pretty good. The old homeowners are kind of terrible, but that's a story for another day. But I'm currently doing this podcast in my car because if you can imagine, we've had the house cleaners here for two days. That's how dirty it was on the inside. Like, I'm going to give you a little tidbit. If you're moving out or moving into a house, please have it professionally cleaned by someone. When I moved out of my house in Colorado, I paid somebody to come and clean it. Shout out to country clean. They're a good cleaning company located in Kirsey.
Speaker A: Do they just move out cleans or do they do like she does, all clean.
Speaker B: She has a Facebook and everything. That's where I found her on.
Speaker A: Well, we will share her info. If anybody is interested, reach out. But maybe we will share her info on our Facebook page.
Speaker B: Perfect. Cool. Yeah. So it's a big house. It's a lot bigger than what we were wanting to buy here, but we have plenty of room for activities.
Speaker A: We're getting punk beds.
Speaker B: Punk beds for everyone. Yeah. So that's pretty much it. We got all our mover stuff. Our poor mover guy, his truck broke down, so that was a whole thing. It's just been a non stop volley of bad experiences this week? Pretty much.
Speaker A: Oh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker B: Yeah. But we got new bedroom furniture and that'll be here tomorrow. And hopefully my Internet comes tomorrow because otherwise I'm piggy backing off my phone.
Speaker A: I can't believe your furniture is going to come tomorrow. That's crazy. You were just there yesterday.
Speaker B: I know, I'm pretty excited about that. But Illinois is a big state. Yeah.
Speaker A: What's your weather like?
Speaker B: It's ****** and cold here it is. Let me see what the temperature is. 33 here right now. A little bit breezy, but not too terrible. Yeah, there you go.
Speaker A: It's 37 here. And we still have snow on the ground.
Speaker B: Yeah, we still have snow here too, but I think we have, like, maybe three inches and that's it. Oh, yeah. They said they're mild this winter.
Speaker A: Oh, that's funny. I feel like winter this year has been, like, pretty substantial. I feel like it's been really cold. And I feel like we got a lot of snow in Colorado.
Speaker B: I think so, too. I mean, we had a lot of snow before I left, so I'm sure you guys I know we hit the tail end of that snowstorm that was coming to you all, so I'm pretty sure you guys got a fair amount.
Speaker A: Oh, yeah. That one was weird. The most recent one, we didn't get much. It was just windy.
Speaker B: Yeah, that arctic chill or whatever.
Speaker A: Yeah, chris was able to, like, leaf blow it.
Speaker B: Oh, that's nice.
Speaker A: Yeah, it's so light. It was just like whoa. It was nice. It was just cold.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: Well, good. I'm excited and I'm glad that you made it there safely.
Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, we don't have any bad luck barring that, so it's just been the folly of bad experiences this week so far. Whatever.
Speaker A: Hey, it's Thursday. It's almost over.
Speaker B: Yeah, right. I know.
Speaker A: It's February. Happy February, everybody. I can't believe that we survived the year of January. That's cool.
Speaker B: Right now we'll have the year of February.
Speaker A: Oh, God. But don't worry. That means that March is coming, and that means it's going to be warm and we can go outside and my dogs will stop being so bored.
Speaker B: I know. Mine are bored too.
Speaker A: Well, I took my son on a field trip on Monday, and we go to sit down, and this little boy I sit down and I'm getting link in his food, and this little boy looks at me and he goes, you sound like a child. And I was like, oh, well, I'm not. I'm his mom. And he goes, oh, well, you sound like a child. And I was like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker B: Kids are so rude.
Speaker A: I know. And I was like, okay. And then we're working on kind of a really cool interview for you guys, and my dad's helping to orchestrate it. And so he's talking to this person and he's like, well, my daughter blah, blah, blah, she kind of sounds like Minnie Mouse. And then when I worked at the jail, I'm sure you remember this because they called you. A court lady called and she was like, Hi. I don't remember who I talked to. It was a girl and she sounded like a cartoon mouse. So I'm totally going through an identity crisis right now. So if you guys don't like listening to me because I sound so squeaky, I'm really sorry, but it's not going to change because this is my voice. Apparently I sound like a child. Kids are mean. I text Chris and I was like, I'm being bullied by a seven year old.
Speaker B: I know kids are mean.
Speaker A: I know am anymore.
Speaker B: They're not necessarily mean. They're just truthful. So everything that comes out of their mouth is like, hey, you sound stupid.
Speaker A: You're like, I know.
Speaker B: Okay, cool.
Speaker A: Thanks. Yeah. They're just like, so honest and so innocent.
Speaker B: But I was like, ouch, your voice is stupid.
Speaker A: Yeah, you sound like a child. Wow. One time my daughter told me that I had child hands. I had taken off my nails. Like my fake nails, obviously, like, not my whole fingernail, but I had taken them off. And Emerson was like, you have child hands.
Speaker B: My coworker at work. Well, when I worked, I don't work. Let me remind you I don't work. My coworker at my old job. I'm sure she'll appreciate me telling the story. So during COVID it was pretty slow. So we were taking out a bunch of trash to these dumpsters that we had out there. And we were taking the carts out and we were throwing stuff into the dumpster, and it was really super windy. And I looked over at her and I was like, hey, when did you put on those white latex gloves to throw out this trash? And she looks at me and she goes, corey, those are just my hands. Oh, my bad. I'm like, you could get some sun.
Speaker A: Carry on.
Speaker B: Never mind.
Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, that's so funny. Poor thing.
Speaker B: Yeah, so, I mean, adults are mean, too. It might just be Corey Cory cores are mean. Funny. Let's get into it.
Speaker A: All right, party people. So let's dive into this week's case. I'm going to give you a rundown of the three main people that we're going to be discussing, and then Corey's going to kind of take the lead, because she actually worked in Weld County when this case was happening. So today we are covering a case that earned Greeley a place on the murder map for sure. The sort of details seem almost made up illegitimate children, years long affairs, a possible setup, a public execution, and it all revolved around a group of individuals who took an oath to protect and serve. This is the tragic story of the murder of Heather Garris. Heather Garris was a beautiful, vibrant, hardworking wife and mother. She loved her daughter Victoria and her husband, Ignacio. Her family knows everything to her. Heather was born February 8, 1969, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and grew up in Boulder and then graduated from the University of Northern Colorado. She also attended St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greeley. On July 20, 791, she married the love of her life, Ignacio Garris. Heather was the assistant bank manager at the Colorado State Employee Credit Union, where friends and coworkers all described her as wonderful, kind, welcoming, and extremely dedicated to her work and family. Ignacio, or IG, as his friends called him, was a police officer at Greeley Police Department and had been employed there since 90 91. He and Heather had been married for 15 years and shared a daughter together. From the outside, Ignacio had the perfect life. But once you started to look a little closer, the cracks became very clear. Ignacio had begun an affair with a 911 dispatcher. The two carried on their illicit affair for three years and even produced a child, a son named Christian. Now, this affair was not as hush hush as everyone would assume. This affair was well known by coworkers and friends. The hatred Ignacio's mistress felt for his wife was no secret either. It was a well known fact, one his mistress talked constantly about, that she hated Heather. She saw Heather as the only thing standing in the way of their happily ever after. Who is this mistress, you ask? Shauna luis Nelson. So Shauna was born October 1, 1971. She lived her entire life in Greeley, Colorado. In 1992, she took a job as a 911 dispatcher for Greeley Police Department. At the time, she was married to Chris McKay until 1995, when she began to suspect he was having an affair with a coworker of hers. After her divorce was finalized, she went on to marry Ken Nelson, a Weld County Sheriff's deputy, in 1996. The couple had two sons together, dylan and Jordan. She claimed to have met Ignacio in 2004, but the two would have been working together for years. At this point, the two began flirting, and in July, the relationship turned sexual. Shortly after, Shauna became pregnant with her and Ignacio's love child, ignacio asked her to abort the pregnancy, and she did, a decision she says still haunts her. So maybe I'm crazy, but this was totally a conversation that my husband and I had when we first started dating. I wanted him to know, like, my opinion, and I wanted to know his opinion because I know the story everybody else knows. You know when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, blah, blah, blah, but, like, really, as an adult, they should have known how conception works.
Speaker B: Yeah, they sell condoms at the grocery store. Birth control is readily available. Like, you're an adult person. You know how a baby's made pretty sure she was doing it to try and trap him in the first place. But it didn't work out so well for her, so, I mean, whatever. So while all this was happening, shauna was confiding in her good friend Michelle. Michelle Moore. Worked as a Weld County Sheriff's deputy with Ken. Shauna and Michelle became close. Shauna told Michelle about how much she hated Heather. Heather had Ignacio, and Ignacio wouldn't leave her. Ignacio wouldn't leave Heather. But that didn't stop Kin from leaving Shauna. He discovered her diary chock full of details surrounding her affair with Ignacio. The two separated. Shaunna's hatred for Heather grew daily. Another friend and coworker of Shauna's, Jennifer Morrison, went to a shooting range with Shauna. Shauna told Jennifer that she was pretending Heather was the target. That's pretty jacked up. Why didn't Jennifer report this? Because Shauna never explicitly said that she wanted to kill Heather. You'll notice this is a trend throughout this case. It wasn't just these two that Shaunna convicted in, though. As we mentioned earlier, shauna talked openly about her hatred for Heather. Shaunna's hatred for Heather was clear to everyone. She discussed it openly and daily. She reportedly called Heather a fat hag, disgusting, and controlling.
Speaker A: Heather was controlling. Her husband was having an affair. I think she handled it better than most would.
Speaker B: I agree. Ignacio said that the reason the affair began was basically Heather's fault. Sorry, what? In 2003, Heather's mom passed away from cancer. Her dad had previously passed away, and she became depressed. She began taking antidepressants and sleeping a lot. He felt lonely and neglected. That's a cop out. Like, deal with your problems. You're a grown up. The two stopped having sex, and he was mad. Sean to talk to him. She cared about him and his needs. She began telling him she loved him. She even got a tattoo of his name on her ankle. Can you imagine you come home. Can you imagine? You come home and you're married to somebody, and he's like, what's that tattoo say on your leg? Ignacio. Who's Ignacio? And she's like, oh, it's no one. He's like, Ignacio? Ignacio. Is that the guy who works for GPD?
Speaker A: Right? They work together. It's not like he didn't know him at all. They would have had run ins together. They would have gone on calls together. For God's sake. Greeley was going to Weld County Jail at the time. Your paths would cross for sure. And then Heather, her parents pass away, and she's going through this just, like, devastating time in her life. I couldn't imagine. And now he's blaming her. Inside note. Who isn't or hasn't been on antidepressants these days? It drives me so crazy when people don't take accountability for their actions. And like, so what if she was on antidepressants? Let her get better and then *******, I don't know. Be there for your wife. Be a good husband.
Speaker B: Be supportive. You're a grown person. You're a grown man. You can't base all your problems on. I mean, marriage takes work, and it takes two people to make at work. So, I mean, you are 50% of the problem. So sorry.
Speaker A: Right? Well, then you bring somebody else into that, and then you take their percentage. So I'm sorry, but your 50% is now, like 80%.
Speaker B: Correct? And Shauna was so obsessed with Ignacio. I can't even imagine how she would call him all the time and call him from work. She was, like, crazy about him. I don't know.
Speaker A: I just don't know how you would hide a whole tattoo.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: No offense, Ken, but are you neglecting your wife? Because how did you not notice she had a tattoo on a recall?
Speaker B: Where did you get that from?
Speaker A: Weird, huh?
Speaker B: Yeah. Who's that?
Speaker A: I'm pretty sure it was like his whole name. It wasn't like a nickname or anything. Which we will learn later that they did have, like, code words for each other, but it was his freaking name on her ankle.
Speaker B: I really don't understand why they had code words for each other. Everyone knew they were having an affair. Just a little FYI and a tidbit. If you decide to work for a police agency or any agency or any job and you think you're having a secret affair, you are not. It's never a secret. Everyone always knows. Everyone just talks about it behind your back.
Speaker A: Yeah, well, I didn't date a single person I worked with. And it was like, oh, aren't you dating this person? Like, what? No.
Speaker B: Great.
Speaker A: Imagine we weren't even dating and that went around. Imagine if you're having an affair. Yeah, it's gossip. And now you're in a confined area, and that just seems like a wildfire.
Speaker B: Yeah. And Ignacio supposedly wasn't her only affair. She acted this way with all the men and their spouses or partners until she moved on to her next obsession. Gross, right? So big surprise, shauna got pregnant again because birth control was not existent. Apparently.
Speaker A: It was like the 1007 hundreds or something, right?
Speaker B: Couldn't use it.
Speaker A: This is the 2000s, by the way.
Speaker B: July 4, 2005. She was like, I'm keeping this baby. And Ignacio was like, oh, I don't want a baby. She's like, I don't care. I'm keeping it. So she was going to raise this baby and hopefully trap him into being with her.
Speaker A: Well, like, total Madonna moment, keeping my baby. She was too she did.
Speaker B: She did keep it so the thought of being a single parent, I think, scared her a little bit. So she went back to Kin, and she was honest with him. She told him that she was pregnant with Ignacio's baby, and Ken was like, okay, come back. And he decided that he was going to raise this baby as his own. Christian Nelson was born in March of 2006. While she was in the hospital, Kin left briefly so Ignacio could meet his child.
Speaker A: What?
Speaker B: Yeah. Kin was listed as a father, but Ignacio would have visitation rights. I mean, you're like, hello, wife, soon to be ex wife, were separated, and she's like, hey, bro, I'm pregnant. But it's with the guy's baby I've been cheating on you with the entire time we've practically been married. So you want to get back together and raise his baby? He's like, yeah, I do. I would love to have another man's baby as my baby. Which shout out to Ken for being a responsible parent. Right. Stepping up to the plate and taking care of a baby. Because it's not the baby's fault. As much as we could. It's not the baby's fault that he was born into a situation that was totally jacked up. Kids just need love and support, I guess. It doesn't matter whose DNA you have. It's about who's a good dad. Anybody can be a father, but it takes a lot of people to be a dad.
Speaker A: For sure.
Speaker B: Yeah. Good for him.
Speaker A: Our podcast just became, like, pro Ken. Good job, Ken.
Speaker B: Yeah, pro Ken. Awesome out of you.
Speaker A: You're doing great, man. Your wife sucked. But you know what? You stepped up to the plate when you didn't have to, and that's pretty cool. Yeah, because I'd be like, Nah, right? Go pound sand.
Speaker B: Yeah. It's not the baby's fault. No, whatever. So Shaunnagna and Ignacio continued their affair. I know you're all surprised. From March to December. That was after she had the baby, by the way. People, a baby he hardly saw. They continued their secret meetings, coded text messages. She was Omar in Ignacio's phone, by the way. And late night phone call.
Speaker A: Omar.
Speaker B: Omar.
Speaker A: You couldn't come up with a better name than Omar?
Speaker B: Right? Like Tom or right. Like Terry.
Speaker A: Right? You had to be Omar. Yeah.
Speaker B: Maybe he didn't have other friends named Omar, so then he would know who he was texting. Because can you imagine if you had two friends named Tony and you accidentally text your naked picture to the wrong Tony?
Speaker A: My bad, Tony. That big pic was not for you. That was for my other friend Tony.
Speaker B: Like, what? Wait a minute.
Speaker A: Which Tony poor dad would have spread around way faster than any kind of a fair rumor.
Speaker B: Right? Tony?
Speaker A: Poor Tony.
Speaker B: Poor Tony. On December 16, 2006, ignacio called Shauna and ended things. She called and texted repeatedly to say she was upset. It was an understatement. Two days later, she showed up at. Heather's place of employment to close her accounts. I'm doing air quotes. She was showing Heather how easy it was for Shauna to get to her, in my humble opinion, of course. She even reached out to Ignacio's father, Julian. She insisted that Julian would want to stay in contact with Christian, his illegitimate grandson. Her hateful comments about Heather were intensifying.
Speaker A: So her hatred came to a tipping point. On January 23, 2007, someone wearing a Grim Reaper mask and a black robe approached Heather outside of her place of employment as she was leaving for the day and ended her life. A co worker of Heather's and witnessed to the crime heard the murderer say, quote, you've ruined my life, end quote. And then two shots rang out. Heather lay there on the ground behind her place of employment, bleeding out before she succumbed to her injuries about 30 minutes later at the age of 37, leaving behind her nine year old daughter.
Speaker B: Police were quick to respond to the scene after a call came in that a police officer's wife was shot. Coworkers and witnesses immediately implicated Shaunna for the murder. Shauna had been sending Ignacio threatening messages like, you broke my heart. You ****** me, so be prepared. She was sending threatening voicemails that Heather didn't take seriously. I mean, who would? It's 2007. You're sending a threatening voicemail on your BlackBerry. I don't know.
Speaker A: I love my BlackBerry, by the way.
Speaker B: Yeah, I did. I had a Nokia because Nokia, I.
Speaker A: Had, like what were they called? The Sidekick. Not the full version.
Speaker B: It was, like, tiny Sidekick where you split it up.
Speaker A: I don't even remember. I just know it just wasn't the full one. And I want to say it like, didn't have a camera or something, and I was like, that's okay, I don't need a phone with a camera. And now I still don't because, I mean, it's sort of embarrassing, but if you go through my phone, you'll find just, like, screenshots of memes and, like, maybe a few pictures of my dogs. But you would have no idea that I had a life outside of memes and my dogs. I have kids, I promise. You wouldn't know, though.
Speaker B: I mean, whatever.
Speaker A: It's fine, right?
Speaker B: It is fine. So shortly after that call went out stating there had been a shooting at the bank, a follow up call went out looking for Shauna. Okay, so Ken was good before, and now Ken gets a little sketchy. Maybe we have to back off our alliance.
Speaker A: Yeah, we can't be pals with him right now. We're taking a break for a minute.
Speaker B: Yeah. So he heard the call over his police radio and raced to find her. He was the first to stop Shauna after the alleged shooting. He immediately went up to her window and began yelling, get out of the car. And what did you do?
Speaker A: So Ken was the one who arrested his own wife?
Speaker B: Well, not exactly. This is where it gets sketchy. He stopped her. He stopped her, but then he was like, continue on home. So he let her drive home. He was later charged with tampering with physical evidence. So after leaving Shauna, Ken returned to work, which, I mean, good for you, you know, stop your wife. You're like, hey, go home. She's like, all right. Heather was killed with a 40 caliber Glock, a gun that Ken did own, but Shauna had access to. I'm pretty sure it was his duty weapon. I thought it was one of his.
Speaker A: Duty weapon, but it wasn't the weapon he had on him.
Speaker B: No, because I think he couldn't find it.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker B: Yeah. So I think he couldn't find it, and he took his other duty weapon, but this one that she was killed with. Was a gun similar or the same as the one that Ken had allegedly whatever.
Speaker A: Don't come first.
Speaker B: It's all alleged. Shauna told Kim that she had sold the gun, but she told Michelle Moore, who we mentioned earlier, that she hadn't sold the gun. Do you sell the duty weapon? Was it his duty weapon? There's a whole lot of speculation with that, but I was almost positive it was his duty weapon.
Speaker A: Wouldn't weld? County own that. I don't know how it works in Weld County.
Speaker B: That's what I do. But typically, yeah.
Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, because they take your gun in your badge when you leave or you're put on suspension or something, because it's their gun. You're, like, borrowing it.
Speaker B: Well, when my wife Candice worked for Lambert County, she had to buy her own duty weapon, so maybe he had to buy it, I don't know.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker B: She didn't sell the gun.
Speaker A: Okay. But she just, like, used it in a really shittily planned murder because she thought they couldn't trace it back to Ken.
Speaker B: Yeah, because, you know, forensics and everything. So Ken believed that she was actually trying to set him up for the murder.
Speaker A: Why?
Speaker B: Well, with Ken and Heather both out of the way, there was nothing standing in Shawn Ignacio and Ignacio's way of being together. Which brings us to Shaunna's arrest. When Shauna was arrested, she was wearing Ken's socks, baseball hat, and his DA DA DA underwear.
Speaker A: EW. What?
Speaker B: Yeah. Gross. She was wearing his underwear? No shoes. And there was a grim reaper mask that was found in Ken's truck that she was driving, a truck that Ken said she hated. So he thought it was weird that she was driving it around that day.
Speaker A: Okay, but can we just go back to the underwear thing for a second? Because what in the actual ****?
Speaker B: Yeah, so she said she was taking some sort of medication that made her **** her pants, so she wanted to draw herself a bath. Again, we're in the 18 hundreds. I would like to draw a bath. Right, but when the tub was full, she decided she needed to go the liquor store I mean, that always happens to me. I'm always in the middle of getting ready to take a bath, and then I'm like, Liquor store. I need to go to the liquor store. So you know what? I'm going to leave this full tub by the time I get back. Not hot water. And then on my tub, right?
Speaker A: Like, after I **** myself, of course, right? Or shut myself, because I don't know what the past tense would be, so you're correct.
Speaker B: But that's why she just grabbed the closest clothes that were the closest clothes to her that weren't **** covered and put them on.
Speaker A: That's crazy.
Speaker B: Just rummaging in a hamper and you put on your not **** covered husband's clothes. Who, by the way, is a large man.
Speaker A: Yeah, she's not small, either.
Speaker B: No, he's very tall.
Speaker A: EW.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: Okay. I have some questions, I guess.
Speaker B: Okay, go ahead.
Speaker A: One, who lies about pooping themselves? Who does that? Why would you make that lie up? Two, right when she was found, was there fecal matter in Ken's underwear? Then who has to do that DNA testing? Because how embarrassing would that be? Like, you pooped yourself and now you're wearing his underwear, but then they're, like, doing VNA testing. Actually, these skid marks are totally KENS.
Speaker B: You put on someone else's skid marks, poopy underwear. I don't know. It's so weird. I don't get it. I don't get why you ran a bath and then decide to go to the liquor store. I don't get why you put on your husband's underwear. Never in my life.
Speaker A: Right? Is that normal? Is that a normal do you guys just, like, share undies instead of like, oh, I'm going to buy girl undies and boy undies? They're like, we're just going to buy boy undies and I'm going to wear boy undies. What? But I promise, all you guys, I am making a promise to everybody listening right now. I promise to you, I will never wear Chris's panties. Those are the one thing I won't share. So I promise you, if I go, I will do it in my own panties.
Speaker B: I won't share panties, and I also won't share toothbrush, you know? So those are two things we won't share.
Speaker A: I probably won't share your socks because Chris has really sweaty feet sometimes. I love you, honey, but really, I'd be like, no.
Speaker B: Gross. Right? I don't know if there was **** in his panties, but she was wearing them. And his shoes were actually found tossed out of the vehicle, like, a ways back.
Speaker A: She was wearing his shoes?
Speaker B: Probably. Shoot. Yeah, her DNA was found in his shoes, so yeah, she was. But when she was arrested, she wasn't wearing shoes. And I know that because I booked her in.
Speaker A: No ******* way.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: Was she nice?
Speaker B: Yeah, she was really nice. She never booked anybody. Really rude. Except for one guy who had, like, an upside down cross tattooed on his forehead. He was very mean to me. Yeah, but that's okay.
Speaker A: I always thought women were so mean.
Speaker B: I hated crying. I just can't cry up there. I just hand them a Kleenex and I'm like, are we done? Here you go. Move on.
Speaker A: I'm not going to lie. I don't know that I ever handed anyone a Kleenex.
Speaker B: I'm sorry, everybody.
Speaker A: I never thought about it. I was like, all right, let's just get through this.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker A: How bad? This is funny. Let me speak my terrible Spanish to you and then you can go sit down. You guys don't want to talk to me? I know you have other things you'd rather be doing than sitting here talking to Minnie Mouse. So hop along. I'm so sorry you're here. That's so crazy. I didn't realize it was you who booked her in.
Speaker B: Yes. Sure did.
Speaker A: Wow.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: So she was basically trying to set him up for the crime.
Speaker B: Pretty much.
Speaker A: Allegedly, of course, because this is all hypothetical. Don't come for us guys.
Speaker B: Yeah. We're just telling a story about how it happened in 2007.
Speaker A: Right.
Speaker B: I circling back to taking a bath and then going to the liquor store. Or drawing a bath and then going to the liquor store. It's so confusing. I think she drew the bath and had it waiting for her so she could limit the amount of DNA that was transferred. After the shooting. She shot Heather at close range, so I think she was planning on more blood splatter than there actually was.
Speaker A: Oh, I didn't even think about that. Was there like, a lot of blood on her?
Speaker B: No, that's why she was fighting the charges so hard.
Speaker A: So then what happened at court?
Speaker B: The charges against Ken were dropped. And Michelle Moore.
Speaker A: Remember her? Yeah. What happened to her? She was so young. She was, like, 27.
Speaker B: Yeah, she has a piece of work. So Shauna accused Michelle of being Shauna Scorned to love her after Michelle testified that she knew Shaunna was going to kill Heather. And then Michelle admitted to telling Shauna that she needed to leave misleading evidence at the scene and how to avoid leaving her DNA at the scene. Okay. So if you're going to commit a crime, first of all, there's a number of things you should do. Don't tell people because I'm sorry, people are going to rat you out every single time. If it comes down to you or them, they will pick them every time.
Speaker A: Right. I'm sorry. I don't have that kind of loyalty to anybody.
Speaker B: No.
Speaker A: I have to think of their family.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker A: That's so sad. She has a daughter. I don't give a ****, like, how good of a friend you are to me, but if you're going to go play in somebody's murder, you're on your own, man. And if you tell me about it, I'm going to totally write you out. So niches get stitches. It's me. I will have stitches.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: You're welcome. Don't tell me your plans. Anybody, right?
Speaker B: That's how I feel. I'm not telling you my plans. If I murder someone, no one's going to know other than the fact that I just mentioned it on this podcast.
Speaker A: Hypothetically.
Speaker B: Allegedly.
Speaker A: If you were hypothetically going to murder.
Speaker B: I have no dead bodies that anyone will find one chippers. Just kidding.
Speaker A: Just kidding. That's gross. But that's just crazy to me. So do you think that they were lovers?
Speaker B: No, I don't think so.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker B: I know Shauna said that they were, but Michelle has always denied it. Always. I think that was a news story and I think Shauna went with it because how else do you explain why you have this close relationship with somebody? So you don't get in trouble. So you're can blame it on her too.
Speaker A: Right.
Speaker B: She didn't take any responsibility for any of this. So Michelle did plead guilty to accessory to attempted first degree murder, and she was sentenced to nine years in prison. But she was I think she only served seven of that.
Speaker A: Okay.
Speaker B: But she was actually arrested a few days before sentencing for drunk driving.
Speaker A: So I feel like when I worked there, which was like after this happened, because I started in eleven and this was in seven, but it was pretty well known that she was a heavy drinker. Am I right in remembering that?
Speaker B: Yeah, she liked to party. She was young, so I mean, who doesn't? And she was in with she was a sheriff's deputy. Not like that sheriff's deputy that was in Tennessee that was running trains with her fellow coach.
Speaker A: Oh my God. Right?
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker A: So Candace is sending me like the funniest memes about that and I laugh every time.
Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good time. Like that lady, she actually told me, she told me about it. And she's like, look up like a female cop does gang bang, which by the way, do not look that up. That result is not what you are looking for.
Speaker A: Oh, my God. I mean, that's what you're looking for.
Speaker B: Yeah. If that's what you're looking for, more power to you. But do that incognito.
Speaker A: So I totally do not agree with her actions, but I do think it's unfair that she is being ostracized and the whole world knows that she's a *****.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: Or at least her proclivity. But like, those other officers are just as guilty.
Speaker B: Yeah, they're probably worse because they took advantage of her. They had all worked there for years before she started. She's only been there not even two years yet.
Speaker A: Right, but we don't hear I mean, like, I'm not getting memes about that. No, they're not making memes about these other guys. It's all the girl and it's just so unfair. I don't think what she did was right, don't get me wrong. But girl power, guys, come on. What the hell? Men take some accountability for being ****** men sometimes. Okay?
Speaker B: Right. And also women you don't have to sleep your way to the top. There's no need for that.
Speaker A: Like, sleep your way to the top.
Speaker B: I get that sometimes men are sucky, and sometimes women don't get recognized for the types of jobs that we do that are really ******* hard and that women aren't promoted as much as men are, but please, please. It just degrades the whole thing, if you're sleeping your way to some other job. Like, it just it's not I mean, it's just not okay. Don't date your boss.
Speaker A: No. What is it? You don't eat where you **** or something like that?
Speaker B: Where you eat? Yeah.
Speaker A: And I mean, really, for that lonely a box of friends in your car.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: Shout out to you, Lois. We love you.
Speaker B: So on March 3, 2008, after day one of deliberation, shauna Nelson was found guilty of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. When the verdict was read, shauna sat stone cold stover, never flinching and emotionless. Shauna, now 51 years old, will live and die at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility. Ken Nelson filed for divorce and left the sheriff's office. He is currently raising the couple's three children, which includes the child Shauna had with Ignacio. Michelle Moore has been released from prison and is no longer working in law enforcement either. Well, she can. She has a felony, right? And allegedly, she's married now. Ignacio resigned from the Greeley Police Department and moved out of state. In an interview with NBC, he said, I loathe myself, and I have to hide it so my kid doesn't see how bad I load, how bad I loathe myself because a beautiful woman's dead. For me having an affair, the chain of events that I had no way of foreseeing, but ultimately, if I had never had an affair, heather would still be alive. It's on me. On March 13, 2015, at the age of 17, victoria Garris was killed in an automobile accident in Michigan. She is buried next to her mother, and Ignacio now lives in Florida. A little side note, victoria actually moved when they moved. They all moved to Florida, but she moved to Michigan with either a friend or a cousin of hers, and he still lived in Florida. So she lived in Michigan with that family and not with Ignacio.
Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. How sad. I do kind of feel bad for him, for Ignacio. I can't imagine losing a spouse and a child.
Speaker B: I mean, he still has a child.
Speaker A: That's true. Well, I mean, he doesn't, though. He gave up rights, but it was two days after he told Shauna, hey, girlfriend, we're done with this. He was like, you know what? I don't want to be your kid's dad anymore.
Speaker B: But the kid is an adult now. Technically, the kid could go find him.
Speaker A: Oh, I'm sure he knows about it.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: There's no way that you could grow up anywhere near this case and not know that your dad isn't your dad.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker A: Because your real dad no offense, Ignacio, but your real dad is kind of a piece of garbage and didn't want you, right? I don't know. I guess I've never been in this situation.
Speaker B: Well, also, like, all the signs were there. How do you ignore the signs of a crazy person? She calls and texted you 65 or 165 times a day, and you didn't think that something was going to happen to your wife. Why didn't you report her as crazy before? Like, right. You can go in and say, hey, this person won't leave me alone. Like, it's perfectly fine.
Speaker A: Right. And, like, all because you didn't want to have a conversation with your wife and say, like, hey, I'm worried about you. I think that you're going through something and you need help, or we're going through something. Let's go to therapy.
Speaker B: Right?
Speaker A: For sure.
Speaker B: Shout out to therapy.
Speaker A: For sure. I think that mental health is a hot topic right now because that mother killed her three kids after she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. What she did was wrong. Her husband leaving her alone with the kids was wrong. But also at the same time, it's got to be hard to have a wife who is now a child and you have three children and a baby on top of that, and then now you have this infant of a wife that you have to take care of.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker A: It's such a sad, sad case. But long story short was mental health is really important. It is not everybody. And I guess in law enforcement, you're kind of trained to be aware of that and to kind of notice that, and you kind of let your wife flounder, and that's just not fair.
Speaker B: And I think the other part is now they're trying to get mental health into law enforcement, which is really important. I think that first responders and doctors and nurses and all of those people on the front line really need someone to talk to.
Speaker A: Absolutely.
Speaker B: I know that you see some **** and you need someone who has an unbiased opinion to talk to because quite honestly, that seeing all that stuff jacks with your brain. Like, you cannot go every day and just put stuff your dead bodies in a box or your child murders in a box or your domestic violence cases in a box. Like, you have to be able to have someone to talk to. And I think it's very important, and I think the stigma about first responders getting mental health needs to go away. I think that everybody deserves somebody to talk to, and I don't think it matters what occupation you're in.
Speaker A: Oh, I agree.
Speaker B: I think that stigma needs to go away. I think first responders are the most important people, and I think they deserve somebody to talk to. And I think the stigma that surrounds that that surrounds people saying, hey, I talked to a therapist. I think that needs to go away. And I think the only way to do that is to talk about mental health more and what to do about it.
Speaker A: Absolutely. And I think that no matter what career choice or career path you take, it is never normal to see a dead body or to have to have those conversations with people about what they did to somebody or what they've done to a child or what they want to do to somebody. It's not normal for a person to have to hear that. And I just have to say, I hope she doesn't mind me talking about it, but one of my best friends, she actually was like a CSI and recently left because she was having such a hard time bringing it home. And I just couldn't imagine she has a little one. And to see that, like, day in and day out, it's too much. And I'm proud of her for seeing that.
Speaker B: For not stuffing it away in a box.
Speaker A: Yeah. For stepping away and knowing, like, okay.
Speaker B: This isn't okay, this isn't okay.
Speaker A: It's not good for me. It's not good for my family. She went to college for this, and I'm sure she loves her. She loved that job, and I'm sure she'll go back eventually. But I think where do people go to talk about that stuff? And especially if you are I don't want to say one of the good old boys, but if you were in law enforcement before 2010, it is totally stigmatized to go to any kind of therapy. That's what's expected of you. You're expected to see this stuff and be okay with it and be able to process it on your own.
Speaker B: Just an FYI. Coming from a family whose parents were a nurse and in law enforcement, I can guarantee you that them not going to therapy has affected me in my life.
Speaker A: Oh, absolutely.
Speaker B: I'm going to throw it out there. I went to therapy. It's great. It's so nice to talk to somebody who has no investment in your life. They just listen to you. They offer you sound advice. It was a really positive experience in my life, and I recommend that anyone goes and that you do take it. Even if you only go through your work, like if you have an EAP or you have your allotted.
Speaker A: Seven therapy.
Speaker B: Sessions, take advantage of that. It's so helpful. Even if you only go for seven sessions, you can go once a month for seven months and just talk. Just talk to someone who has no investment in your life other than listening to you and making sure that you're hurt.
Speaker A: Yes. And sometimes it's nice to have somebody hold that mirror up to you and say, either way, you could do better, or I'm really good at blaming myself.
Speaker B: Right.
Speaker A: I will take the burden on sort of like, god, what is the word I'm looking for here?
Speaker B: I don't know. I can't see your face.
Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, that's so annoying to me.
Speaker B: But I could see that, yeah, I.
Speaker A: Take a lot of the blame, and I'm like, all right, well, this happened because I did this, or I will take on the problem, and I will then figure out, oh, I'll process it later. Sometimes it's nice to have somebody just hold that mirror and say, like, hey.
Speaker B: Right, you're not responsible for this.
Speaker A: You don't have to be so tough. You're allowed to because I'm not a crier, right? And so that was really nice. It was something good. Gosh, 2020 was, like, the worst year of my life. And honestly, therapy really stopped me.
Speaker B: That's me. 2021. I did therapy. It was great. And that's how I feel, too. It made me realize that other people's problems are not my problems. I can't fix everyone. I can only fix me, and I can only change me. Anyone else is responsible for them. I'm not responsible for everybody. So big shout out to therapy. Everyone should try it. And you don't have to stick with one therapist. If you don't like them, find somebody else.
Speaker A: Yes.
Speaker B: You have to find the therapist that fits with you. So if you're looking for a good therapist, I'm going to shout out to Iowa and Fort Collins. They have a lot of really amazing therapists on there, and a lot of places that you work for will cover a lot of places, use them as their EAP. So shout out to them. But again, go to therapy.
Speaker A: Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker B: No, nothing wrong with it whether you're.
Speaker A: A boy or a girl.
Speaker B: Correct.
Speaker A: I feel like just because we're girls doesn't mean that we had to go deal with our emotions. Boys, you need it just more than that. It's not worse.
Speaker B: Correct. Because the stigma around being the man, it's okay to be sensitive. Like, there's nothing wrong with being sensitive. There's nothing wrong with being a caring human, and there's nothing wrong with having feelings. And it's okay to talk about your feelings, and it's okay to go to therapy.
Speaker A: Absolutely.
Speaker B: Go to therapy, people.
Speaker A: Absolutely.
Speaker B: Okay, well, get our soapbox.
Speaker A: Yeah, let's crawl down from our soapbox. We park that for a minute. I'm not making any guarantees that that thing is away forever, because I'm sure next episode it will be out. But as of now, crime fans, that's all we have for you. So thank you guys so much for joining us today. If you have any case requests or suggestions, please send them our way. If you haven't already, please subscribe so you can be notified every time we upload. If you enjoy listening to US Weekly, please leave us a review on Apple podcast. Maybe it would be kind of fun if we picked one review every week and gave that listener a shout out.
Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I like that. And also give me a shout out on Facebook how you liking the new post and the fun facts. Any fun facts you want to know about? I can throw those on there. It's been really fun for me. I really enjoyed the gallon of blood one. I think that's very important. So you know how much you got to clean up in case you do a murder, right?
Speaker A: I know. Thanks for doing that because you're welcome. Social media, I'm the worst at it, but yeah, no, I love it. So thank you so much for doing that because you're welcome. I think that's really fun. But, yeah, we'll pick a review every week and we'll give them a shout out. So new episodes are released every Friday at 10:30, a.m. Mountain Standard Time. Please follow us on Instagram at Colorado Crime Pod and on Facebook at Colorado Crime Podcast for information on next week's episode as well as other true crime happenings. We hope you have a beautiful day wherever you are, and as always, stay safe.
Speaker B: In the words of Neil Young, it's better to burn out than fade away. Brenda told me your taglines are the best. She's like, I wait every week to see what you're going to say at the end.
