9-1-1 what is the address of your emergency better tell me what is going on
what is the person that was shot okay this is Shauna Nelson after completing her
nursing studies Shauna began working as a police dispatcher in 1992. starting off at
the Weld County Sheriff's Office Shawna soon found her interest peaked by the sheriff's
deputy Ken Nelson they started as friends but quickly became more than that as her
name would imply the two were married in 1996 and soon after had two children together for
whatever reason Shauna was becoming dissatisfied in her marriage and her eyes began to wander
to other potential Partners later in Shauna's career she transferred from weld Sheriff's
Office to the Greeley Police Department here she met another sheriff's deputy named
Michelle Moore the two naturally became best friends she also became friends with
a man named Ignacio Garris a Greeley Police Department police officer Ignacio had been
married for 16 years to a woman named Heather who was a credit union assistant manager
in Colorado Heather and Ignacio married 1891 and shortly after moved to Greeley they would
eventually have a daughter named Victoria in the late 1990s in late 2000 Heather suffered a series
of family tragedies including her father dying of a heart attack and her mother dying from cancer
due to her grief Heather became depressed riddled with anxiety and had no desire for intimacy
with her partner Ignacio at this point Ignacio was becoming dissatisfied with his marriage to
Heather and so Ignacio then found himself bonding with Shauna over their marital dissatisfaction
it wasn't long before this innocent bonding turned into something more intense Shauna began
taking her new relationship with Ignacio far more seriously than he was she told him that she was in
love with him and he was the one despite Ignacio repeatedly telling her that he refused to leave
his marriage with Heather within three months Shauna shifted from Simply expressing her desire
for him to full-on pressuring and blackmailing him Shauna knew that Ignacio feared that Heather
would leave him if she found out about his affair Shawna used this to take advantage of Ignacio
coercing him into multiple things that he didn't want to do which included continuing the affair
altogether apparently Ignacio wanted to put an end to the affair but was Shauna's threat lingering
in his mind he couldn't imagine any scenario that wouldn't backfire on him and his marriage
with Heather she's psychoticed and I'm just as guilty to get involved but I was scared of her
because I thought she's going to tell my wife she held me hostage Shawna even pressured Ignacio
into having sex without a condom which led to her becoming pregnant with ignacio's child however
they decided to take a trip to Planned Parenthood for an abortion when their co-workers began
noticing hints of something going on behind the scenes between Shauna and Ignacio rumors of their
Affairs started circulating Ken Nelson eventually caught wind of the love triangle that he fell
victim to but not through these circulating rumors Shauna had actually left her journal out
in the open detailing everything that happened between her and Ignacio Ken's reaction to this
was a reasonable one he decided to give Shauna an ultimatum Shauna either had to end the affair with
Ignacio and try to work things out in her marriage or continue her relationship with Ignacio and
dissolve their marriage ultimately Shauna chose the latter Ken and Shauna ended their marriage but
Shauna was able to maintain custody of the kids moving into a new apartment she continued to see
Ignacio and once again became pregnant this time she refused to have an abortion believing
that Ken had the right to know she called him and gave him the news his reaction was a
surprising one he offered to take Shauna back and raise the child as his own Shauna agreed
and just like that they were back together and the relationship was saved Ken withdrew their
divorce petition the two moved right back in with each other and in March of 2006 Shauna gave
birth to ignacio's baby however despite this act of unprecedented kindness and maturity from Ken
Shauna picked right back up where she left off she continued her affair with ignazio amazingly
throughout all of this Heather was unaware that Ignacio was having an affair at all if she was
ever suspicious about his loyalty ignacia would reassure her that there was nothing to worry about
some speculate that deep down she knew all along she just didn't want to accept the truth however
amongst other things something forced Heather to confront Ignacio Heather was now being harassed by
Shauna Shauna would run into her in public places such as the grocery store as they passed each
other in the store she would point and laugh throwing insults at her along the way eventually
Ignacio told Heather everything although heartbroken Heather decided that she wanted to
work with Ignacio to fix their relationship when Shauna found out about this she realized that
she had lost the one piece of Leverage that kept Ignacio from leaving her which was Heather
finding out she proceeded to send a series of text messages to Ignacio and Heather expressing how
upset she was about how things turned out in a way that may be interpreted as threatening afraid of
how this could escalate Ignacio and Heather didn't report this to the police instead the garruses
had their lawyer write a formal email to Shauna telling her to keep her distance and on January 16
2007 Ignacio received an email from Shauna stating I'm dead inside from all that has happened anyway
I wish you the best and I hope you can be happy I am now lying every day in hell I will do as you
wish and delete you from my email group take care of yourself and to know that I will always
love you bye one week later on January 23 2007 at around 6 PM Heather Garris was leaving her work at
the credit union when someone approached her from behind and pointed a gun at her head they ordered
Heather to get on her knees Heather complied and according to the witnesses the suspect said
you ruined my life two gunshots were then fired Witnesses described the suspect's outfit as a
black robe black gloves and black shoes with a white stripe around the sole they were also
wearing a black Halloween mask that covered their face the perpetrator then ran into
their vehicle a dark-colored Ford pickup multiple Witnesses bluntly told the police
that they believed the suspect was Shauna Nelson Shauna was immediately Tracked Down
by the police driving her husband's truck she was pulled over by none other than Ken himself
Shawna was wearing Ken's clothes including his socks baseball cap and even underwear she was
also not wearing shoes after a short argument backup arrived and Shauna was told to come to
the police station and speak to the investigators leading Heather's case she followed orders
and was interrogated by detective Greg Tharp [Music] let me know let me
know if you need to go foreign like I said the reason that we brought you
down here is there's a lot of information coming from a lot of different sources
and we're trying to sort through it yeah I know you but that doesn't
have any relevance over these rods okay I'm so confused I did I'm so confused I don't know I can't remember let's just talk
I don't I don't know what else to do if I feel like it's getting
funky I'll tell you okay [Music] sure Shawna was quite close to Greg as they were peers
working in the same police department at the time of this interview she may have been aware that
this was Greg's first time leading a big homicide case like this one it's moments like these that
make some people question Shauna's actions are Shauna's cries of confusion purely out of genuine
distress or is Shauna attempting to take advantage of Greg's lack of experience by appealing to
his emotions regardless Greg goes along with shawna's pleas for Comfort but remains calm
and focused on extracting crucial information [Music] what happens that caused
Kim to stop you guys or to stop you I had gone to the liquor store and I got out
in front and I realized I didn't bring my purse so I started back home and he was
calling but I didn't want to answer the phone because I thought he'd be pissed
if I told him I was going to liquor store and he left a message Santa call him [Music]
you know I wonder if he knows everything and as I was trying to go home right there where
you guys saw me he jumped out and told me to stop and get out Shauna proceeds to tell Greg that she
brought her kids to school that day then went home to do chores and take care of the baby later on
she picked up the kids from school and took them to Subway and a grocery store called King Supers
before heading back home there is camera footage from these establishments that support this part
of her story well there was a shooting just before okay I'm gonna be straight with you trying to be happy with that shooting we have
to identify for sure I gotta talk to you now we gotta get Beyond wasn't there I've got animal
solutions to what happened right I don't know Greg you know foreign discovering that Heather was the victim
of the shooting an exchange of size is all there was Greg continues to virtually
beg her for an explanation warning her that there will be a thorough forensic
investigation but Shauna holds her ground Shauna was then charged for the murder of
Heather Garris she pled not guilty while this interrogation was taking place detectives were
investigating the crime scene they discovered pmc-40 caliber casings from the bullets fired
Nick Walker who was a bartender at the time of the murder witnessed the suspect fleeing the
scene he brought the detectives to the general area of the crime and there they found three sets
of tire marks with one of them matching the tread on Ken's truck tires police had seized the truck
and were inspecting it inside the vehicle they found a camo jacket shawna's cell phone a yellow
rubber dish glove a Kenny Chesney CD and boxes of ammunition throughout the vehicle the seats and
dashboard also tested positive for gunshot residue but this wasn't surprising due to the fact that
Ken was a gun collector and a big game hunter the most damning piece of evidence was a cheap nylon
pullover Halloween mask it had a black hood with red lining and a black mesh face covering the next
morning in a field near the crime scene and about 700 feet away from where Shauna had been pulled
over a shoe was found matching the description of the ones the killer was wearing the other shoe
was found just down the road from this discovery detectives assumed that Shauna was throwing any
possible evidence out of the window of the truck moments before she was pulled over following
this assumption they explored the idea that the murder weapon and other articles of clothing
that the suspect wore would be buried in the snow somewhere between the scene of the crime
and where Shauna was pulled over city workers were sent to clear the entire Highway and take
the snow to an empty parking lot where the pile of snow would sit until it melted months later
hopefully revealing any missing evidence however they knew this wasn't the only possibility so they
investigated further detectives spoke to a small group of high schoolers who saw the interaction
between Ken and Shauna when she was pulled over the two were arguing from within their respective
Vehicles Ken then exited his vehicle and went around to the driver's side of the truck that
Shawna was driving he opened the door are and reached inside for something the high schoolers
believed that he had reached inside to turn the vehicle off but this wasn't the case since the
vehicle was still running when backup arrived Shauna's house was searched the next day on
January 25th it was completely spotless and the bathtub was filled with water supporting
Shauna's Alibi they also found more guns and ammunition that Ken owned and a topless photo
of Michelle Michelle was interviewed multiple times and told plenty of Lies claiming that
she did not know anything about the murder no telling her stay out of trouble
after doing this um she's never been to a point where you know she's screaming or
anything like that I mean she's she's never alone she eventually admitted it to being
involved and told investigators of all of the harassment and hatred
that Shawna directed at Heather throughout the years I can't live
with this anymore and I foreign foreign [Music] that she didn't ask me to be anything she told
me she said when you get a phone call for me tomorrow and I'd say then I'm taking a bath or
relaxing you know I'm going to do it she said she gave Shona advice on how to not get caught
including the disguise that she used and how to plant evidence to throw off any investigation
Michelle was then charged for assisting in the first degree murder of Heather however if she
was guilty her sentence would likely be reduced as long as she continued to cooperate in the
case against Shauna Ken was also charged for removing the weapon from the car when he
pulled Shauna over after more evidence was found suggesting that this had happened these
charges were later dropped prosecutors believed that they had enough evidence for a winning
case and the trial of Shawna Nelson began ruin my life young rap ERS for those
words moments before she bullets January 23 2017 like an all day that
again went to work so she worked for over a decade Colorado State Police Credit
Union Korean Colorado he got off work with fellow employees to hear it from they say
what moves group that kind of joke around but they saw something the theater
grasp from head to toe and black and figured through the black
clip it's been 15 minutes then just found Brian husband's truck with
the mask underneath the seat this is with this black hood this is red prank is found underwears the prosecution called Ignacio
to the stand to talk about his relationship with Shauna this was a way to establish her motive
as the Killer and to expose to the jury the kind of person that Shauna actually was a
liar and a manipulator who had a dangerous obsession with Ignacio after you broke off
the relationship with the defendant did you receive any text messages from yes can you
read the message in people's exhibit 13. my loyalty is gone I loved and trusted you and
you I mean be prepared 14. do you recognize that yes yes that's when it was initially since my
wife's fault it's a photo of the baby Christian and it's got a title under it that says eggs
flesh and blood so it's a picture of the child with eggs flesh and blood under it it was sent
to my wife's phone okay during your relationship with the defendant did she tell you that
she was on birth control yes but she got pregnant she got pregnant twice on birth control
I want you to take a look at people's exhibits 15 and 16 the message in there is addressed to
somebody yeah it's directed to my wife Heather it says Heather if you're reading this you're
a psycho [ __ ] and what does the next one say it's to my wife's cell phone again it's anytime
anywhere bid but the main obstacle Shauna had to defend against in court was her ex-best friend
Michelle's testimony did the defendant ever express her feelings about Ignacio garris's wife
Heather Garris yes she believed that Heather had talked him into staying in the marriage um she
believed that egg didn't want to but Heather talked her talked him into it and so she focused
her anger at Heather do you recall an incident conversation you had with the defendant
in a vehicle at a Walmart in Greek yes sir that day she was very angry about
the situation and we had a conversation she had told me that well I could just shoot her she elaborate how that might take place
yes sir she had said that she could just drive down to the credit union where she worked
and she could just shoot her she had asked about evidence when she would ask about things like
that and told her at one point that you'd have you know the person would have to disguise himself
so I had said that you would have to probably wear gloves you have to be completely covered up
so is there any discussion regarding Vehicles yeah sir she had said she couldn't use her own
vehicle then she said there's always Ken's truck Michelle paints a very clear picture of being
the victim in this situation however the behavior that Michelle is displaying could be considered
one that is enabling or assisting Shauna Shauna was clearly emotionally unstable and it should
have been Michelle's priority to de-escalate the situation rather than entertain Shauna's
dangerous mindset especially as an officer of the law but this isn't the worst of Michelle's
enabling behavior on January 22nd Shauna picked Michelle up in Ken's truck she hands Michelle
crushed up ambient pills in a plastic bag she tells her she's going to make sure Ken is out cold
when they get back to the house Michelle's job is to just take care of the kids and if anybody asks
about shawna's whereabouts Michelle is to say that she's having a bath what do you recall happening
next while you were at the Nelson residence she whatever she was doing and I believe she
dumped Kent's coffee down the drain and then she had told me privately she said
well she's not where she's supposed to be and who did you believe she was referring to
Heather phone records from shawna's phone showed that there were multiple calls that night sent
to the credit union Heather worked at however Heather had taken a sick day and wasn't at work
I decided to go to Jackson's whole the sports bar she was very upset about egg being with Heather
and she didn't want to live like this anymore did she indicate a time frame when
she was going to get rid of Heather she then said to me she said if you
get a phone call from me tomorrow saying I'm taking a bath then you know I did
it the next day January 23rd did you receive any messages from the defendant yes sir I got a
voicemail from Shawna and the voicemail said that she was going to relax and just take a bath
with Michelle's testimony of events leading up to the shooting the prosecution then calls
multiple witnesses to the stand after a mountain of evidence and eyewitness testimonies building a
hard case against Shauna the defense surprisingly calls her to the stand her strategy was to claim
that Michelle committed the murder and was trying to frame her for it please state your name for
the record Shawna Nelson did you have anything to do with the death of Heather Garris no I didn't
did you shoot her no did you own the mask that has been produced as an exhibit in this case that was
found in your truck yes add to your knowledge uh Michelle Moore seen that mask at least on three
separate occasions and I told her I loved her and that I still wanted to remain friends with her
but I couldn't keep blind again it was just it was too much apparently Shona tried breaking off her
affair with Michelle the night before Heather's murder Shawna claims that she tried to call
Michelle to make amends after the ugly breakup the night before after giving the jury A New
Perspective of Michelle as an angry scorned lover Shauna continued to explain the rest of her day
the prosecution delivered a straight to the point closing argument painting Shauna as the heartless
lone assailant that is willing to throw anything or anybody under the bus to get what she wants the
defense is closing argument pushed the possibility of Michelle's involvement even further but this
did not seem to impact the jury as much as they had hoped and after six hours of deliberation
the jury reached their verdict to the Baylor we need to refine the defender Toronto Louise
Nelson guilty of count number one murder in the first degree is this your verdict
so say you and each and every one of you Shauna Nelson was sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole she remains incarcerated at the Denver Women's Correctional
Facility Ken would go on to take custody of all three kids including ignacio's biological son
whom he raised as his own Michelle Moore pled guilty to accessory to first-degree murder
and was sentenced to nine years in prison she served her time and was released in 2016.
Victoria Garis Heather and ignacio's daughter died in 2015 from a car crash at the age
of 17. she was buried with her mother