cold-blooded. she is entirely self-interested. elizabeth? she hated joan. she hated her parents. she wanted out. freedom. she would have done anything. when she killed david, she killed the only disciplinary she d ever had. then she made a deal to get herself out of it. the idea that joan manipulated elizabeth wasn t even possible, said the defense. certainly not for either of her parents. they couldn t keep her in school. they couldn t keep her in the house. they couldn t get her to do anything. then all of a sudden joan s going to get her to turn around and kill david? the jury deliberated a day and a half. then they came back guilty. my heart dropped. you go numb. it s like, so many things flash through your mind and you just realize life as you know it is gone. it was so unbelievable. we knew joan was innocent and she d just been found guilty. it shattered our world in so many ways.
a conspiracy? joan the brains, and elizabeth the brawn? given the tumultuous relationship between mother and daughter, who could have imagined they could agree on anything, let alone murder? but, said vera, that s the story elizabeth told her. and it implicated both her best friend and joan shannon in a homicide. the arrest warrants went out for both of them simultaneously. joan shannon was arrested actually before elizabeth was arrested and before elizabeth gave any statement in the case. david shannon s family was in fayetteville for david s funeral. right there with joan when the cops came, saw what they did. joan had been practically paralyzed with grief, they said. and then arrested. they put cuffs on her. i imagine they read her her rights right then. but i don t know. it was another shock. joan herself was unshakeable
welcome back to dateline. i m craig melvin. in the case of the murdered major, one thing became abundantly clear. nothing was as it seemed in the shannon household. the family kept secrets. for starters, the army major s wife and mother of four was in a sexual relationship with a married man. but did the affair lead to murder? once again, keith morrison. it was quite an eye opener. that is, which joan shannon told detectives that she and her now dead husband, major david shannon, were regular and enthusiastic swingers. but when joan told them she developed a special one on one thing with a married man named jeffrey wilson, now that was a real lead. could it be the major was the victim of a jealous lover?
[ sirens ] and by the time the police and the ambulance wailed up to the door, it was too late. david shannon, just 40, was dead. all it took was a look, in fact, for lead detective mike murphy to see what happened in david s bedroom was highly intentional. it was an execution. the intruder came in while he was sleeping, placed a gun to his head, and shot him in the chest. and joan? the shock of it didn t help, of course, nor the fact that she was sound asleep when it happened. by the time she calmed down enough to talk to police, she wasn t very helpful. i did not clearly see the person who shot david. i m not sure if i saw or just had a feeling of somebody just leaving the room. but i thought it was a
now, elizabeth? i could see it. elizabeth? the shannons 15-year-old daughter? is it possible she was a cold-blooded killer who executed her very own stepfather? the man who adopted her, raised her, provided for her? maybe, said david s sister brenda. daisy and elizabeth were always troubled, said brenda. and when elizabeth hit her teens, watch out. david and joan did not have the tools needed to deal with what those two girls dished out. it was boys, drugs, violence. if she got angry, she would destroy something of theirs. that was hardly elizabeth s view of things. she conceded she was no angel. she acted out all right, never denied that. but elizabeth always claimed it was the adults who made it ugly and hostile at home, where