Im natalie moralis. And this is dateline. Here is the person i love. Hes dying. Her husband, a decorated military officer, shot in the dark of night. It was an execution. Was this some sort of hit . He was in special forces. There must have been something at work. Thats what police thought too. Until they learned about the secret life of this husband and wife. They would meet couples on the internet. Was there a forbidden affair . They were probably meeting for sex about four times a week. And did it lead to murder . She is absolutely coldblooded. Soon, there would be questions for mother and daughter. It was another shock. Welcome to dateline. When a respected military officer was attacked in the middle of the night, police launched an investigation that would reveal eyebrowraising secrets that might hold the key to murder. Heres keith morrison. The wind in the Northern Prairie sweeps across a vast flatland. Sings through sparse blocks. Howls around grave markers at a Military Cemetery a few miles south of the canadian border. The final resting spot for a few dozen veterans, many of whom died in combat. This is where he is resting now. Major David Shannon, who lost his life in 2002. His mother shirley comes here to visit and remember. His sister brenda too when shes in town. Oh, how they worried that war might put him here. Except war didnt. No, there never was a thought back then about what could happen far from combat, what did happen. All those strange things down south in North Carolina. Fayetteville is an old town, steeped in revolutionary and civil war history. Smack in the middle of the bible belt. But now, cargo planes buzz in and out of Pope Air Force base. And off past the confines of the city sprawls the immense ft. Bragg, home base of the computer wiz, the special ops major David Shannon. His house was here, just a few blocks off base. The major, his wife joan, and their four children. It was july 2002. Like a sauna that night, so hot and humid. And then a light rain that cooled it down again. David and joan watched a movie on tv, fell asleep. And then i dont even remember hearing the first shot. I remember something woke me up. And then you heard a shot . And i know whatever woke me up, i know my ears were already ringing. And i turned the light on. And i see that hes shot. You know, it shocks you. Never, ever forget that image. Thats burned in my brain forever, no matter how much i try to here is the person i love. Hes dying. [ 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 major shannons bedroom was highly intentional. It was an execution. David shannon was executed. The intruder came in while he was sleeping, placed a gun to his head, and shot him and placed to his chest and shot. And joan . The shock of it didnt 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 wasnt very helpful. I did not clearly see the person who shot david. Im not sure if i saw or just had a feeling of Somebody Just leaving the room. But i form it as a shadow. Did you actually see a shadow or did you tell the police it was like a shadow . There was just some movement, a shadow, that had left. She tried to follow the intruder down the hallway. She was worried about the safety of the children. She returned back to her bedroom. Thats where she made the 911 call. The children. Joan and davids 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 shannons 15yearold daughter elizabeth, who told the cops she was also in bed, and spending the night with elizabeth was her best friend vera thompson, also just 15. Both of 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 any useful thing that might help determine who committed this horrible crime, or why. And there werent many clues either, at least not in plain sight. But that wasnt necessarily because the killer covered his tracks. The home was cluttered. It was filth, clothes all over the floor. Dishes in the sink. Food on the countertops. And the crime scene itself, what did that look like . Finding evidence is like, you know, finding a needle in a haystack. The house was in such disarray. The cops picked their way carefully through the clutter but found no fingerprints, footprints, or any usable dna. Though on the floor near davids body, they found two live bullets for a 9millimeter semiautomatic handgun. Joan confirmed david kept guns in the house but couldnt say where those two live rounds came from. She also tried to help police make sense of the shadow images her waking eyes saw. But she just couldnt. I know i wasnt 100 wide awake and aware of what was going on. There was a lot of blank spots in my memory. So little to go on. Except there was one curious discovery in that bedroom. Something quite unusual in a family home like this. The question was, what did it mean . Coming up, solving a murder means finding a motive. There must have been something he was doing at work. This must have been a hit. Professional or personal . The person who shot David Shannon might be familiar with joan shannon. When dateline continues. Broken windshield. Take 1. Hey guys, my windshield just got broken, i feel like i need to blow off some steam. Lets go. 1, 2, 3, 4. Mr. Blanks . Theres no need to be stressed. Geico makes it easy to file a claim online, on the app, or over the phone. Yeah, but what if i never hear back . Thats gonna make me want to go jab. 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It had been a long night at the home of major David Shannon, now deceased, but the investigation was just beginning. The only thing that was perfectly clear was that somebody wanted this man dead, wanted it badly, shot him in the head and the chest while he slept. His wife joan sleeping soundly, then startled awake beside him. And shed seen the shadow of a person, just subscribed the subject as a male subject. Just like that, in a split second, the kids lost a father. And their life together over their 11year marriage was over. David and i had a good marriage. If he were alive, he would say we had a good marriage. I do miss him. I miss what we had. Theres not anybody that would ever be able to replace him. Murder is rarely a strictly local event. The and news of this one skipped up country and crossed the windy prairie to a place called langdon, north dakota. Thats where the major was from. This is where he grew up, where he became an unusual young man. He was quiet. He wasnt one that was dating. He didnt have a lot of friends. Brenda strong is davids older sister. He wasnt into sports. He just was introspective. But his mother shirley says david always knew exactly what he wanted to do. I am going to be an army man. Thats what he said. How old was he when he first started saying that . Maybe 6, 7 years old. By 19, david had enlisted. He was eventually stationed in upstate new york. And thats where he met joan. He was funny. He had a sense of humor. And he was extremely shy. David was different than the other guys how . Oh, because he treated me a lot different. He treated me like i had value. Which was Something Wonderful and new for joan. Sexually abused at 12, abandoned by her parents, married to an abusive husband, had a baby with him at 18, another one born in short order, and soon single again, working in a topless club, hooking up with the wrong kind of man. And then . Then she met her knight, her savior. She met david. So before the men had wanted you for sex but that was it. This guy wanted you for you. He was willing to protect without controlling. He treated me like an equal. Less than a year later, joan asked david to marry her. I realized he was this really, really great guy. I didnt want anybody else to have a chance to find that out. So in a small north dakota church, joan taft became mrs. David shannon. I thought he found somebody that was good for him. He was obviously happy. And she, what was your impression of her . She just seemed very nice, very sweet, very attentive to him. Very much in love. They complemented each other, is what they did. It sounds almost as if youre talking about joan as if she was one of your children. She was almost like a daughter to me, yes. As for joans two young daughters, daisy and elizabeth, david wanted them to be part of his new family. Because he loved me, he loved them. And so he did. David shannon became both a husband and a father. They were all having a good time being a normal family, you know. Everybody getting along, or fighting as you do. He loved them, definitely. Soon the shannons became six, with the birth of their two boys. And in 2000 david took the family south to fayetteville, when he was transferred to fort bragg. David loved the military. He loved being a soldier. You talk about somebody having a first love or something they love more than anything. He loved that uniform. And the military had been good to david. He was major shannon by now, well on his way to becoming a colonel. And that was the phone call the shannon family was really looking forward to from fort bragg. Not the one they got that devastating morning in july 2002. They said, davids been shot. Hes been murdered. No, it couldnt be, he was in special forces, he must have been into something odd, you know, there must have been something with what he was doing at work that, you know, this must have been a hit. We felt that something had gone wrong, that he found out something that he was not supposed to have known and they had to get rid of him. Because it was so execution style. Mmhmm. Somebody came in there with the intent of killing him. With the intent of killing him. But here was an odd thing. There wasnt any sign of an intruder getting into the house. It was raining outside, remember. But nobody tracked any wet footprints inside. What she was telling us didnt really it just didnt really match up at the time. And Something Else that didnt seem to match . Stashed away in the bedroom were dozens and dozens of pornographic magazines and videos and a cache of sex toys. And when detectives asked what that was all about, joan cheerfully gave them the completely unexpected and very surprising answer. I told him that david and i were swingers. And suddenly the investigation turned on its heel and headed in a whole new direction. They would meet couples on the internet. And her husband would prearrange it, and then they would engage in some type of sexual relation or intercourse with the couple itself. Did that make your investigative mind click a little bit into some sort of the person who shot David Shannon might be familiar with joan shannon. And maybe the swinger lifestyle might have had something to do with that. Finally, a possible lead. Had the shannons unusual sex life created a motive for murder . Coming up, an intriguing new lead. David actually said, you need to meet my wife joan. Was there a fatal love triangle in this circle of swingers . When dateline continues. Everyone is at risk for enamel loss. When you drink or eat something thats acidic it sucks the minerals out of the tooths surface. Pronamel is formulated to help deliver minerals to the tooths surface to help reharden and strengthen your enamel. Unlike ordinary memory want supplementster . Neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. Still warm. Thanks, maggie. Oh, alice says hi. For some of us, our daily journey is a short one. Save 50 when you pay per mile with allstate. Pay less when you drive less. Youve never been in better hands. Allstate. Click or call for a quote today. While investigating the murder of major David Shannon, police discovered the seemingly straitlaced military officer and his wife were not as conservative as they appeared but did their complicated love life lead to his murder . Here again, keith morrison. They seemed from the outside, at least, so ordinary, exemplary even. A good marriage, four attractive kids. But Murder Investigations have a way of shattering what seems to be. And now the shannon family secrets were spilling out. Of course you can have no idea what might exist behind the photo of family values. Thats what detectives are for, after all. The shannons may have moved to the bible belt, here to fayetteville, North Carolina. Lots of churches here. But there are also other activities that occurred at night that had nothing whatever to do with family values. Joan and David Shannon were swingers. Enthusiastic members of clubs whose sole purpose is to organize various combinations of spouse swapping. As joan told the police, she and david had been swinging for years, long before moving to North Carolina. But fayetteville, after dark, to their happy surprise, offered plenty of Fresh Opportunities to continue their lifestyle, as its called. David had discovered that, said joan. We get here, he gets on the computer, and he finds the location of a club. Right off the bat . Sure did, yes. Who knew . It was as if this conservative bible belt state somehow needed secret outlets for its more lurid desires. He would go on the internet. And there were a lot of swinger sites. David would look for people on these swinger websites. The Swingers Club david found was one of many in fayetteville. And this particular one catered to both couples and singles. And how did that affect your marriage . I think it improved it. Because, you know, so many marriages fall apart because somebody cheats. But its not the sex. Its the betrayal, the lies. I dont associate sex and love together. In fact you both liked it a lot. We did. We did. The shannons often met couples at hotels. But sometimes they even brought them home. Always trying to be discreet, of course, so their four children wouldnt find out. They would often find themselves hustled off to a friends for the weekend and come home to find their bedrooms rearranged. The elder daughters at least had a pretty good idea something was going on in their absence. But murder exposes secrets, as we say. And now detective murphy wanted to know if that swinging was somehow connected with what happened in their bloodspattered bedroom. Maybe there was some sort of triangle involved here . Some type of love triangle. I started asking questions about the couples they might have met, anybody that she was involved romantically with that maybe her husband didnt know about or did know about. Did she offer anything . She identified a guy by the name of Jeffrey Wilson. Jeffrey wilson . Turns out david actually met him first online. Jeffrey was also in the army, based at ft. Bragg, like the major. He went by the name black stuntman. By now the deputy d. A. Billy west was monitoring the investigation. And they were online chat friends i think chatting about the swinging lifestyle and that sort of thing. And david actually said, you need to meet my wife joan, and invited him to a swinging party. They all got together at a local hotel, just social that first time, no sex. There was a second Swingers Party that both of the shannons and jeffrey attended. And at that party he i think as well as others did have sex with joan. But after this happened, joan and jeffrey started seeing one another. That was okay, though, according to the rules the shannons had established, as long as it was just sex and nobody got romantically entangled. And anyway, wilson was married with kids. And there was no indication that his wife knew what he was up to on the side with joan. We started doing some one on one, is what they call it, when the other person is not there. But david always knew when i was with jeff. And the relationship with jeff started, it was a sexual only. And in the process it developed into a friendship. Sometimes joan even brought her new friend by the house, introduced him to her daughters. Then according to jeffrey and according to daisy, elizabeth, joan fell in love with him, told jeffrey she wanted to run off with him. But this was no love affair, no matter what her curious daughters thought, said joan. She was emphatic about that. Whether he knew it or not, she said, jeffrey was nothing more than a friend with benefits. But this never became a romance from your point of view . No.