DIXIE'S LAST STAND-John Ferak

gassed by the sight and awful smell. The town wondered why Dixie Shanahan managed to live with her husband's rotting body inside her master bedroom for fourteen months. This fascinating story will leave you asking yourself. One question was the punishment that Dixie received in her case justified. The book that we're profiling this evening is Dixie's Last Stand? Was it Murder or Self Defense? With my special guest, journalist

and author John Ferrick. Welcome back to the program, and thank you for agreeed to dis interview John Ferrick.

been arrested for murder. But it also pointed out that her husband had apparently been left in the house for more than a year, which was just unbelievable. So that day, myself and a seasoned veteran, a photographer by the name of Rudy Smith who had been at the Omaha newspaper for forty years, we loaded up the photography gear and got our notebooks and made the hour long drive out to Defiance, Iowa. And it just really was an unusual

murder case to be covering. I really couldn't recall up at that point in time, really covering an odd murder case such as this in the town of less than four hundred people, in a county of about thirteen thousand people, And it just really was unbelievable. In the first thing that kind of jumped in my mind, uh and a lot of other people was how could how could this have been hidden for for over a year? You know?

How is how is Scott Shanahan's body hidden from uh, you know, from the public, just you know, how come nobody knew about this?

This was an agency that that only had I think seven or eight full time deputies plus the plus the sheriff, and in this case, the sheriff actually did his own investigations and played a key role in getting to the bottom of things. So so kind of all those things came together, and you know, that's what it's gonna ultimately lead me to write a book on this that came out earlier this year.

outside of Omaha. So give us basically the basic the cities that are bigger that we might note and tell us where this place is and then tell us a little bit more about Harlan, Iowa. So where basically the bigger, the closest, biggest town to in this county.

which had about thirteen thousand people. And this is this is a very agriculture, agriculturally dominated area in the region of Iowa. So a lot of people throughout this region either work in agriculture, work in farming, or have have some type of job that's connected, you know to the agriculture community, you know, economy, while others may work in government sector jobs such as working for the county, county government, county courthouse, or a school teacher or you know, law

enforcement jobs and stuff like that. This is an area of the country that really or at least this area here Shelby County and in particular Defiance, you know, we're

really trying to trying of maintain status. Quote, there really weren't too many new job opportunities, let alone any companies opening up, so uh, Defiance in particular had had a downtown that really didn't have very much aside from the volunteer fire station, a small bank, and uh you know, a village hall and the clerk's office and one restaurant, uh slash bar that was kind of a you know,

tucked in, uh you know, chucked in the community. While Harlan, as you mentioned, Dan was the county seat and Harlan was a still is a very viable, uh strong small town community, has excellent schools, really good sports programs, and really is the economic hub of Shelby County. A town of about five or six thousand with a handful of key I think manufacturing companies and major employers, so really a lot of people throughout the Shelby County area, particularly Defiance.

You would often make the twelve or thirteen mile drive either into Harlan and Iowa or also up Highway fifty nine toward Dennis and Iowa, which was about again another eight or nine miles up the road. But really Harlan was the economic base of the county. And Harlan is actually where the Sheriff's office and the City of Harlan police department were located, and that's where all the county government offices, including the courthouse in the jail were located.

of property. It's a ranch. Uh, it's got a nice big backyard, really nice, nice mature trees now and uh, like I said, it's a it's a it's a nice house. And uh. And this is where he grew up, lived there with his mom and dad, and and really just kind of putted around as he as he grew up, really didn't you know, wasn't very motivated either for career or education. And uh, he really took a liking to uh two automobiles, but really didn't pursue that as a career.

And he had worked a handful of different jobs over the years, but uh oftentimes got fired from these jobs. Uh usually related to not showing up for work. So he was not really dependable. And he also wasn't very motivated, you know, to to make something of himself more or less. But but his his family had or they came into a into a garage property that was right across the street. Dan And it's really this garage where he spent the bulk of his time restoring and acquiring older vehicles, a

lot of classic cars. And this is kind of where he would just putts around most of his days and just really refurbish these cars, you know, you know, cut them down a little bit, but but spend a lot of his time there. And you know, as his future wife is could eventually talk about and testify, this really wasn't a job or anything where he was making a lot of money. It just really was more or less, you know, his hobby and that really didn't help out,

you know, as far as generating income. You know, once he eventually does get married and have children.

really landed him in in any serious hot water with authorities. Uh. I mean there were there were different reports, like I said, just minor drug use, you know, marijuana, but this is not really hardcore distribution or dealing, you know, I think by in large, like I said, he he came in contact, he interacted with a lot of the local law enforcement officials.

And again in a small town, small county, you know, such as Shelby County, you know, wasn't uncommon for the cops to know the locals and vice versa, even if they weren't causing trouble. But but the problems by in large that you know, that he was involved with, you know, prior to his marriage with Dixie. You know, really we're pretty minor. And you know, again didn't amount twenty any significant crime that would have ever you know, put him in jail, you know, a quite along prison. Dan.

toward his stepdaughters and stuff. And you know, and as as as Dixie later testified, she you know, she she testified that she she had been a victim, uh you know, as well as uh, her siblings. But uh, it's a it's a it's yeah, it's a rough situation. It's an unfortunate situation and uh and people certainly understood and felt

sorry for her. And uh and as a teenager, around fifteen or sixteen, she's going to come to live with Scott Shanahan and his parents Beverly and uh al and uh and and that's it's around that point in time where I think Dixie was fifteen or sixteen, Scot's about five years older. That's where they started dating and became a serious item, you know. Again, at the same point

that they're you know, living under the same roof. But it's really, yeah, this house on third third Street or third Avenue in Defiance is where Dixie's going to move and you know, during the nineteen eighties, and it's it's really where she's going to spend the next twenty years or so, you know, of her of her life. No, but like you said, yeah, she came from a tough family.

immediately apparent or at least at first to Dixie. You know, it it may have involved you know, you know, yelling and you know, screaming, you know, you know, kind of more of a domineering personnel, but it wasn't any type of serious, you know, violence at first that eventually perpetuates and becomes a huge issue and a huge factor in you know, the events that unfold over a matter of time.

But at first, you know, like like like we pointed out, you know about a five or six year age difference between the two of them, but you know, they got along. You know, they yell at each other, but we're willing to put up with each other. And and I think Dan the fact that Dixie was so young, you know, fifteen or sixteen, she really especially in a real small

isolated town like this too. You know, I think she really wasn't exposed you know to other other guys, you know, other potential suitors are just just having an opportunity to even see what else is out there. That's kind of my my take from you know, from studying the case over the years. But uh, but it just it just seems like those two start serious romance, serious relationship with each other while they're very young, while she's very young and he's a little bit older, and and that's really

all Dixie is exposed to. And she really just uh, you know, falls head over heels for Scott Shanahan and uh, you know, and uh and and unfortunately it's going to lead to a downward spiral, you know, over over a period of time.

you could see that the father dying at three. She finally breaking away, but in that that she had to actually tell actually threatened to call police, and then her father the solution was to take off with his newest girlfriend.

hundred people just west of Omaha, Nebraska. And I remember it either come out in the trial or in court testimony a later day two but I think Dixie had pointed out that that the family was constantly on the move when she was young, and her belief was that that was often because it was harder for the police to especially the smaller community police to keep tabs on her family, especially her abusive stepfather, and more or less they were always kind of the family of the stepfather

always kept one step ahead of the police and the investigators, and especially at that day and age, in that time frame, you know, it was a lot harder for police to make a case and investigate a case. You know, if by the time they're going out to the house, no sooner do they find out that the family had moved

sixty miles away. And that seemed to be kind of the events that were unfolding when when Dixie was very young, her father, stepfather, you know, had the family moving around a lot, and you know, Dixie as she got older just was fed up, put the abuse and kind of put her foot down into you know, eventually got out of that house, got away from that environment. But the unfortunate and result is that that's going to lead to you know, bad decisions and you know, and bad, bad, bad events.

different than when it started with. So tell us what it started off with and what was his relationship with with all the people in the home, including Dixie.

and and and Al. And then as you pointed out for listeners, Uh, both of them, especially Al, you know, really had some serious serious health issues and uh, you know, and and so so you Dixie kind of take it upon herself to you know, really be the caregiver to help both of them out, you know, whereas Scott is kind of absence or really that's not something that you know,

he really took upon himself. Dixie would go, you know and help buy groceries, you know, and help run errands, you know, especially since Al couldn't really get out of the house very much and stuff, and you know, als eventually you know, going to pass away, and uh, there's gonna be a conversation at a later point in time.

You know that Dixie's going to really remember as she gets older, you know, and it's a conversation with Bev, you know, along the lines of this, you know, something ever happens to me, you know, I really want you

to look after Scott. There was also signs too, though, Dan and supporting to bring this up to for the listeners, where you know, Dixie, you know, had had also observed situations where where Scott had been abusive toward his own mother, and Bev was very embarrassed and ashamed about this, to the point where I know there was such there was an instant where, you know, where she told somebody and I'm going off of memory, so I can't remember if it was Dixie or if it was actually one of

the neighbors, but I think it may have been one of the neighbors. But but, but Bevitt had told one of the neighbors that she had fallen off a ladder, you know, while she was you know, doing doing work on the house, when in reality, you know, Scott had had he had most likely punched his mother, gotten angry

with her in a fit of rage. So so there were signs of of Scott being abusive toward his own mother, being physically violent toward her when he didn't get his way or or wanted to, you know, wanted something and uh and again in this environment, Dixie was more or less a caregiver, you know four l and uh and bev and uh. You know, really they weren't in the best of health. And it's it's around the early nineteen nineties, I think nineteen ninety four, memory serves, you know, where

bev passes away. And now you know both the Scott's parents, you know, are gone, and it's.

or stack fund. I can't remember off the top of my head what it was. But but anyway, this this inheritance grew very quickly too, from one hundred and fifty thousand to uh to upwards of one hundred and eighty thousand within a couple of years. And Dixie was also working around this time time frame. Thank Scott had had uh more or less ordered her to work. And uh, you know, she actually she she was a she was

a very good employee. She actually worked in uh uh for for a handful of different uh assisted living homes or independent living uh, but senior care. You know, she worked in senior care and provided uh, you know, care and comfort to you know, for the area elderly and so she was working bringing in some money from that job.

But really over time though, it's this inheritance stand that that the couple, primarily scot you know, are really gonna kind of become greedy or really just kind of uh make us the focus uh you know of uh, you know, their spending habits and practices you know, from from from there on out. And it's really this you know, this inheritance that they're going to live off of and uh and drain down you know, over a short few years.

And that is certainly gonna strain the tensions between the between the couple, I believe.

that's gonna become very very very violent. But he just is adamant that uh, you know that he doesn't need a job, and you know, and uh and and just is not going to go out and look for a job, and and and how dare you you know, kind of becomes uh, you know, he just he he just can't accept somebody else criticizing him, let alone suggesting that that he changes ways. And uh, there's gonna be all kinds of situations where you know, he's gonna throw you know,

garden tools at her. You know, there's really some violent episodes where you know, he forces her to u take out some concrete actually poured some kind of crete uh sidewalk in front of the house, just to ridicule her when clearly, you know, he would have known how to do this. He sent her to drive around a few of the area towns to find the right concrete mix and then forced her to mix the concrete when she admitted, you know, she clearly didn't know what she was doing.

You know, he just he just stood around and you know, smirked, and you know, then you know, just mocked her and

humiliated her. And there's gonna be a number of other episodes, you know, where things get much much worse than that, where she's eventually gonna take her down the basement and uh and uh tie her up with with the clothes hanger and leave her down the basement for a couple of days at at at at one point in time, and uh, like I said, it's just really you know, where the verbal abuse really shifts into more physical abuse and it really becomes a lot worse for Dixie over

a short period of years, Dan, you talk.

we're getting these reports from her. And October sixth two thousand, her friend Brenda Johnson called Shelby County Police told them of abuse, but Dixie had some plan to move to Texas. So tell us about this because this is very important to this entire story in the trial too. What happens with this Prince Joseph.

couple of times. And then I and I may not even gotten into this really in depth in the book, uh, just because again some of these were short trips. But uh, but Dixie did make a couple of trips down to Texas to stay down there for a couple of days

and then she would come back. But in this particular episode, the one you're talking about, Dan, she had had confided in her friend Brenda, you know, that she was finally ready and willing to uh, you know, to get out of this relationship with Scott once and for all, and and and and and Brenda wanted to make sure that it happened. She wanted to, you know, yeah, see through just because she knew that especially in a in a situation like this. Uh. You know, oftentimes the the abuser

becomes very very overpowering and overbearing. And in the in the victim, in this case, Dixie, Uh, it would not have been a surprise for her to wilt under pressure, or make excuses or just be afraid that something bad would happen if she actually carried through and uh, you know, and and and and actually did move out, pack her bags and you know, and left. So UH on this occasion, Brenda, Brenda goes to the property and uh and and she sees clearly both cars in the driveway, Scott's and Dixie's.

And she goes to the door and uh and nobody answers the door. And I think this was the middle of the daytime too, on a weekday. And Brenda at least had the smart the sixth sense or intuition whatever you want to say too to UH to get a hold of UH law enforcement in this case, the Shelby County Sheriff's office. And I know the fellow that's the current sheriff now, Mark Hervey, was one of the responders.

And I interviewed him at length of this book. And and and so Mark Mark arrives and I can't remember if another deputy was there as well, but uh, but you know, they tried their best. They tried knocking on the door, and nobody came to the door. They walk around the back, and I think Mark had the smarts to uh to you know, think to himself that people often have keys, you know, uh, sometimes on their light post or you know, or under a matt and uh, you know, he and Brenda, you know, quickly you find

found this found this key to the front door. They walk around to the front. Now I want to just give a little background just for listeners, kind of what's going on inside the house. Okay, the drapes are closed. Scott's inside the house with Dixie, and I believe they're two small children at that point in time yet because two thousand, yeah, they would have had two. And Scott's

just furious. But he's whispering because he notices a squad car now in his front driveway and he yelled, he whispers watching and they whispers but uh he uh, you know, he turns to Dixie and he's like, did you call the police? And and Astley she didn't, so you know, she's told the truth, you know, but obviously he didn't believe her. Nonetheless, he's hiding her in one of the closets. Uh and uh and I believe the children were they're in the closet or or the bedroom. He can find

them as well. Eventually Herbie uh and uh and and and Brenda come around back to the front of the house, you know, and announced their presence and opened the door, and uh, you know, and Scott and uh, Dixie emerged us. You know, Scott, you know, a lot of out of the closet. The two children emerge as well, and Dixie

just had both eyes just for here. You know, we're just horribly you know, purple, just black and blue, I should say, but uh, you know, she had clearly been beaten by Scott in the hours uh preceding this, and uh. In that day, the Sheriff's office took took Scott into custody and they charged him with with domestic violence. Again,

I'm going off a memory. I think if we're talking two thousand and this would have been his third arrest for domestic violence and uh and which would have been very important because that would have been the one that led to the Class D felony, which was the most severe charge that he had faced up to this point in time related to domestic violence with Dixie. This would have been the charge carried up to five years in prison.

And I believe they also charged him as well, you know, with you know, with false imprisonment or a charge you know, basically for holding Dick Dixie captive as well, So there were two charges he based. Dixie's able to get out of the situation. Obviously, skot Get's taken away in handcuffs, you know, driven to the county jail, and Harlan twelve

miles away, he's sitting there waiting trial. Dixie does make it down to Texas then, and uh and again, especially for listeners throughout North America, the distance from Iowa to Texas, you know, it's well over a thousand miles. There's a there's a it's a very very long distance to to

get there, either by car or by automobile. And that's very important to point out because that distance alone would make it very, very difficult for an abuser, even like Scott Shanahan, to just all of a sudden suddenly show up and harm Dixie, you know, grab her and throw her in the back of his pickup truck and drive all the way back to Iowa, so that that that the distance could and should have been some comfort and

reassurance to Dixie. And the fact that the Shelby County County Attorney's office, in concert with the Sheriff's office, you know, really was was was gonna work hard to make sure that this third arrest for domestic violence, the tellnty charge really was going to stick. And if it would stick, in all likelihood, he would have gone to prison, you know, and served at least a handful of years, if not

the full five years. Bottom line. That's very important too, because that would have made it easy too for Dixie to get a divorce or just get out of this relationship and you know, and move on and and meet somebody, meet a nice guy, you know, somebody she had never had an opportunity to meet, because you know, she and Scott have been together since she was you know, fifteen or sixteen. Then Dan.

ways and bad ways, bad behavior. I' going off a memory, but I know he mentions things like going to counseling, you know, better's education classes and uh, you know, and he's really going to appeal to her on an emotional standpoint, you know that, uh, you know that really the most important thing for her, according to him, is really to have their family whole whole again, to be intact and and and he's going to uh and also obviously you can't have a family if he's going to be in prison.

So so you've got to remember, listeners have to remember he's appealing to her, but in reality he's pushing her he either subconsciously or or just being outright about it. But uh, but nonetheless he's going to appeal to her to the point where she's going to right to the court the h the prosecutor's office and informed them that she does not want to come back to the state of Iowa to testify as their key witness in order to uh, you know, secure a conviction against Scott Shanahan

in court. This this domestic bounce is telling the charge at the prosecutor's office, uh, and Susan Christensen, the prosecutor, you know, really we're we're we're hoping to move forward and you know, send Scott to prison. For the prosecutor's offices isn't gonna just immediately listen to Dixie. They're gonna plead with her to the point where, you know, they're

going to initially delay the trial. Inn And they're also going to point out that if money is a concern, well they're just gonna point they're they're willing to pay to get Dixie to come back to Iowa, pay her air airfare, hotel, whatever accommodations are necessary, you know, to help just to make sure that she's able to be in court to appear on the witness stand, raise the

right hand and promise to tell the truth. So I'll forgot so, but she's not gonna want to have any of that, and uh, it's gonna become a lost cause in a very frustrating case for them, for the county attorney's office, in the in the sheriff's office, and eventually what's gonna happen is without their key witness, they're going to have to drop their the criminal charges against Scott Shanahan.

So for context and background for listeners, Scott had already been convicted of two misdemeanor domestic violence charges prior to this, this third charge where he had held his wife captive and you know, left her with you know, black and blue eyes. So so unfortunately, the most serious crime that he commits, the most serious offense that he's arrested for, is the one that that he ultimately gets away with,

Scott free. It never goes on his record as far as a conviction, He never does any you know, incarceration as far as the sentence for this crime. Yes, he had been arrested, yes he did, you know sometime in jail awaiting trial. Le but uh, but there was no conviction for this crime and no felony on his record. So he gets released from jail. And this is I think is really even more important for listeners as far as just kind of the string of bad decisions that

happened involving Dixie Shanahan. Dixie's gonna soon afterwards make the decision to reunite with Scott, to the point where she doesn't even tell her sister, Diane, you know, that she's going to go back to Iowa and get back together with Scott, And by doing so, she had abandoned she was going to nursing school down in the state of Texas and and pursuing a nursing degree, which which really would have set her up, uh, you know, for for

a great and steady career path in in Texas. She's gonna drop that and uh and return in to the state of Iowa and move back to the house on third third Avenue and get back together with with Scott and the two kids. So for Scott, he gets his wife back, who he had abused repeatedly, and he doesn't have an additional conviction on his on his record, and he doesn't go to prison, so he gets everything he wants.

And unfortunately for Dixie, you know, the abuse is still going to continue it's only going to intensify, you know, according to all accounts, and from that point forward.

did not want to have this baby. And by all accounts, uh, just become verbally abusive and and and apparently even physically abusive toward Dixie just over this issue that that she was going to go forward and have this child. She was adamant, she absolutely wanted to have the have the have the have the child. And uh and by her, by her, by her account, and uh, we have nothing to uh believe that it's not true, just based on

Scott's character and other issues. You know that he absolutely did not want to go forward and have this have this child, and that is going to become kind of a key wedge or a key issue, you know, that's really going to strain the relationship. On top of the fact that that the financial situation for Dixie and Scott and their family is really starting to, uh, you know,

put them in a perilous predicament. Comes around the summer of summer months of two thousand and two, you know, right around this time that this uh, this of this news of this pregnancy. Dan.

been very late summer of two thousand and two. But but she had gotten one of the oldest, her oldest children, Zach, you know, got him up for school and uh, you know, getting him ready to get on the school bus. And uh. And the story is that, uh, you know that that the young boy again about seven or eight years old, would have gone into the bedroom to say goodbye to his father, you know, and Scott just kind of rolled over and you know and just you know, continued to sleep.

Dixie gets her son, you know, ready for school, and uh, shortly thereafter, Scott wakes up and just kind of a ball of uh you know, fury and rage, I should say, and you know, just angry about you know, you know, kid going off to school. And then a fight develops again over this this pregnancy, and and uh you know, from there, the story, uh, the story is that the

fight eventually moved into the garage. You know where where Scott had beaten Dixie punched her repeatedly and uh and eventually gets uh moved back into the house and uh, you know, and that's where Scott apparently grabs a gun, grabs his shotgun, you know, and and and uh kind of gives Dixie the evil eyes and and uh, you know, and and tells her, you know, this day is not over with yet again, according to her her account, he takes the shotgun, walks with it back into his bedroom

and uh, and Dixie maintains that this is the time that she's finally gonna call law enforcement. And again for context purposes for listeners, all the while that Dixie had returned to Defiance, Iowa after the charges were dismissed against Scott back in the early part of two thousand and one. There had never been one call to law enforcement for any domestic violence by Dixie. But but we know that there was probably a lot of domestic abuse still going on.

And like you pointed out, she was very isolated, unintentionally or intentionally, as far as just her small support network really was not aware, you know, that things were escalating and becoming worse for her. But on this occasion, According to Dixie, she maintains that she made the decision she was going to go back in that bedroom and and.

in time, really didn't have cell phones as much. So the story of Scott grabbed the cell phone or grabbed the landlines, took him back to the bedroom with him along with the shotgun, and Dixie's gonna maintain that she walked down the hallway, went into the bedroom to use the phone, saw the shotgun by the bed, and thought that Scott was you know, going to uh to shoot her, and that she grabbed the gun and uh, you know, and a moment of heroic self defense, shot Scott uh

in fear of her life and thinking about her unborn child and uh and just after that, went retreated back to the living room and just sat in the having room chair, you know, for several hours and just kind of thought to herself, you know, oh my god, what just happened? You know, just kind of this whole set of events just kind of really hit home, you know. Again, That's that Stixie's account of how the day, the morning went and how how things escalated and turned not only violent but but fatal.

bedroom of the house of the ranch. And and then there's also gonna be kind of a chest of drawers that Again there's two there's two doors that lead to the bedroom, one you know, being the main door from the from the hallway, the main hallway in the home. But then there's also a second door from the bathroom right over by the by the bedroom. And there's gonna be a chest of drawers that's gonna be placed or a hamper, i should say, placed up against the bathroom door.

So in effect, somebody if the family was using the bathroom and tried to open the door and go into the bathroom or go into the bedroom, you know, they would be blocked. It just would be next to impossible unless you're a pro football player to get in there. And the other thing that she's going to do too, dan Is she's going to put down some towels underneath the underneath the door kind of half inch area, you know,

on both doors. But she's gonna put some towels down there to make to basically prevent any odors or stench from percolating into the house. And along the lines too, I should point out, but I almost forgot about the windows. But but the window in the back bedroom, you know, she's gonna crank that open, and that's going to be open up pretty much all summer, fall and winter, you know,

over the next six to nine months. You know, the back bedroom door is going to be open, the back bed bedroom windows, I should say, it's gonna be wide open.

And so she takes these steps and and not only that, then she's eventually gonna move a bunch of boxes, cardboard boxes, and some of these I think came from Christmas gifts that she had bought her children, you know, for for different toys, and I think a TV and a stereo possibly, But anyway, there's gonna be a bunch of children's toys and you know, and I think a cooler, but just all kinds of stuff is going to kind of block

the door. The main you know door for the for the for the northeast bedroom that she and Scott had previously shared. But but that's pretty much it. Uh. Once she closes that door, she closes that chapter, you know, o her life as far as just you know, Scott's just remains under the covers to his dead body, you know, hour after hour, day after day, you know, over the course of many, many months. And it's gonna take a while.

see Dixie in town. Tell us some of the suspicious things that kind of stack up for people that are can't help but observing things in this small town.

to know it's not in Scott's character. And some of those things that she does immediately in the aftermath of his death are selling off putting ads in the newspapers, including the Omaha newspaper, you know, sixty miles away. But she's going to put classified ads in the paper to sell off some of Scott's prized possessions, including a number of these cars and and I can say this, and antique tractors that he had also collected or had on

his property, and and a bunch of his tools. Now, some of the people that are going to come to take a look at these vehicles are going to be people that are already familiar a little bit with Scott Shanahan to the point where you know, they're even going to be very reluctant because they know Scott's reputation, you know,

and his explosive tendencies. You know, they're going to become a little reluctant, and they tell Dixie that, you know, when Scott comes back, well when they see Scott, you know, they'll just bring him back the vehicle and stuff. And I should point out Dixie would would tell these people that Scott had run off. There were different stories that she gave, but it was kind of all along the lines of that he had run away. You know. One story had him going to a town about fifty or

sixty miles away Atlantic, Iowa. Other stories had him in different parts of Iowa, but the story was that he had up and left her and the kids. And again along those lines, some of these people were very reluctant to even want to take his vehicles, thinking he'd be back.

But I know in one situation in particular, where Dixie made a comment over at the post office to a fella where again she was willing to let him take one of the farm tractors for nothing, you know, and he was willing to just to put it on his lot, you know, and in the minute he saw Scott return to town, you know, Scott could just gladly come by and take the tractor back, you know, No problems, and Dixie makes a comment just very bold, he's not coming back.

And again, at that point in time, the guy wasn't thinking, oh my god, he's probably dead. He's murdered in the back bedroom. She but but as time goes by, in the events unfold, you know, when nobody sees Scott, it's those kinds of comments that people are going to remember. And uh and again there was another fell up that lived over in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is very close

to Omaha. And uh, and he's going to become interested in the classic cars, and he just remembers when he we made the phone call to inquire about the car, you know, just that uh, you know, Dixie was selling these classic cars but really didn't sound like she knew practically anything, you know, about the vehicles and stuff like that.

So he was worried that that he was walking into the middle of a you know, of a potential divorce or you know or or you know, jealous situation or a property being repossessed, and just was very reluctant to you know, want to even go up there to defiance that would look at these cars. But you know, eventually he's going to make the drive up there with his kid, and you know they're going to buy one of the cars and some tools for seven or eight hundred bucks.

But you know, again it's other people kind of it becomes suspicious of a lot of this stuff too, because they just knew Scott real well, and they knew about the only thing Scott loved in life, or seemed to love in life, was his tools and these cars that he spent all his time refurbishing and restoring. And you know, for his wife Dixie to be just pawning, I don't know, pawning is not the right word, but just to be selling these off one at a time, you know, for

some extra money. If Scott supposedly is still around, just did not make very much sense at all to these people. And the most important thing too, that seemed to get overlooked, but Scott's truck was still sitting in his driveway the whole time too, So it begged the question, you know, if Scott did run off, you know, how did he run off? You know, how did he get out of Defiance, Siowa?

If his truck was still you know, his brown truck was still sitting in his his blacktop driveway on third third Avenue.

But Uh, it's so round the Memorial Day weekend and of two thousand and three, where where Jeff and Dixie uh become acquainted with each other at at a local neighborhood barbecue that was hosted by one of the other neighbors of Dixie and Scott Shanahan their last name with

the Carls. But but anyway, Dixie and Jeff Duty hit it off right away, and uh to the point where they've become a very serious couple of serious items, you know from the outset and UH and Jeff would stay at Dixie's house on the weekends pretty much every weekend during the summer of two thousand and three, and I know they go on at least one vacation together too as well. But again, he's staying at the Shanahan home on Third Avenue. And uh, I don't know how to

explain this other than he just overlooked or was not inquisitive. Uh, you know, didn't ask the right questions, didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But uh, but uh, he's staying at the Shanahan house. Meanwhile, Dixie's main bedroom, the master bedroom, is cordoned off and uh, and they're spending their time sleeping on a on a bed in a in a back bedroom, uh, you know, off the off the kitchen. If I'm not mistaken, I can't remember if the real

bedroom was kind of a pull up bed. But nonetheless, they're not sleeping in the master bedroom. And his version, his statement later is you know that he just suspected or it was under the impression that that's where all the abuse that happened. And you know, more or less he took Dixie at her word that you know that that's why the room was closed, and and you know, when he respected her privacy and respected her wishes and you know, never was curious and never tried to open

the door. And and certainly according to him, he never suspected that Scott Shanahan was dead, you know. And uh, you know, riding away in that under the covers of that back bedroom.

It's a peculiar situation, to say the least. But uh, you know, there's there really was never any evidence or it's certainly no proof, you know that somehow he was in on this situation, that he had any knowledge or intimate knowledge, or or any knowledge at all, you know that that Scott's body was being concealed in that back

northeast bedroom of the house. And uh, and again the other thing too though, and again when you brought up that point earlier, Dan, about people becoming suspicious and talent about Dixie's actions, I think the fact that she was dating Jeff Duty, you know, bring him to the house, to the Shanahan house, and he was staying there every week, and and people saw his vehicle in the driveway all

the time. That in a lot of respects was a huge red flag for some of the folks in the real small town of Defiance, Iowa too, Dan, because people just knew Scott Shanahan so well that they couldn't imagine that somehow he would put up with, you know, his wife tearing on an affair, you know, letting some other man stay at his house, all this wild stuff like that.

So the fact that she's dating Jeff Duty after selling off a lot of Scott's tools and his vehicles for extra money, in the fact that nobody saw Scott around town, that's ultimately gonna at least push somebody in the community to make a phone call to the Shelby County Sheriff's office over in harlan And, Iowa, twelve miles away sometime during the summer months of two thousand and three.

the key investigative work himself. Bottom line, he's going to send somebody out to UH to at least ask Dixie basically, what's up, you know, where's Scott at? You know, they've gotten the call that you know, somebody. People haven't seen Scott in town for practically a full year now, and you know, again her story is that he ran off. That Scott ran off and you know, may have gone

to Atlantic, Iowa. What Jane's gonna eventually do, though, is he's going to do some legwork and background research too. He's gonna start getting a hold of some of the other area law enforcement departments try to find out if Scott had moved to UH to any of these area towns. He's also gonna check and see if any of those area towns today law enforcement contact with him, had he been stopped for a traffic offense or arrested for anything. Nobody's gonna find anything there. He's gonna do a lot

more research than that too. He's gonna see if Scott may have moved to a different state. You know, are there any driver's license records for Scott? The only one that came up with the one he already had a State of Iowa driver's license. Jean's gonna eventually check payroll records, in unemployment records, uh, you know, through different federal databases. Is Scott receiving unemployment somewhere? Did he find a job?

So where that's not gonna lead anywhere. There's no proof, there's no indication that Scott's collecting any unemployment or you know, or working in a job where he's uh, you know, paying taxes either. And there's other steps that Jane's gonna

take two. But but the long and short of it is that Gene Cavanaugh is not going to find any any paper trail that's gonna lead him to believe that, you know, that there's any activity going out with Scott Shanahan, including his bank account, any credit cards, nothing like that. And that's again gonna lead Gene you know, and his deputies to continue to interview Dixie to try to get

to the bottom of things. And uh, and her story is going to deviate a little bit, uh, you know, over time to the point where it's gonna be different versions of the story, and there's gonna be a story she's gonna throw out there, you know, about Scott had you know, found another girlfriend, some heavy set blonde woman that may have come by to pick him up and then dropped him off one time to pick up some

of his music CDs. But by and large, you know, from Gene Kavanaugh's standpoint, he had exhausted all the legitimate leads. You know, that Scott may have been a missing person voluntarily, that Scott may have left his wife, you know, and decided to take on, you know, move away and start a new life somewhere else for other reasons. And and really the only thing left really for the Sheriff's office to do was to check the property to see if,

by chance, Scott Shanahan was still there. And I remember Sheriff Kavanaugh told me, and I may have put this in the book. I can't remember if I did or not, but I know he did not think that they were going to find anything when they went ahead with the search warrant. He just wasn't expecting to find, you know what. They ultimately found that first. She was around October twentieth of two thousand and three.

local tavern and stuff like that. But but she's gonna bail out of jail shortly after being arrested and charged with Scott's Scott's murder and uh and again just based on the based on what the Sheriff's office in the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which again is the equivalent of a state the state detective agency, you know, to

help out smaller departments if necessary. The Shelby County Share worked in hand in hand with them to help carry out the search warrant that found Scott but but again it's based on the autopsy and based on what they found in the bedroom that left the authorities very convinced. You know that Scott Shnahan died, you know, from an intentional homicide, and that this was not some type of domestic domestic spat. You know that you know where it was a where was a case of self defense.

life and it was self defense. Tell us again about what her statement was.

listeners would know this. But the self defense situation, you know, just think of a whether it's a gunfight or just a knifing situation. But but but the expectation would be that the person would be wounded, you know, or hurt, you know, on their face, on their skin, not on their backside. And that's true in this situation. So so you have Scott suffering one fatal shotgun blast and it's

to the back of his head. And it's also important to point out too that since his body was left in the exact condition that the peerod he was shot in, Scott appeared to be resting comfortably no less at the time that he was shot. He had a pillow, he has head on a pillow he had apparently he slept

with a pillow between his legs. Prosecutor point out that that's not that uncommon, but uh he was wearing his box through shorts and uh so the inference to law enforcement and to the crime scene officials, you know was that uh, and again pointing out the fact that the only wound, the mortal wound, was to the back of his head. You know, it was this Scott had been shot from the back, you know, from behind. Somebody basically had sneaked up on him, you know, and shot him

from behind and shot him in his sleep. And so again the physical evidence in the crime scene indicated that this was a you know, a homicide where the person was uh, may have been shot while they were sleeping, and that that that it was not a case at least the evidence didn't show that this was a case of self defense. And again, backing up to earlier part of the interview, Dixie's version of events. Her story was that you know that she had gone to that back

bedroom to try to retrieve one of her telephones. She was going to call the sheriff's office that morning once and for all, sat up with the abuse that she was enduring through Scott, especially related to this, uh, this third pregnancy that she had experienced, and uh and uh and that uh and that she saw that there was a gun near the bed between Scott and the and the and the dresser, and then she thought that Scott was in the process of lunging for this for the

shotgun of his and that she thought to herself that she needed to protect herself and her unborn child. So she quickly grabbed the gun and fired, uh a shot aimlessly, you know, and it happened to hit Scott in the back of his head, and uh, you know, and that was the catastro off the version of events that happened that they coined to her statement, I should say.

community like this. There was a plea bargain, again a little bit surprising, that was offered through to the attorneys, and as we all know, not taking the advice of your attorneys is usually doesn't work well. To your advantage. So what was the plea bargain four? And why was the plea bargain offered? Do you think?

and maybe even shorter than that. It really would depend on the defendant's behavior and just in how they were adapting to prison life, and and you know, and so on and so forth. So so bottom line, if Dixie would have accepted this plea bargain, and she would have probably been released from custody, you know, after serving five

to seven years. And uh, and again the plea bargain was an unusual on one according to UH, you know my conversations and interviews with the UH with the key prosecutor in this case, UH, Charlie Dolman, who was from the Iowa Attorney General's office, and he was kind of the lone wolf on this case because again, small town situation where you get you know, there's very few lawyers, and you know, and everybody, you know kind of knows everybody.

But but lawyers had to be careful of conflicts of interest. The the the recently elected prosecutor, Marcus Gross had previously served as a public defender for Scott Shanahan on one of those earlier domestic violence cases that he had pleaded guilty to. So so uh so, Marcus had informed the court that just there was in his best interest in that of the community at large, that he bowed out of the case and not be involved. So that's how Charlie Dolman from SEUSS to the Iowa got involved in

the case and handled it himself. But uh but Tholman, you know, Thowman, the prosecutor, had not initially offered Dixie a plea bargain, but he kind of felt prod it pressured would not be the right word. It wasn't pressured, but just kind of prodded by the judge who was an interesting guy, a really likable guy named Charlie Charlie Smith, Judge Charles Smith, and just Smith had had kind of u indicated that, you know, he'd like to at least see,

you know, a play bargain offered in this case. And and Tholman took that interpreted that to mean that the judge wand you know, wanted to see the case resolved with a play bargain. And and probably ninety to ninety eight percent, I should say, probably ninety eight percent of all criminal cases do get resolved with a plea bargain and don't go to trial. But so it was not that unexpected for, you know, for a play bargain to

be offered. Anyway, Thowman goes ahead, and you know, and and it goes along with this program he had visited with with sheriff, having ahead of time, and also you know Mark Kirby who was the chief deputy and kind of told them what was up. They both were on board with the idea of a plea bargain, thinking that might be a fair waiters all the case and just you know, get it resolved. So Thomen goes ahead, makes this offer, and you know, he never hears back from

John the main attorney for Dixie, Greg Stensland. Uh day passes, another day passes, I think by the third day, you know, Thoman starting to scratch his head so he places a phone call, gets a hold of Greg Stensland, you know, and Greg and Fornes and that you know that his client, you know, does not want to accept any plea bargain, you know, and uh, you know, and uh and An again I should point out, yeah, Thoman was the one that had I'm sorry, Greg Stensland, Dixie's attorney was the

was the first one that had had made the comment early on in the case saying that, you know that he thought she would be more than willing to you know, plea you know, plea bargain down to manslaughter. But in reality, by the time you know, push came the shove, Dixie was adamantly refused to She hadn'tly refused to accept the plea bargain. So everything was kind of off at that point in time, and she was going to go to trial, you know, on this on this murder charge, and that's

kind of the stage that was set. And you're right, she knew what she already had. There was a lot of public support for her. I mean, people in the town and the area had had a lot of them had given given money to help her bail out of jail.

As you pointed, out earlier, Scott had very few friends, you know, of all murder victims that I could remember, counting in my last twenty years as a as a as a reporter, and a handful of different states too, Dan, I just can't really nobody else comes to mind of somebody that that just really people by and large just did not miss. So he was unsympathetic, uh, you know,

murder victim here. And ordinarily when you have high profile murder cases like this, as the listeners know, you know, you hear about pre trial publicity and then you know, and you know they you know, it's usually the defense that wants to move the trial to a different county, thinking they can't get a fair trial. Well that's the

opposite here. Dixie was more than willing to take her chances in her home county, you know, Shelby County, Iowa, and you know, in Picka Jery, you know, amongst her neighbors and you know, and other people throughout the you know, Shelby County area, thinking that they couldn't possibly find her guilty of murder. You know, when the case with the trial and.

then she has to take the stand. So we don't have much time, but we can't go through the entire trial her, but really, uh, tell us a little bit about the cross examination and really where the prosecutor really decimated her on the stand with an issue that really she couldn't really answer and really spoke to her lack of credibility.

version of events. Dolman, in my mind, really reminds me a lot of a Clint East Twit as far as she's not a very you know, louder, you know, overbearing guy, although he is a big guy, Charlie Thumman, the prosecutor, but he's very subtle in his line of questioning, and he was very professional and very courteous to Dixie Shanahan on the stand, but it really worked to his advantage where he was able to convince the twelve jurors that she had helped select that that her version of events

just could not vibe with the facts. And he hammered her over and over by pointing out the photos, and he showed the video of the crime scene as far as just how Scott was still in that bed fourteen months after she had shot him, and he looked like he was sleeping in that bed, and and and again he really drove home the fact that you know that her story just couldn't be true, that there's no way that she shot Scott with you know, with his own shotgun,

you know, during argument or struggle over the gun, when the wound was to the back of his head. And and I'll point out very quickly one other thing that he had that he had used that really was damning for her. Dixie did not know how to operate weapons. I mean, she testified that she was not familiar with shotguns. The this was I believe a sixteen gage shotgun and the ammunition round that was used to to kill Scott

was a twelve gauge round. There was also a twenty gauge round that was jammed, that was stuck in the in the chamber. I believe of this, uh the shotgun, and and and Thowman did a masterful job, as far as you know, showing the jury that Scott Shanahan may have been all kinds of bad things in life, but he knew his cars, and he knew and he knew his weapons, and there was no rhyme or reason for Scott Shanahan to have the wrong ammunition in his own gun.

So that spoke to premeditation, and and and and Thowman was able to convince the jury that that it was that loaded that shotgun and she loaded it with the wrong ammunition because she didn't know the ammunition, and you know, and that that's why Scott got shot with a twelve gauge round with a sixteen gage shotgun, and that's why the twenty gauge round was still stuck in that stuck

in the in the shotgun. So again, Thomas just really able to hammer home to the jury a very simple point that her version of events just absolutely can't be true. That she's not telling the truth on the witness stand. People may be sympathetic toward her. She may have been a multiple time domestic violence victim. He didn't dispute that, and he stressed that, but his point was that that

didn't make it right. That didn't make it right for this to be an intentional homicide and for Dixie to leave Scott's body in the bedroom, you know, and not do anything about it, and let fourteen months pass, you know, while his body's just kind of riding away in that back bedroom.

was this one and only opportunity. And because he lost that, he lunged for her with the with the weapon that she had no she had no choice now with this as well, this story doesn't end in terms of with the trial. She's convicted of second degree murder. Tell us about the sentence, and then again just to add to this story. The story doesn't end there, So tell us about the sentence and then tell us what happens after that.

was true in this case. And so the judge was was forced to give Dixie just a slat fifty year sentence. So Judge Charles Smith had no opportunity at all to to give her a light sense or even give her a stiffer sentence. And he certainly would have given her a lighter sentence given all that she had been through in life and all the hardships and the abuse that she had gone through. But so the sentencing was horrible. I mean just I don't say horrible, but just it was.

It was a waste of time. And everybody in the courtroom pretty much admitted that, including the judge so the judge really felt sorry for her, and he felt she did, you know, deserve to go to prison. He felt the jury's verdict was just, and he told he informed everyone that he was not going to return the verdict, but

he did not believe that the sentence was just. And he pointed out that he hoped in the aftermath of Dixie's case that the publicity about it and the high profile nature of it would spark the state of Iowa legislature to reconsider its earlier decision to set these get tough laws, you know, where the judges had absolutely no leeway or wiggleoram in determining a sentence. He had hoped that this case would spark some debate and foster debate

and cause them to reconsider make changes. But that never did happen. I mean, there was some debate, but politicians Democrat and Republican you know, never came together, you know, and made any changes to the law. So she went to prison with the standard fifty year sentence. A few years after she was in customer in prison. Though the Iowa governor at that point in time before he left office to uh to join the Barack Obama's Cabinet Secretary Agriculture.

But uh, but Tom Wilsk had had had commuted the bottom portion of her sentence, so he didn't commute her sentence. But basically, what this meant was that earlier she had been eligible for parole if she had served thirty five years. Now he made it more or less that after she served ten years in prison, she would become eligible for parole for release every year thereafter. So twenty fourteen was the first year. So last summer was the first year

that she was eligible for parole. And uh, and unfortunately for her, just based on her behavior in prison, she had still racked up a lot of violations for for you know, for problems and behavior, and and I think the fact that there have been some turnover too the probo it's very political, and some of the people that were initially on the pro board, you know, were gone. And uh, and by and large this pro board from last year decided just slightly not to grant her parole.

She just came up recently, Dan and earlier this earlier this summer, and and her bid was denied. But I want to point this out, this is important. But uh, but it sounds like she was ordered to undergo. Uh, they were gonna have a psychologist do some evaluation, and so she's supposed to come back up. They basically said they'd reevaluate her case in a couple of months, so

it'll be interesting. But but by September, you know, we should have word whether or not, you know, they're going to consider, you know, maybe letting her out early, you know, maybe even this year. So she's again she's been in prison now since two thousand and four, so so she's been in the State of Iowa's prison system for eleven years now. So it's pass well now you know that her days, you know, are getting a lot closer to to release actually.

She's going to go back to that house. My understanding is Jeff Duty, you know who she eventually did marry after she was charged with or but Uh, my understanding is Jeff Judy is still living in that house. And uh. And by all indications, by all accounts, if Dixie gets released from Iowa prison, whether it's this year, next year, or whenever, but she'll return to Defiance, Iowa and move back to that house. And and I would expect that she would be welcomed or at least accepted by the community.

There's still a lot of people that feel that, you know that she served more than enough time now eleven years, uh, you know of prison and uh, and I think a lot of people would uh, you know, would uh would be willing to accept her back into the Defiance, Iowa community.

Iowa and they're down in Texas. I know they still correspond. But again, within shortly after she went to prison, you know, her parental rights you know, were revoked and her children were placed in custody with other family members, and you know, those family members happened to happen to be in the in the state of Texas and in.

And in my most recent book was just released last week, and that's actually a sequel to Bloody Lies, the CSI scandal in the Heartland. So that book is called Body of Proof, Tainted Evidence in the Jessica O'Grady murder question mark.

So it's hard to do radio interviews, but you know, sorry just to say it that way, but but I had to plant out the question mark, so listeners will have to make up their minds after reading the book, you know, whether or not there there was evidence that was planted by this infamous CSI in Nebraska that that worked on this very high profile Omaha murder case that involved a beautiful young woman named Jessico Grady who was involved in a relationship with a with a fellow her

age named Christopher Edwards. So again those are the primary spots, and people can also follow me on Facebook at true crime author John Berrick Dan.

case was that that Dave Covid becomes the hero. He's he becomes the key law enforcement official, the key testifier for the prosecution's case in what became Nebraska's first no body murder case that went to trial. And the thing was that this case had happened three weeks after the Murdoch murders and also the Brending of Zals murders. So Covid goes to prison for planting evidence in those two prior cases. But yet questions remained, in questions lingered in

the wake of his conviction and sentence. Well, what about the Essco Grading murder. You know, was the evidence, all this evidence that he found that helped secure the arrest and prosecution of Christopher Edwards? Was it legitimate or not? And that's probably pretty much the whole point of you know, the key point of my book, Dan, is to really dive into that evidence and also, you know, take a deep look at this case and put it in context.