supporting details. how just days before the shooting, she went with elizabeth to a field and test fired the murder weapon. cops later found matching shells there. and how elizabeth dumped the gun that night with a guy from the neighborhood named dee humphrey who was waiting near the house. humphrey was interviewed. he admitted it was true. vera s story added up. so everything was believable. then vera, just 15 years old, naive, frightened, no attorney representing her, dropped her bombshell. vera eventually became aware of, through elizabeth, that joan and elizabeth had had some discussions about killing david shannon, that her mother had attempted to poison david shannon, that joan shannon and elizabeth shannon had conspired to kill david shannon and it actually was elizabeth that had shot him that night.
did you actually see a shadow or did you tell the police you thought it was a shadow? it was a movement, like a shadow that left. she was worried about the safety of the children. she returned back to her bedroom. that s where she made the 911 call. the children. joan and david s eldest daughter daisy was out of town. but their two young boys, just 7 and 10, slept through it all, unaware of what happened. down the hall was shannon s 15-year-old daughter elizabeth, who told the cops she was also in bed, and spending the night with liz was her best friend vera thompson, also just 15. both their statements were similar. they were listening to music, watching tv, and they fell asleep. five people in the house, and not a one saw or heard a useful thing to help determine who committed this horrible crime, or why. and there weren t many clues
but i thought it was a shadow. did you actually see a shadow or did you tell the police you thought it was a shadow? it was a movement, like a shadow that left. she was worried about the safety of the children. she returned back to her bedroom. that s where she made the 911 call. the children. joan and david s eldest daughter daisy was out of town. but their two young boys, just 7 and 10, slept through it all, unaware of what happened. down the hall was shannon s 15-year-old daughter elizabeth, who told the cops she was also in bed, and spending the night with liz was her best friend vera thompson, also just 15. both their statements were similar. they were listening to music, watching tv, and they fell asleep. five people in the house, and not a one saw or heard a useful thing to help determine who committed this horrible crime, or why. and there weren t many clues either, at least not in plain sight. but that wasn t necessarily because the killer covered his tracks. t
vera thompson was telling people about the homicide, that elizabeth shannon might be involved. vera thompson, remember her? she was elizabeth s best friend who was staying at the house the night of the murder. police brought her in again for questioning. and this time they grilled her. she was extremely emotional. she didn t want to tell on anybody. at that point in time she began to lay the facts on the table. and oh, what facts they were. vera was elizabeth s buddy, her bff. they talked about everything, went everywhere together. when she started bringing up facts, we were able to
elizabeth shannon had conspired to kill david shannon and it actually was elizabeth that had shot him that night. 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