48 Hours - The Kidnapping of Schanda Handley

Episode Date: October 23, 2022

A daughter watches in horror as her mother is kidnapped from their home by intruders posing as deliverymen. "48 Hours" contributor David Begnaud reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca It's so powerful to see how my mom handled this situation. She's amazing, you know, and she's really, really strong. How often do residential kidnappings happen here? Very rare. Yeah, not very often at all. Shawna Hanley is at her home with her daughter, Isabella. A friend came over just to come and visit with her. We talked for about five or ten minutes, and the doorbell rang. And so I went to the door, and it's these two men. These two individuals essentially present themselves to be delivery men of some sort. Shawna sees them, says, look, I have a friend over, now is not a good time.

And when she goes to close the door on them, they force themselves in with guns. They started to scream to get the F on the floor and don't move. They handcuffed me in front like this. I was just stunned. I saw that my mom and her friend were handcuffed. I said, I have valuables, I have jewelry, I have cash, I have precious metals. I can get you money. Didn't interest them at all.

I said, come with me, and she went, and then they came back and asked me, and I said no, and they just accepted that and left. They put her in the van. I'm hooded. They hooded me as soon as I went into the van. It was a van that didn't have the windows in the back, and it was just a rubber mat without seats back there, and laid me on the floor. And then they leave.

These guys are heading out of town with Sean Hanley in the back of that van. One of the guys sat on top of me, you know, so he stayed screaming at me. He had the gun to my head. I was trying to pay attention to where we were. I could feel when we picked up speed that we had made a turn. I was like, oh no, my heart sunk. I was like, we're on an interstate or something. And the guy stripped me. They threatened to assault me sexually. He put a pill in my mouth and he gave me another. I said, what are you giving me? And he said, don't worry about that. And so I guess I started to maybe drift a little and I started praying. So this particular day, I got out of work. As I was traveling, there was a wreck on the

interstate. I got stopped behind a white van. I could kind of see the driver of the van was starting to get nervous in the mirror. He was looking at me. He decided to get into the shoulder and speed off. It didn't sit right with me. So I got in behind him. I put my emergency lights, sirens on. Then I hear sirens. And I was like, yeah, yeah, okay. Thank you, God. This is where the vehicle exited.

It's a dead end. To a dirt road which had been mud because it just rained. Their van got stuck. That's when they exited the vehicle and kept running. The siren stopped, and I just sunk again. And I was like, what happened? Did I imagine the sirens? What's going on? And I'm full of anxiety. When you approach the van, you've got your gun drawn? Yes, sir. I the rear door of the van and in the van what I thought was a mannequin moved Scared me startled me. So I jump back and I shut the door

So my god things aren't always what they seem Thank you. I didn't know what was going on with my mom. There was no one really telling me what was happening. Police say the woman was forcefully removed from her home in Lafayette. With her childhood home now a crime scene, and her mother Shonda Handley just abducted by armed intruders, Isabella Cumberland found herself confused amidst a crowd of investigators and forensic analysts. They wanted to go over the fingerprints on the doors, upstairs, my phone, and it just kind of felt like I was another piece of

evidence. Isabella, then just 14 years old, was trying to process the site of the violent kidnapping she had just witnessed at her family's home in Lafayette, Louisiana, on August 6, 2017. As they're driving away with her, did you think that was the last time you'd ever see her? I thought there was a chance. Lafayette investigators and Isabella had no idea that about an hour after the kidnapping, just across the state near Baton Rouge, Chad Martin, an Iberville Parish Sheriff's deputy, had just pulled over a suspicious white van after a brief pursuit. There were two men inside. When they pulled into this parking spot, they got stuck in the mud.

So the men jump out and they take off running. And right behind us is the intercoastal waterway. They jump in and disappear. And when Martin went to clear that vehicle, he discovered Shonda Handley, handcuffed and naked in the back. She looked at me and I'll never forget this. She said, are you the real police or are you the one that's going to kill me? looked at me, and I'll never forget this, she said, are you the real police or are you the one that's going to kill me? And he was like, you're safe. You're safe. Just minutes before, Martin was rushing home for Sunday dinner in his squad car after clocking out, unaware of Shonda's kidnapping nearly 60 miles away. His biggest worry at that time was his wife's wrath. I heard you were habitually late for dinners. I had a tendency to be late for everything.

Now, he had unwittingly made the rescue of a lifetime. What's going through your head? I mean, you were just trying to pull over a couple of guys who looked a little suspicious. I can't really tell you what was going through my head. Almost like I went into robot mode, and I was just trying to get this woman help. Shonda told him a harrowing story, that the kidnappers had drugged her and threatened to rape her and kill her.

If not for Chad Martin. Oh, I would be dead. I can't even imagine. But I know it wasn't going to be quick and swift. Martin relayed the news of Shonda's rescue to dispatch, and it soon reached Isabella. Whenever they told me that she was safe, I felt this relief. Law enforcement began to ask questions. Who were Shonda's kidnappers? And why did they abduct her?

But for Shonda, there was no mystery who was behind it. She had said that she believed that her husband is the one that had paid them to kill her. Her estranged husband, Michael Handley. Shonda says that before the difficult months leading up to the kidnapping, Michael would have been the last person she could have imagined would harm her. They had met in 2005 through friends in Lafayette, at a time when both were single parents and emerging from failed marriages. He was really catering and just sweet and compassionate. Another thing they had in common? Both were in recovery for addiction. At that time, I had been sober for about 18 years. Oh, wow. Michael was newly clean and sober.

He had about a year. The new couple hit it off, and a year later, they were married in Hawaii. Isabella took an immediate liking to Michael. He, well, was my dad from when I was two years old. And so that's how I saw him, was really as my dad. In 2007, Michael and Shonda found success, channeling their experience in recovery into a new business. We're going to provide care, and we're going to meet you where you are.

Partnering with a doctor to start a chain of addiction treatment centers. So we wound up opening, at one point, I think there were 14 centers throughout the South. Eight years later, they made a decision. We sold the company. How much did y'all make on the sale? The two of them, Michael and his partner, we sold the company for $21.5 million. Wow. Yeah.

But their life as happy millionaires didn't last long, say prosecutors Donald Connett and Kenny Hebert. You know, money and free time with someone with an addictive personality isn't a great combination. with someone with an addictive personality isn't a great combination. Shonda was seeing that firsthand with Michael in 2017, less than two years after the sale of their company, when she found a bottle of Adderall with Michael Handley's name on it. So what we believed at our treatment center was that use of something like that amphetamine could open the doors to a world of trouble.

So when I found the bottle, it terrified me. And I can remember telling him, this could lead to death. This could lead to something devastating. And soon things got even worse when Shonda discovered that Michael was seeing another woman. He was having an affair. And all I could think was, like, I don't even know who this man is. Shonda issued an ultimatum. Michael had to go into treatment.

But when he refused to get help, she made a difficult decision. I changed the locks, and Michael was locked out of the house. And he started to lose his mind at that point. And so after a couple of weeks, he said, you're going to regret this. And then that turned into, I'm telling you, it's going to get bad. The Hanleys' life together was falling apart fast. Michael accused Shonda of assaulting him. She was charged, but later acquitted by a judge. All while Shonda was begging the authorities to see that she was

the one in danger. If Michael wasn't apprehended, he was going to kill me. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS.

Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in

criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As Shonda Handley was recovering in the hospital, investigators were learning the details of her tumultuous past with Michael Hanley.

They knew they had to find him and the kidnappers fast. They started scouring the last place her abductors had been seen, this canal. There's a fisherman, and he reported these two individuals waiting by him in the water, and one of them pointed a gun at him and said, be cool. But as the kidnappers had been swimming towards freedom, the canal's unforgiving current had other plans. Behind me at the Intracoastal Canal

is where two bodies were found yesterday. They found them floating in the Intracoastal Canal is where two bodies were found yesterday. They found them floating in the Intracoastal Canal, drowned. Dead? Dead. They were later identified as Sylvester Bracey and Arsenio Haynes. What did you think when you found out they were dead? I thought, I'm not going to have to

worry about them hurting me. As sad as that is. While investigators suspected Michael Hanley was responsible for the abduction, to worry about them hurting me, as sad as that is. While investigators suspected Michael Handley was responsible for the abduction, proving it might have been difficult with their main witnesses, the kidnappers, dead. But Handley, it seemed, had made it kind of easy for them. Detectives are running the VIN number on the white van. That VIN number leads them to an enterprise dealership in Baton Rouge.

I said, well, a few days ago, an individual named Lawrence Michael Hanley came in and rented the van. And then, a couple days before that, he went to Barney's Police Depot, which is a store that carries specifically police-issue merchandise. Hanley was seen on store surveillance cameras as he pulls up and purchases handcuffs. Finding evidence allegedly connecting Handley to the kidnapping wasn't difficult, but finding him turned out to be the challenge. I'm asking if Michael's been apprehended, and they said no. And so they said we need to lay low for a little while.

With a fortune at his fingertips, investigators feared he could be anywhere and a danger to Shonda once she was released from the hospital. So they came up with a plan of action. We decided on a safe house outside of Lafayette. Sid Hebert, a former Louisiana sheriff, was part of the security detail watching Shonda 24-7. We had a Lafayette Sheriff's deputy in a marked unit on premises. No visitors, no package deliveries, nothing until further notice. Even in hiding, Shonda was feeling relief that Michael was finally being recognized as a threat after living in constant fear prior to the kidnapping.

The terror that I was in for those three months, the kidnapping was nothing in comparison. The kidnapping was a blessing. What? The kidnapping is what allowed me to get to a place where people were willing to support me. In the beginning, how many people believed Shonda? Not many. But Shonda had found a fierce ally in Christine Meir, her divorce attorney. Christine knew all too well what Shonda had experienced. The most dangerous case I have ever heard about, let alone been a part of.

What made it so dangerous? Michael Hanley. He was constantly stalking her, telling her that he knew where she was, threatening her, threatening her daughter with harm. was, threatening her, threatening her daughter with harm. Shonda called the police several times, but felt she wasn't taken seriously. Christine helped Shonda secure a restraining order, but says Michael found creative ways to make it effectively worthless. He disguised his voice.

He also used an app that picked up dummy numbers that he used to contact her. So there was no proof that it was him that was actually violating the protective order. And he seemed to be tracking Shonda's every move. He was able to spy on her through her own laptop computers, her alarm system. He compromised all of that. Nothing was out of balance. Michael's behavior was growing increasingly erratic. Even though he was the one to initially file for divorce in the spring of 2017,

he soon changed his mind, and Shonda says now he was demanding they reconcile. Or she'd pay a humiliating price. He says some of our private videos are going to go out to people in the community. Intimate videos? Intimate videos. Shonda struggled over this, but

knew she couldn't take him back. So videos went out to hundreds of people in the community. My cousins, uncles, administration at the school, political friends, neighbors. I sat and cried and was sick to my stomach. I almost didn't stand up. Just when Shonda thought she couldn't take any more, on June 8th, 2017, almost two months to the day before the kidnapping,

Michael Hanley slipped into her house through the garage. He was enraged. He reeked of alcohol. He was furious. And he had me pinned up against the wall. And I screamed, Isabella! Well, he put his hand over my mouth and he pulled out a gun, a nine millimeter. A gun? He pulls out a handgun and he said,

if you scream or anybody comes to interfere, I will shoot you both. I will kill you both. Do you understand me? Shonda says that after hours saying anything she could think of to calm him down, she finally convinced Michael to leave. As soon as he walked out of that gate, I ran in the house, bolted the door, and I started screaming and crying. When Michael left that day after he had attacked me, I was 100% positive he was going to kill me.

Police were called once again, but they didn't arrest Michael Hanley. I can see in your eyes that you're getting emotional. Oh, I felt as though I was being told that I was lying and that I was making it up. that I was lying and that I was making it up. This is why women don't report abuse, because they fear they will not be believed. How many times had Shonda filed a report against Michael? I believe that the actual reports filed were a couple dozen, if not more.

As far as how many times was there an arrest made, there wasn't. Why? A lot of times he was out of state. Sometimes the investigators felt like they didn't have enough evidence to actually go forward and get a warrant for the arrest. After the kidnapping, investigators were confident that this time they had more than enough evidence to make an arrest. But could they find him in time? had more than enough evidence to make an arrest. But could they find him in time?

So somehow, Michael is able to track Shonda down to the place that she's seeking refuge. Does Michael Hanley know that the cops are on to him? Yes, because at some point he tried to charter a private plane, and so the pilot essentially said, I am not going to be taking you anywhere because you're a wanted man. The pilot reported it to police, but Michael was long gone. And as he continued to evade authorities, Shonda got a text message from a strange number claiming that Michael had also been kidnapped, saying in part, pay the ransom for your husband and pay us 500 large or we will send him home in pieces. A day later, friends received a shocking photo of Michael.

He was nude, handcuffed, and seemingly injured. And he's got blood on him. Right. It appeared to be from Shonda's kidnappers, but investigators knew that couldn't be true. We know that obviously wasn't from them because they're dead at this point. So Michael is behind these messages. On August 11th, 2017, after a four-day manhunt, detectives finally cornered the multimillionaire.

Once accustomed to private jets and five-star hotels, he was in this off-ramp motel in Slidell, Louisiana. We begin with new information on the arrest of a Lafayette kidnapping suspect. As they took an oddly smiling Michael Hanley into custody, investigators began sifting through the nearly $10,000 in cash, pizza boxes, and illicit drugs, finding this to-do list. On it were things like burner foam, hair dye, cash. But its final task was even more ominous, says prosecutor Kenny Hebert, since Shonda's safe house was just 35 miles away. But on the bottom of that list were the words, finish the job.

And finish the job would mean, in our opinion, he was going to kill her. With Michael Hanley now in jail, Shonda and her security team decided it was finally safe for her to come out of hiding. It was time to go home. And that's what she said, I just want to go home and rebuild my life. But with his track record of evading justice, But with his track record of evading justice, Isabella was skeptical that the worst was behind them. I remember thinking that it was almost pointless that he was being arrested. It felt like he had all the power and he was going to keep all the power. Michael Hanley pleaded not guilty to a litany of charges, including conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.

And prosecutors got to work building their case against him. Anytime you're on our side of the table, you start thinking, what's the defense going to be? We could not figure out what his defense was going to be. There was no question that she was a victim of a kidnapping. But, says Kevin Stockstill, the man who Michael Hanley hired to defend him, the physical evidence doesn't prove his client played a part in any of it. Were the van and the handcuffs enough to convict him? I don't think so. That is because, Stockstill says, there is an explanation for everything.

It started when Michael hired Sylvester Bracey, not to kidnap his wife, but instead, he claims, to move some furniture. That was the reason Michael rented the van, he says, and made no effort to hide it. Mr. Hanley, you know, goes into the Enterprise rent-a-car location with his credit card in one hand and driver's license in the other. So you thought you could explain to the jury, hey, listen, nobody who's actually going to commit this crime is going to go in with their license and ID and buy it themselves. Correct.

It was all innocent enough, Stockstill says, until the would-be mover went rogue. Stockstill theorizes Sylvester Bracey saw Michael's desperation to get his wife back and decided to use it to his advantage. That's when he enlisted Arsenio Haynes to help him kidnap Shonda and hold her for ransom. So you're thinking the kidnappers could have wanted to extort Michael to get money from him so they would have kidnapped his wife? Potentially. his wife. Potentially. And of course, he did buy the handcuffs, but Stockstill says he only used them to stage that fake kidnapping photo. So as he's bound and gagged, he's bound with handcuffs. It was just the latest example, according to Stockstill,

of photos and videos that Michael had been sending to Shonda for months, showing him an emotional distress, and in one case, apparently beaten up, in a misguided attempt to try and win her back. I love you, I love you. Because Michael had, he had a proclivity to try and stage these things to get, you know, sympathy from Shonda. But as the defense prepared to argue that the kidnappers acted on their own,

Shonda Handley made a damning discovery while cleaning out a remote Mississippi property they owned. Shonda starts getting some of her personal belongings. One of the things that they found was this camera. It was a type of camera called Arlo. Michael Handley used it for security. When Arlo detects sound in video, Arlo starts recording. That's right. That's right.

Well, it turns out he accidentally turned the camera on himself. All put together, what did the camera record? I mean, hundreds of hours. Hundreds of hours. One of the first videos is from two months before the kidnapping. Michael is by himself in a hotel room and is apparently talking to himself. You see him moving around, and at some point he picks the camera up and he puts it in a bag. And you hear him say the words, I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her. You see him moving around, and at some point he picks the camera up and he puts it in a bag.

And you hear him say the words, I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Prosecutors believed the her he intended to kill was Shonda, and that Michael was even more explicit just days later, in a conversation with a friend in the living room of the Mississippi house. They're having beers and they're discussing the issues that he's having with Shonda. The friend later said he didn't recall hearing what Michael said next. Michael says that's why she's going to have to die.

So matter of fact. In yet another clip from just two weeks before the kidnapping, Michael Hanley is caught with Sylvester Bracey at that property, planning how it was the perfect place, prosecutors say, to bring Shonda to torture her and possibly worse. He specifically says it's almost impossible for anyone to get in here. To which Bracey responds, and it'll be impossible for her to get out. I feel like you can't break in. I see you can't break in.

I can't see anywhere to go. I mean, did you think you had a rock solid case before that? Yes. Well, what did you think after it? I thought I must have done something right in the world. Then, in a move no one saw coming. I just want to go out to give us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Stop, you got it. Thank you.

Michael Hanley agreed to tell his side of things. In a move no one saw coming. I just want to go out to give us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Stop, you got it. I do. Michael Hanley agreed to tell his side of things. What is the strongest piece of evidence against Michael Hanley? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and Twitter. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that

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You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. While awaiting trial for the kidnapping of his estranged wife, Shonda, Michael Hanley was held in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center. But Shonda says even though Michael was behind bars, he continued to harass her. I've received a lot of mail, letters, while he's been incarcerated. I've had numerous calls. Can't they stop him from calling you?

I guess not. On top of that, Shonda lived in fear that Michael just might get out. That's because at one point, the defense argued that Michael was suffering from mental illness and was not guilty by reason of insanity. was not guilty by reason of insanity. When Michael was sober, he was a fantastic individual, very talented, willing to help people. When he was found at the hotel in Slidell, I mean, there were drugs there.

There's no question that he was using again. I don't know the level of his responsibility, but I think it's a combination of substance abuse and some mental illness. For prosecutor Kenny Hebert, however, it was a desperate attempt to get Michael released. They did it so that they could get some psychological professionals on the stand to say he needs to be out of jail and he needs to go to these mental health facilities. Well, we're talking about mental health facilities that don't have nearly the security that a jail has. Michael's defense team submitted mental health records showing that he suffered from bipolar disorder,

complicated by drug addiction, which they say rendered him legally insane during the time leading up to the kidnapping. Two court-appointed doctors agreed, but the judge ruled that Michael was competent to stay in trial and must remain behind bars. Once they initially failed to get him out, they withdrew that plea. And why'd they change it to?

They just changed it to regular not guilty. While Michael Hanley's criminal battle was heating up in March 2018, his divorce from Shonda became finalized. Shonda was awarded all of the assets. There was only one problem. There is no money. There's no money. You know, millions of dollars vanish. Michael was a very eccentric person. He was obsessed with the collapse of the American dollar. So much of their money was in gold bars. Shonda said she had seen gold before and knew that there was gold somewhere on that property.

I believe people actually went out with metal detectors to try to figure out if he stashed it somewhere. No gold was ever recovered. So there's all of this money that's unaccounted for, but we know it's got to be out there somewhere. On top of being left with nothing, Shonda says she suddenly found herself responsible for repaying her now ex-husband's massive debts. How much of a hole did he leave you in? $750,000. I can't comprehend how I'm now in a position where I owe this sort of money. Shonda felt like it was a slap in the face after enduring so much.

But it wasn't all for naught. During the settlement negotiations, Shonda's divorce attorney, Christine Meir, had subpoenaed Michael for a deposition. And surprisingly, he agreed. I mean, that's wild. It is. I can imagine that someone with the arrogance that Michael Henley had insisted that he was going to testify and it was going to be fine because he is the smartest person in the room. Shonda's divorce attorney and the prosecutors had agreed to cooperate with each other. And everyone was interested in hearing what Michael Handley had to say. It was a risk.

Because he might go into that deposition and say stuff that really jeopardizes his criminal case. I've never been more nervous in a deposition than that one. Dressed in a striped prison uniform, Michael answered questions for 10 hours over three days. I was hanging on to every question. I bet you were. Yeah. It was a chaotic and hectic time.

I was living out of hotels. I'd been moving from hotel to hotel for several months. chaotic and hectic time, I was living out of hotels. I'd been moving from hotel to hotel for several months. Michael was asked about his relationship with Sylvester Bracey and the reason he rented that van. I had hired him to move furniture. I rented the van to make a move, to move the furniture. He stuck with his original story. He said that he had hired movers in order to move furniture, and they went rogue because they thought he had hired movers in order to move furniture and they went rogue because they thought he had money. I got a phone call. As soon as I answered the phone I said hello. They screamed, they screamed, we've got your mother

wife. And I just remember because it was like I got punched. It's like one of those moments when you go into a top reel. But when pressed about the details of how he first met Bracey, I don't recall. Michael claimed he couldn't remember much about the weeks leading up to the kidnapping. I don't remember. I don't know. I don't recall. That's why I'm hesitating.

I don't remember. I don't recall. I don't know. I don't recall. That's why I'm hesitating. I don't remember. I don't recall. I don't recall. I don't recall. There are big gaps in my memory. I don't know. I don't know. The reason that I don't recall is because I was high. I was living like a rock star. I was on and off medications during this period of time, and I was under the influence of substances. Mental illness is tough, you know? But he insisted. Despite the gaps in memory, there was one thing he knew for certain. I would not kidnap my wife. He would cry and say that he loved her so much. I don't remember. That he was so sorry. It was that type of manipulation. I have tremendous regret.

During the deposition, Christine pulled that Arlo camera recording, in which prosecutors believed Bracey and Handley were caught talking about the plot to kidnap Shonda. The wife Handley claimed he loved so much. I queued up where one of the kidnappers was telling Michael, and you know, if she gets out of line, I won't hesitate to kill her. And I said, what kind of movers tell that to you? And his fear was palpable. And he said, oh, I don't know, Christine. People tell me all sorts of things. Michael Hanley withered under questioning, poking holes in his own defense with his own words. The civil attorneys provided us with those deposition transcripts shortly after receiving them.

And with the trial date fast approaching, Michael's defense attorney feared the worst. We were of the opinion that he ran a significant risk of a conviction. With the walls closing in and hours before the trial was set to start, Michael Hanley indicated he was open to a deal. He would plead, you know, second-degree kidnapping. The minimum sentence would be 15 years. The maximum sentence would be 35 years. Prosecutors Donnie Connett and Kenny Hebert say there was a lot to take into consideration.

The problem with a jury trial is you almost never know. But I also knew that there's Shonda Hanley, there's Isabella. You've got victims that have to relive that moment if you go to trial. Ultimately, the decision to take the deal or go to trial was Shonda's. I was so scared that if we went to trial, that it could work out beautifully for him. Because Michael always lands on his feet. Once Michael's out, I'm no longer free.

lands on his feet. Once Michael's out, I'm no longer free. See more of the evidence photos at 48hours.com. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story

that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. In July 2021, all Shonda Hanley wanted was for her ex-husband Michael Hanley to stay behind bars.

So she agreed to accept his plea of guilty to second-degree kidnapping. I didn't want to take any risks. I would rather the plea deal than to take the chance and go to trial. Less than a year later, on March 24th, 2022, Shonda was in the courtroom to find out what Michael's sentence would be. Isabella was there too, as was Michael. What was it like to come face to face with him in court? What was it like to come face-to-face with him in court? It was so surreal, you know? And I think, honestly, for both of us,

it was this really strong, powerful emotion that we both felt, but mine was hatred. Hoping to help convince the judge to give Michael the maximum sentence, Isabella chose to give a victim impact statement. What did you say at the hearing? I really kind of told a story about how difficult it really made my life and how difficult it still makes my life because I didn't think he knew that it affected me as well as it affected her. Shonda also had something she wanted to say to Michael. I told him that he wrecked everything and that he destroyed everything and how could you like we had like a really we had a good life

we had a good family and we we adored each other he was the person I most admired in this world until then. Do you think Michael understands his actions have had an effect on his former wife and stepchild? I think that he does. Do you get the sense the guy's sorry? I think so. I think he's capable of remorse. Yet when it was Michael's turn to speak, instead of a tearful apology, he gave yet another new story. This time he admitted he did, in fact, hire the two men to kidnap Shonda. But he claimed it was all fake and staged so that he could swoop in, save her, and be the hero.

What he really wanted to do was emerge as the white knight who came in and rescued her. It was a way for him to try to win her back, but he never really intended to hurt her. It was all a big game. In the end, the judge sided with the prosecution and gave Michael Hanley the maximum penalty. A Lafayette man was sentenced today in the 2017 kidnapping case of his estranged wife. Lawrence Michael Handley received 35 years in prison for the crime. 35 years. Minus five for time served. Puts him out when he's 79. 79. Are you okay with that? I'd rather he never get out.

Are you still afraid even with him behind bars? Oh, yeah. That concern is something Isabella shares. Do you fear for your safety from Michael Hanley? Yeah, I do. Nothing could stop him. I just see him as a villain, not a good person, and I'm not sad about it. In my mind, he's changed to a completely different person, so it doesn't feel like I've lost my dad.

It feels like I've lost a stranger. The now 20-year-old college junior chooses to focus on the valuable lesson that she learned from her mother. It's so powerful to see how my mom handled this situation. She's shown me how she can overcome something so horrible and turn it into something great and become an even better person out of it. Welcome, welcome to our house. I'm glad that you're here. Shonda has found renewed purpose working with others like her. She sold property, took out a loan, and opened two sober living homes dedicated to helping women get back on their feet. We want you to feel comfortable. We want you to feel like this is a safe place where you can start anew. It's been really, really rewarding. And you know, from my

experiences that I've had, the challenges that I've had, I'm able to show them firsthand that we get up, we keep going, we put one foot in front of the other, and we will persevere. An important part of moving forward for Shonda has been recognizing those who stood by her. And while she did speak on the phone with Chad Martin, that officer who saved her, she never got the chance to thank him in person until now, when we arranged for them to meet. So good to meet you. Good to see you again. Yeah. I'm looking at you to see if I can remember.

I remember. I'm really glad that I was in the right place at the right time to help you. Really glad. Thank you. I feel like I owe you everything. I guess my greatest gratitude in you saving my life is that my daughter gets to have her mom and have a good life. Thank you. Give me another hug. A son with secrets. He just lied to everybody.

His parents vanish. You know, cars go off the road. Things happen. What happened to the Haldersons? Not making any sense. It's taking weirder and weirder turns. Nobody saw this coming. 48 Hours, two weeks from tonight on CBS.

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