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00:00January 23rd, 2007. Greeley, Colorado. It is the end of the work day and three
00:16female employees of a local credit union walk through the parking lot to their
00:20cars. One of the women, Heather Garros, is a much-loved friend and co-worker. She was
00:27looking forward to going home hugging her nine-year-old daughter and having dinner
00:30with her family. Suddenly, a figure approaches Heather wearing a faceless
00:36black Halloween mask and a long black robe looking like the Grim Reaper. But
00:43instead of a scythe, this Reaper holds a gun.
00:57It's a day like any other for credit union employee Heather Garros until a shadowy figure
01:17stalks her after work. Demand she gets on her knees and threatens her with a gun.
01:22You ruined my life! Heather tries to calm her assailant, but it doesn't work. Clearly,
01:28there's an emotional vendetta here. You ruined my life! The gunman fires a single shot and then
01:36another into the back of her skull. Shocked witnesses watch the killer jump in a pickup
01:42truck and speed away, leaving telltale tire tracks in the snow. Within minutes, police arrive on the
01:52scene and place markers on pieces of evidence left behind. Under one of them lays a spent shell
01:59casing. Collecting evidence is obviously crucially important, but so is talking to as many eyewitnesses
02:07as soon as possible while their memories of what happened are fresh. So police canvass all the witnesses.
02:13One eyewitness describes the getaway vehicle as a pickup truck. Another recounts how one of the truck's
02:21rear brake lights was broken. The police set out to find the vehicle, the murderer, and a motivation.
02:27With no reports of an altercation or robbery, why is Heather Garris murdered in cold blood in the middle
02:35of a parking lot? Heather Hodges is born on February 8, 1969 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, a western suburb of
02:45Denver, to William and Linda Hodges. Heather grows up in the Boulder area and attends the University of
02:52Northern Colorado. Her friends and sister describe her as one of the sweetest and most loyal people
02:57they know. She would do anything for anybody. It doesn't matter if she couldn't do it, she would find
03:03a way. She doesn't have an enemy in the whole world. There, she meets fellow student Ignacio Garris and
03:10it's love at first sight. Ignacio's friends and co-workers admire him. He seems like an altruistic guy,
03:18always eager to help people. By 1991, the young couple marry and settle into the small city of
03:24Greeley. By all accounts, the 20-somethings have a solid marriage and seem happy. Heather gets a job at
03:32the Colorado State Employees Credit Union. Ignacio becomes a police officer. The only known issue in
03:38those early days is just that Heather worries about Ignacio's undercover work as a narcotics officer.
03:43And so Ignacio stops telling her about his job, which is a natural reflex to shield her from that
03:49stress. The couple becomes closer with the birth of their daughter Victoria and Heather revels in
03:55being a mother and puts her family first. Although being married to a police officer still remains a
04:00challenge for her, which is why Heather's two friends are shocked to hear someone thinks Heather
04:05has ruined their life. Within minutes of receiving a dispatch about a shooting at the credit union,
04:10paramedic Michelle Bush arrives at the crime scene first. She sees the victim lying motionless on the
04:16ground. It's a shocking crime scene, especially for Michelle, since this is not the first time that
04:22her life has been intertwined with Heather Garros's family. Three years prior, Michelle Bush attends a
04:28retirement party for a fellow first responder. Heather's husband Ignacio also is there. Guests recall seeing
04:35the two spend a lot of time together talking and laughing. They even leave together though. Michelle
04:39claims it is just to give him a right home. Infidelity can be a good motive for murder and detectives
04:45need to look into the rumors of the affair. In the end, whether the affair happened or not doesn't much
04:51matter. Michelle has an alibi for the time of the murder. She was with her partner on the job.
04:57Michelle Bush stuck to her story that her relationship with Ig is innocent, but regardless,
05:02the husband is always the first suspect in a homicide investigation. So the Greeley Police
05:09Department called in one of their own, Officer Garros, for questioning about his relationship with his
05:15wife. Ignacio swears to the investigators that he loved Heather and he appears to be devastated over
05:21her death. He can't lie and say that things have always been good, however. He admits that back in 2003,
05:28they hit rock bottom when Heather lost her mother to cancer and soon after her father died of a heart
05:34attack. The combination of those two tragedies weighed heavily on Heather's heart.
05:40Severe anxiety attacks and depression took over her life. The side effects of the antidepressant
05:44drug she was prescribed gradually turned her into a shell of a former self. Heather seemed like an
05:49entirely different person. She used to be quite concerned with everyone around her, very gregarious,
05:54but now she couldn't get out of her own head and was isolating herself all the time.
05:59Days consisted of going to work, coming home, eating, and then going to her room for the rest of the
06:04night. All intimacy vanished from their marriage. And that, of course, left Ignacio feeling neglected
06:10and unloved. Overcome by guilt, Ignacio confesses to detectives that as a result he did look for and
06:17find comfort in the arms of another. It's a huge break in the case, giving police a probable motive for
06:23the murder. Maybe he wanted to get rid of his wife to be with his mistress. Investigators sees Ignacio's
06:29phone and discover romantic texts from someone named Omar. Detectives know this is a lead they have to follow.
06:43The life of Heather Garris, a loyal wife and loving mother, is cruelly cut short by an
06:49execution style shooting in the parking lot where she worked. Detectives think they know why someone
06:56wanted Heather dead. They have discovered a series of romantic texts between her husband, Ignacio,
07:02and his lover, Omar. There are two sides to every story and detectives want to question this Omar
07:09person about the affair. Soon enough they find out the name Omar is actually a pseudonym programmed into
07:16Ig's phone so that Heather won't get suspicious if she reads any texts with that name on it. Omar,
07:23the detectives are shocked to find out, turns out to be someone the police know well, Shauna Nelson.
07:31Shauna Nelson is one of Greeley's police dispatchers and she is married to an officer of the law and a
07:36firearms instructor, Ken Nelson. Together they have two children under the age of 10.
07:44Shauna is known as a funny sort of irreverent type of personality. She's a very good sister and a
07:49devoted mother. But you did not want to get on her bad side. At first Shauna goes out of her way to
07:55help Ignacio at work. Then the two start enjoying coffee breaks together outside of the office. It's not
08:01long before they become friends and learn that they have a lot in common as they discuss their marital
08:06issues. One night, the friendship between Ignacio and Shauna graduates to sexual intimacy. Shauna confides
08:14in Ignacio that her marriage is a, quote, huge freaking sham. This kind of statement is a way of
08:19rationalizing an extramarital affair that allows a cheater to feel less guilty and it also paves the
08:25way for the two of them to have a connection and carry on together for years. When Shauna's husband,
08:30Ken finds out about her affair with fellow Officer Garris, he leaves her. You want him? You can have
08:36him. But not for long. He returns when she informs him she's pregnant with a third child. Even though
08:44Shauna gets Ken back, she treats him like he's simply a home base for her, just a touchstone.
08:49She still carries on her affair with Ignacio, the man she truly loves obsessively. Over time,
08:55Shauna's obsession continues to grow to the point where it soon starts to wear on Ignacio.
09:02He fears that Shauna could ruin his marriage by telling Heather and he's under constant pressure
09:07to placate her. Things get tense when Shauna tells Ig that he's the one, the love of her life. He
09:13freaks out and he informs her he's not leaving his life or his wife. That's just not going to happen.
09:18But Shauna doesn't seem to accept the reality of the situation.
09:21When she tattoos his name on her ankle, Ignacio explodes with anger.
09:28He tells her he's incredibly disturbed by her behavior. To alter her body with his name forever
09:34etched onto her? In his mind, it was not that kind of relationship at all.
09:38When Shauna's husband, Ken, is brought in for questioning, he confirms he knew about Shauna and
09:43Ignacio. He even admits that Shauna has had lots of affairs over the years. And when they go sour,
09:49she doesn't blame the person she's in the relationship with. She blames their significant
09:53other. Friends testify that Shauna often states she pictures Heather's face on her targets when
09:58she goes to the shooting range. In the weeks leading up to the day of the murder, Shauna brazenly
10:04starts texting Heather directly with threatening messages. In one of them, she writes, quote,
10:09If you're reading this, you are a psycho . Shauna shows up out of nowhere on several occasions,
10:16clearly seeking Heather out. Heather's sister remembers at least four times when Shauna would
10:20find Heather somewhere in Greeley and verbally abuse her in public. As Shauna grows more unstable,
10:27Ignacio wants to end the relationship. But no matter what he tries, Shauna won't let go.
10:32She texts messages, phones, and threatens to tell his wife. Shauna has a trump card up her sleeve,
10:41one that she is betting will win Ignacio over for good. The child that Ken returns to Shauna for
10:47isn't his. It's Ignacio's baby. Shauna tells Ken the truth, but surprisingly, he says he doesn't care
10:54whose child it is. He wants to help raise him. It's pretty clear that there's a huge insecurity on
10:59Ken's part. He's somebody who would rather stay in the same situation that's bad for him than go out
11:05there and experience something different. Shauna gives birth to Ignacio's son and assumes the child
11:11will bond them forever. But she's dead wrong. In the summer of 2006, a woman approaches Heather
11:17Garros and cruelly tells her that her husband has a child with another woman. Heather confronts Ignacio,
11:22but he lies about it. She wants to believe him, so she lets it go.
11:26One night in December of 2006, Heather wakes up to find her husband gone. He is enjoying a secret
11:34rendezvous with Shauna and Shauna's best friend, Michelle Moore, a 26-year-old sheriff's deputy.
11:41As Ig tries to sneak back into his house in the middle of the night, he is confronted by Heather
11:46about where he's been. He just can't take the lies anymore. He finally confesses everything about the
11:52affair and the baby. Though Heather's distraught and leaves him briefly, she comes back to work
11:58it out. The ultimatum? He has got to get an STD test, attend counseling, and end it with Shauna.
12:04Call her! Ignacio phones Shauna to tell her he's ending the affair and that he's reconciling with
12:10Heather. Surprisingly, Shauna says she's fine with it, but she quickly changes her mind. According to
12:17Ignacio, the very next day, Shauna phones him and says, you're going to pay. Shauna sends Ignacio a
12:25final email. It reads, quote, I'm dead inside from all that has happened. I wish you the best and hope
12:31you can be happy. I am now living every day in hell. The texts and emails stop coming. The Garrises get on
12:39with their lives. But is their nightmare over or is it the calm before the storm? Given the track
12:46record of extramarital affairs Ignacio has, police start to wonder if it's a jealous mistress, not a
12:52cheating husband who murdered Heather. Police analyze evidence gathered at the crime scene. They're hoping
12:58the tire tracks and the bullet casings will connect them to the killer. The evidence in this case pretty
13:05much confirms everyone's worst fears. Coming up, mounting evidence leads to the identity of Heather's
13:13murderer. The small town of Greeley, Colorado is shaken to its core. Heather Garris, a wife and mother,
13:30has been shot dead. And now members of Greeley's own police department are the lead suspects. The
13:37victim's husband, Ignacio Garris, and his mistress, Shauna Nelson. The eyewitnesses to Heather's murder
13:44make 911 calls immediately after the shooting. They describe the hooded assassin's black faceless mask,
13:51black robe, and the black shoes with white trim. Shauna's husband, Ken, a sheriff's deputy,
13:58hears about the shooting over the radio and fears the worst. He knows about Shauna's affair and her
14:03hatred of Heather. Ken grabs a fellow police officer and heads to his own house, worried that his
14:09children might be in danger from their mother if she's gone off the deep end. On the way home,
14:15Ken spots his own pickup truck with Shauna driving. He immediately gets out in the middle of the road
14:23and steps in front of the truck. The hell's wrong with you? What are you doing? You gone out of your
14:28mind? He makes a strange observation. It's winter, it's Colorado, and the ground is still covered with
14:35snow and slush. But Shauna isn't wearing shoes. Oh, Shauna, really? Further inspection of the pickup
14:43reveals spent ammo casings, ones that sound like the casings reported at the crime scene,
14:50as well as a black mask. When police bring Shauna in for questioning, they have her remove her
14:56oddly masculine clothing so it can be checked for gunshot residue. And when Shauna disrobes,
15:02police discover something even more bizarre than not wearing shoes in winter. She's wearing her
15:09husband's underwear. Detectives asked Shauna to explain what is going on and to account for her
15:15whereabouts for the past day. She reveals that she's been at home and that she'd recently had a
15:19quote-unquote accident involving diarrhea caused by some diet pills. So she runs herself a bath and
15:25grabs her husband's dirty clothes from the hamper to change into. It's then that she figures she can
15:31make a quick trip to the liquor store for wine, although she realizes it is risky leaving her
15:35children unattended in the house. She states she felt like she was in a daze the entire time. In the store,
15:41she realizes she's forgotten her purse, so she returns home to retrieve it, only to be stopped
15:46by her own husband. Based on mounting eyewitness accounts that Heather was the target of Shauna's
15:53rage, her threatening texts, and that the time and vicinity of her liquor run matched that of the
15:59murder, police name Shauna as their number one suspect and back it up by placing her under arrest.
16:06While she's in custody, the physical evidence corroborates their case. The casings become the
16:12first evidence to line up against Shauna. They matched the casings found at the murder scene.
16:19Next, police analyzed the tire tracks at the crime scene. A dental stone cast of the tire tread pattern
16:25matched the Nelson's pickup down to the stones lodged in the treads. And then there's the gunshot residue.
16:32The gunshot residue tests come back positive on the clothes that Shauna was wearing that night.
16:38And Shauna's missing shoes? Shoes similar to the ones described by the eyewitnesses to the murder
16:45are found discarded only 700 feet from where Ken stops Shauna in the middle of the street.
16:51It appears that things couldn't get worse for Shauna and her case, but it can. Shauna is adamant that
16:58she's innocent and the trial is scheduled to begin in less than a year. Shauna's best friend,
17:04Michelle Moore, is brought in for questioning to see if she can add anything to the case against
17:09Shauna. Michelle at first claims she knows nothing of a murder plot, but Michelle, a sworn officer of
17:16the law herself, reveals she knows the sordid details behind Shauna's plot to murder Heather,
17:22and she can't deal with the guilt of keeping them secret any longer. Michelle Moore's statements baffle
17:28the investigators. By admitting she knew about the murder ahead of time, she's implicating herself.
17:34Everyone is now wondering, what is Michelle's motive? She could have stayed out of the whole thing
17:39entirely, but now she is admitting basically she was an accessory to murder. Heather Garris is
17:46murdered. Her husband's mistress, Shauna Nelson, stands accused. Shauna's one-time best friend,
17:54Michelle Moore, takes the stand against her. But is Michelle only doing so in the hopes it will
17:59throw the suspicion off herself? The police point out that the inconsistencies in Michelle's interview
18:04weaken the case against Shauna, and that her defense lawyers could argue that Michelle is actually the
18:09one who killed Heather. On the stand, Michelle describes how Shauna had talked about shooting Heather.
18:15Incredibly, Michelle admits she offers Shauna help in planning the gory details,
18:19since she was a trained officer and knew about physical evidence and how not to leave it. They also
18:26have a code for when the deed is done. Taking a bath. After the murder, Shauna leaves a message on
18:33Michelle's voicemail saying she is going to relax and quote, take a bath. The prosecutor surmises that
18:39Shauna fills the tub because she knows she's coming straight back, could jump right in,
18:44and wash away any trace evidence. With Michelle Dunn testifying, the defense comes out swinging.
18:50In a shocking bombshell of a statement, Shauna claims Michelle Moore was not just her best friend,
18:56but her lover. She claims she had broken off the sexual relationship with Michelle just prior to the
19:01murder, and that everything Michelle was testifying to was out of spite. The prosecutors counter by saying
19:09Michelle's illicit affair with Shauna does not prove she's lying on the stand. She has clearly shown
19:15remorse for her role in the crime. They change her charge from plotting to commit murder down to
19:21accessory to a crime. She's looking at nine years behind bars. Shauna's close tested positive for residue,
19:29but Shauna's lawyer argues it could have just been transferred from the Nelson's pickup. After all,
19:34her husband was a firearms instructor. But between Michelle's testimony, the physical evidence,
19:40and Shauna's emotionally abusive history with both Ignacio and Heather, the jury convicts Shauna Nelson
19:47of first-degree murder with little doubt of her guilt. After only five hours of deliberation,
19:53may the record reflect that the jury's verdict is unanimous. The judge sentences her to life without the
20:00possibility of parole. Heather knew her murderer. She thought she could rise above Shauna and ignore
20:06her threats and forgive her husband. But Shauna had a fatal attraction for her husband. If she couldn't
20:12have Ignacio, she didn't want Heather to have him either. Shauna destroyed a lot of lives because of her
20:18her possession.
20:26So
20:32so
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