Dateline Originals - Internal Affairs - Ep. 6: Star Witnesses

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

A woman at the center of the case turns state’s evidence and the defendant takes the stand.This episode was originally published on October 18, 2022. 

The line between love and obsession can be gossamer thin and easy to cross. We here at Dateline have seen what can result when passion becomes a compulsion to manipulate, to influence, to possess. I didn't know that her interest in me would become an obsession. No, no one ever does. No one thinks a lover's smile, once all sunshine and summer freckles, could become a weapon. No one imagines a voice, once soft as spring rain, could now spit hard words like a nail gun. This is a case about an obsessive love that Shauna Nelson had towards Ignacio Garris. That Shauna Nelson's nearly three-year affair

with Ignacio Garris had crossed a line at some point was no longer a question. The issue now was whether her addiction to the attentions of a married man was so powerful that a former police dispatcher and law-abiding mom of three would feel compelled to commit murder. She said, I'm guilty of a lot of things as far as the affairs and bad choices. She said, I am not guilty of murder. If not her, who? An angry bank customer? One of Shauna's friends? Or was a man's hand behind all of this? I completely think that he's capable of something like this.

In this episode, you'll hear about multiple plots to harass, intimidate, and ultimately kill Heather Garris. But she asked me to go cut her brake line on her car. You'll hear Ig Garris answer tough questions under oath. You are the beneficiary of life insurance policies on Heather's life? Yes. And you will hear what Shauna Nelson told the jury about the night before Heather Garris died. I was driving Michelle home and told her that I no longer could have a sexual relationship with her. Truth or lies? Well, I'm not being honest. I just hope the jury of 12 can see that. I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and this is the sixth and final episode of Internal Affairs, a podcast from Dateline. In those brutal, perplexing days after Heather's murder, one can only guess at what Michelle Moore was thinking. Haunted, perhaps, by memories, day and night.

Maybe not a lot of sleep. Memories of what she'd seen, what she'd heard, what she'd done. Michelle knew things about Sean and Nelson. Things Michelle had not told anyone, including the cops. She had made reference to poisoning her.

Oh, Michelle Moore had had her chances, plenty of them. Three times she'd met with detectives after Heather Garris was murdered. Each time, she'd told the same story, which was, essentially, she knew nothing about it, and she wasn't involved. Problem was, that wasn't the whole story. I should have told you, but then I was at the point where it was like, oh my God, if I say something, the lawyer would say, well, you knew that she was this way,

and why didn't you say something? So maybe this was the tipping point of conscience, or maybe a deep and abiding fear of serious prison time. But whatever it was that Michelle Moore knew, by November 2007, it was too hot to hold on to. What was your motivation to come over today? Why not? Why not? Were you struggling with the fact that you hadn't provided? This time, Michelle Moore said she was ready to come clean.

And in return for the full skinny on what she knew about Shawna Nelson's plans to kill Heather Garris. Prosecutors were willing to essentially give Michelle Moore a get-out-of-jail-free card. There was just one catch. There could be no lies, no omissions, no half-truths, anything less, and Michelle risked prosecution as an accomplice. I never, ever, ever thought she would do it. In that fourth meeting with detectives, Michelle was sedately dressed in a black scoop-necked sweater with her sunglasses perched on top of her head.

She looked more like one of the real housewives of Orange County than an accessory to murder. She always said she hated her. Always said she hated her. Always said she hated her. Instead of repeating her claim that she'd rarely heard Shawna Nelson utter a negative word about Heather Garris, this time Michelle said,

Shawna frequently spoke of killing the woman she saw as denying Shawna what was rightfully hers. She told me why I could just shoot Heather and Ed. She said I could just walk up to her while she's in her car at the credit union and shoot her and Ed. It was just what prosecutors had hoped for, a new star witness against Shawna Nelson. So I think there was a lot of value to that testimony.

That's the voice of Greg Lammons, one of the Larimer County DAs tasked with prosecuting Shawna Nelson, after it was determined that the Weld County District Attorney's Office might have a conflict of interest in trying this case. It filled in gaps that we could argue about and things that we thought the evidence would logically show. Michelle Moore could have kept mum after that, could have gambled that nothing new would come out,

and gone on with her life. She did not. A week after her last sit-down with Detectives Prill and Tharp, she volunteered to come in for a fifth interview. There were things she'd forgotten to say before. And you think she changed because, what, too many sleepless nights, guilt eating away at her? That, I'm sure, played a role. Detective Mike Prill says there was likely much more behind Michelle Moore's sudden candor

than just a guilty conscience. She was afraid of what we were going to uncover eventually, what information we would get. And so she essentially tried to get out in front of it before we came across. Michelle says that because she'd been in law enforcement, Shawna seemed to regard her as an expert on the best methods and practices for planning a murder and escaping unscathed. She was a former deputy for a hiccup, you know, just enough time to probably learn what you could learn on Dateline in a month, but offered suggestions on how to avoid DNA blowback, blood spatter, how to screw the crime scene, disguise yourself. Fair to say that Michelle was essentially Shauna's murder coach, or more than that?

You know, it's hard to separate these two. I think where Shauna was lacking, Michelle filled the gap and vice versa. In late February 2008, a little more than a year after Heather Garris' murder, Shauna Nelson went on trial for it. The witnesses came first, some tearfully reliving the moment an assassin dressed in black murdered their friend and coworker right in front of them. As we were heading to our cars, someone came up dressed all in black and told Heather to get on the ground.

Then she was shot. Next, the victim's husband, Ignacio Garris, took the stand. Ig told the now familiar story of his feeling trapped in an illicit affair, held hostage, he claimed, by a jealous and spiteful woman who'd harassed his family with threatening emails and text messages after he'd broken it off. Ig read some of those in court. It's directed to my wife, Heather. Okay. And what does it say? It says, Heather, if you're reading this, you're a psycho bitch. And what does the next one say?

It's to my wife's cell phone again, and it's anytime, anywhere, bitch. It was a largely circumstantial case, one buttressed by experts who'd examined the physical evidence. There were the tire impressions in snowy slush near the murder scene that matched the tires on the truck Shauna was driving when she was stopped. And there was Shauna's DNA on both the mask and the truck Shauna was driving when she was stopped. And there was Shauna's DNA on both the mask and the shoes. And that matched clothing eyewitnesses said the killer had been wearing. And then there was the gun. What type of weapon is contained in the box marked People's Exhibit 26. It is a Glock 40 Smith & Wesson caliber,

Model 22 semi-automatic pistol. Although the single.40 caliber bullet recovered from the scene could not be tied to a specific gun, a firearms analysis did show the two spent shells matched the gun in that box. It was Ken Nelson's service weapon. Prosecutors could only offer theories as to how Ken Nelson's gun could possibly be linked to that murder. But Cliff Riedel, one of the lead prosecutors,

theorized that however those shells got there, it had been Shawna Nelson's intent to implicate her husband. Yes, she was trying to frame her husband. And the reason is, is if he's out of the picture, she gets all of the kids. Heather Garris is deceased, so Ignacio's available. As it turned out, Ken Nelson really was in serious trouble. Months after the murder, he'd been charged with evidence tampering. Police and prosecutors were convinced Ken Nelson had tried to cover for his wife by removing the murder weapon from the truck she'd been driving,

minutes after Heather Garris was murdered. Under oath, Ken Nelson insisted he'd removed nothing from that truck his wife was driving on the night he stopped her. Do you ever recall leaning into the driver's side and retrieving any items? I never went to the driver's side of the vehicle. On the fourth day of testimony, prosecutors called their star witness. Call Michelle Moore, please. Michelle Moore had not looked at Sean Nelson as she entered the courtroom. But if looks were knives, she surely would have had one planted in her back by the time she passed the defense table.

You solemnly swear under penalty of perjury, testimony about to give, she be the truth and the whole truth? I swear. With her honey-colored hair pulled back in a ponytail, Michelle Moore took her seat in the witness box. She was primly dressed that day. Black and green checked slacks, a black jacket over a black blouse. Would you please state your name? Michelle Moore. After confirming for the court that she had signed a plea agreement with prosecutors for a reduced sentence in return for her testimony,

Michelle Moore proceeded to paint a damning portrait of her former partner in crime. I believe she was utilizing the fact that I was in law enforcement and she watched CSI all the time. And she would engage me in different scenarios and circumstances and ask me questions about crimes and murders and what to do, what not to do. Michelle Moore says Shauna was like a sponge, soaking up every tip and tidbit of lethal information. By mid-January 2007, Michelle says, Shauna had a plan to eliminate her romantic rival, Heather Garris. She hated her and that she was standing in the way of what she wanted, the man she wanted. What did she tell you that she was thinking about doing? She had said that she wanted to get rid of her. Was there any doubt in your mind what she meant when she said, I wanted to get rid of her at that point? Not now. Monday, January 22nd was the day before Heather was murdered.

Michelle told the jury that was to have been the last day of Heather Garris's life. She then asked me if I could plan on babysitting her children on that day. Did she indicate why? She said she had something to do. Was there any discussion about whether or not you would be given details about what she had to do? She had said that for all I knew, she was upstairs taking a bath and I was watching the kids downstairs. That Monday, Michelle says, everything worked according to plan. They picked up Shauna's daughter from school, took her to Girl Scouts, got happy meals for the kids, and stopped at Starbucks for a couple of coffees. Michelle says Shauna told her one of those coffees was for Ken, who happened to be off-duty that day.

She handed me a small baggie that had some crushed up substance in it. She said it was Ambien. And she asked me to put it in Ken's coffee. She didn't want him to bother. What did you do when she handed you this baggie? I put it in his coffee. Back at the Nelson house, Michelle says she pitched in to help Ken, who was trying to sync up his new iPod with his computer.

Michelle says Shauna set Ken's coffee on the counter and walked to another part of the house. Michelle assumed Shawna was getting the kids settled. Phone records show that at about that time, multiple calls were made from Ken Nelson's cell phone to the credit union where Heather Garris worked. A few minutes later, Michelle says Shauna reappeared. She had come out from whatever she was doing, and I believe she dumped that 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. No, Heather wasn't at the credit union, where she usually was at that hour, because she'd not been feeling well that day and went home early, maybe prolonging her life for another 24 hours. Michelle says she and Shauna went to dinner with a cousin of Shauna's that night and had a few rounds of margaritas. Michelle recalled that Shauna seemed to be very angry as the waitresses served them a Mexican meal.

She was very upset about Ig being with Heather. Did she recall what words she used or what she was expressing about that anger? Yes, she had said that evening that she just had to get rid of her. She had to do it. That she was in hell and she didn't want to live like this anymore. When Shauna drove Michelle home that night, she says Shauna told her something she will never forget. She then said to me, if you get a phone call from me tomorrow saying I'm taking a bath, then you know I did it. Michelle says it was 3.21 the next afternoon when her cell phone rang until it went to voicemail. After staring at the phone for a few minutes,

Michelle then says she pressed play. It was Shauna. She was taking a bath. At that moment, we know Heather Garris was still alive, but she only had three hours to live. Michelle Moore says she pressed delete and did nothing. For six days of trial, Shauna Nelson sat quietly, as she heard herself described as an unhinged homicidal stalker, a sex-starved adulteress who became obsessed with possessing and controlling a married man.

She hardly looked the part of a femme fatale. Her once blonde hair, now a long tangle of mousy brown. The smile was still there, though. The easy laugh when chatting with her lawyers during breaks. Much of Shauna Nelson's defense depended on cross-examinations, where her public defender, Kevin Strobel, tried to discredit her accusers. Michelle Moore, who'd gotten a plea deal in exchange for her testimony, was repeatedly hammered for having changed large portions of her story. Was she telling the truth now, they asked,

or was she sacrificing her friend to knock some years off her stretch? You have every reason in the world to try to convict Shauna Nelson in this case. I have every reason in the world to tell the truth. At one point, the defense team implied that Michelle may have turned on Shauna because the two had been lovers who'd had a falling out. We're not angry with Shauna Nelson because she wanted to terminate a sexual relationship with you. There wasn't a sexual relationship. When Ignacio Garris was on the stand, the defense team sought to undermine his credibility and cast doubt on the prosecution's theory that Shauna had been a jealous stalker who'd threatened Ig's family. After all, Ig had lied to his wife, they said, and he'd misled the police.

You told Sergeant West that it was your decision to come clean with Heather. Well, yes, I kept on lying. You didn't tell Sergeant West, the first person who interviewed you, that the reason you had told your wife about the affair was because she had caught you? Yes. Ig Garris was a large and imposing looking man, a cop. How could such a man, the defense seemed to say, without saying it, be kept essentially in a state of sexual bondage. We told investigator Mlosnik that Ms. Nelson wanted to have sex with you, but you did not want to have sex with her.

That is correct. Had he not returned to her bed after previous breakups, her defense lawyer asked? Had he not snuck out of his house, climbed through windows like a rebellious teenager to be with her? Had he not taken her to resorts for romantic weekend getaways? And did you spend a weekend or an evening with Shauna Nelson at Grand Lake? Yes. And did you do that because you felt you were being held hostage? Yes.

It may have been Shauna Nelson's trial, but at times it seemed it was Ig Garris who was being judged. In the defense's telling, Shauna Nelson might have been a boisterous, hard-drinking serial cheater, but she was no killer. There seemed to be only one way to prove that. Does the defense have any evidence to present? Yes, Your Honor.

We've called Shauna Nelson. On the stand, Shauna Nelson was personable and direct. She easily fielded the leading questions her lawyer lobbed at her and then turned and spoke directly to the jury when answering. Did you ever make a statement to the effect of Heather has ruined my life? No. Shawna spoke at length about her Rocky Mountain melodrama

with Ig Garris. She insisted she'd never wanted to break up Ig's marriage to Heather and she didn't want to leave her husband Ken either. We had talked about divorcing in the past and being together, and we had both always come to the conclusion that we did not want to leave the life that we had. As for those nasty text messages after Ig finally broke it off with her? Well, she said those were just drunken venting. Did you also, during this time period, send by text a photograph of Christian with the words,

eggs, flesh, and blood? I did. Why did you send that to the Garrises? I believe I sent that actually to Heather's phone, and it was just out of spite, just to create drama, I guess. Drama? Oh, yes. Shauna admitted there had been plenty of drama. But murder? No. Did you develop a plan to kill Heather Garris?

No, I didn't. So why would Michelle Moore say she did? Well, Shauna implied it was something personal, something about hurt feelings, and perhaps a desire for revenge. According to Shawna, the turning point came the night before Heather Garris died, the night she and Michelle had gone out for drinks and dinner. I was driving Michelle home and told her that I no longer could have a sexual relationship with her, that I had been thinking about it, and that since I was trying to actually maybe finally be loyal to Ken,

that I needed to completely fess up and that I was going to go home and tell Ken also about my relationship with Michelle. What was Michelle Moore's reaction to that? She was very upset. Had there really been an affair between Shawna and Michelle? If so, was a bad breakup reason enough for Michelle to turn on Shauna and try to put her away for life? Hard to say. It's a truth only they know. But in Shauna's telling, Michelle Moore had suddenly turned cold toward her after that night. I had tried to call Michelle. I just got her voicemail. I did leave a

voicemail. I tried to call again. There was no answer. She wouldn't answer it. The two former besties never spoke again. As for the night of Heather's murder, Shawna's memory seemed to have a gap the size of the continental divide. She remembered getting the kids settled in the basement. She remembered running a bath. She remembered grabbing some dirty clothes out of the hamper to put on and rushing out of the house to buy a bottle of wine. She thought that was around 6 p.m. After that, nothing. The next thing I remember is my phone ringing and kind of jolting me out of a daze, and I was in front of College Green Liquor.

Shauna says it was then she realized she'd rushed out of the house without her purse. So she says she turned the truck around and headed for home. And she was almost there, just a block or two from her drive, when suddenly, she says, she saw her husband standing in the road in front of her, blocking the street and screaming, What have you done? When it came to the most damning piece of physical evidence, the mask recovered from the truck she was driving.

Shawna had a ready explanation. Did you own the mask that has been produced as an exhibit in this case that was found in your truck? Yes. When had you acquired that mask? I had had that clear back since before Halloween. Had, to your knowledge, Michelle Moore seen that mask? At least on three separate occasions.

After a week of listening to the prosecution's case, Shauna Nelson had come to the stand with an explanation for almost everything. It had been an exhausting three-hour performance. It had also been her last best chance to make a connection with at least one juror, to convince one of 12 that she was not a killer. Did you ever have the desire to shoot Heather Garris in the head?

Never. Never. No further questions. The final act of Shawna Nelson's murder trial was closing arguments. Prosecutors opened by proposing that the timeline of Shauna Nelson's affair with Ignacio Garris was essentially a roadmap leading to only one destination, the killing of Heather Garris. Heather Garris was becoming less and less of a human being to the defendant. She was an object. You don't think of the person as a human being.

It's easier to end their life. From the breakup in December, straight through to the murder a month later, prosecutors argued only Sean and Nelson had had the motive, the means, and the opportunity to put two bullets into Heather Garris. And the defendant said, you ruined my life. And in the split seconds that Heather Garris had to remain on the subversive, she knew that she was going to be murdered by the defendant.

And the evidence shows, ladies and gentlemen, that Heather Garris was right. When it came time for the defense to make its closing arguments, defense attorney Kevin Strobel told the jury, Shawna Nelson was on trial because of a rush to judgment based on an assumption. An assumption that was immediately broadcast on police radios the night of the murder.

Four minutes into this case, they reached a conclusion that Shauna Nelson was guilty. They did not investigate any other possibility. The evidence was thin, he said. No DNA linking Shawna to the crime scene. No murder weapon. The witness statements? Inconsistent. The Greeley Police Department hopelessly conflicted. The victim in this case, Heather Garris, is the wife of an officer that has served for a long time in their department. That officer has lots of friends in

that department. The prosecution, he said, had simply not met its burden of proof, had not proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt. It's not a matter of weighing the evidence, deciding which side has more. If any of it causes you to hesitate to have these pulled out. And it's your duty to find Shauna Nelson not guilty, and that's the verdict that I ask you to return. It was mid-afternoon on a Friday when lawyers finished making their final pitch and jurors got the case. When deliberations resumed the following Monday morning,

it seems a consensus had already been reached. Ninety minutes after entering the courthouse, they sent a message to the judge. We, the jury, find the defendant, Shawna Louise Nelson, guilty of count number one murder in the first degree. Shawna showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Out in the gallery, Shauna's sister Deb shook her head while Heather's co-worker sobbed softly. Sitting alongside the co-workers, Heather's sister Wendy wiped tears from her eyes as Ig sat awkwardly, grim-faced.

He looked almost unsure of his place now, in the company of such happy grief. There's a photo taken just after the verdict. Heather's friends are hugging each other, and you get your hands in your pockets, and you're looking down. You look like a guy in hell, and I guess you still are. Heather got justice, but Heather's still not here. I don't have Heather. Heather don't have me. Victoria don't have Heather. It's an empty victory.

By prior agreement with the defense team, the judge proceeded immediately to sentencing. Well, the jury certainly has determined that you killed Heather Garris. You carried out this crime with great planning and deliberation, and Heather Garris did not deserve to die as a result of your acts. You deserve to serve every day of the sentence I am about to impose. And I send you to the Colorado Department of Corrections for the remainder of your natural life and without the possibility of parole.

Good luck to you, and that concludes this matter. With life without parole ringing in her ears, Shawna Nelson was led from the courtroom. Minutes after she'd changed into her prison orange, she was ushered into a spare storage room off the courthouse garage for an interview. The interview was with Paula Woodward. She was the Denver TV reporter

that Deb Smith had admiringly called a pit bull. As it did for a very successful career, Paula's persistence had again paid off. Did you expect it, the murder? No. You were ice cold on camera. No reaction. I was like a thumbed bug. I still can't believe it, Paula. Twelve people delivering four hours Friday afternoon. They probably decided Friday afternoon. And then they, for an hour and a half, Monday morning. There wasn't a lot of doubt in their minds.

How can you explain that? I can't explain what they were feeling. All I can think is that they didn't look. There was reasonable doubt in this case. I know it looked bad. Through the whole thing, know it looked bad. I did. Through the whole thing, it's looked bad. And why is that?

Somebody did a really good job of framing me, of putting me here. If you didn't kill Heather Garris, who did? I can give you two choices. All right. I think either Ig had something to do with this or my ex-girlfriend Michelle. A lot of time has passed since that interview. Shawna appealed her conviction and was denied. Paula Woodward retired and became an author.

She still remembers that courthouse-basement encounter with Shawna Nelson. She is used to talking her way in and out of situations, and she thought by taking the stand that she could get that jury to believe her that she was innocent, and it didn't work. And you ask her what's left, and she says, well, my faith, which is something you hear a lot from people who have been convicted of crimes. I'm sure that she still professes to have faith in her God. And I wonder what she would say to her God about what she's done in her life and the pain she's caused other people. Because forgiveness requires acknowledgement of what you've done. Yes, it does. Shauna Nelson would not be the

only person checking into the Crossbar Hotel as a result of this. Because of the way her story evolved and then dribbled out, prosecutors revoked the get-out-of-jail-free card for Michelle Moore. She pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder and was sentenced to nine years in prison. She ended up serving a little more than half of that before being paroled in 2013. Shauna Nelson did not respond to Dateline's request for an interview. Neither did Michelle Moore. Ken Nelson did get back to us. He said, no comment. The evidence tampering charges against

Ken were dropped in 2011 for lack of evidence. He now lives in another state. The two children he had with Shauna are grown and on their own now. As for the baby boy Shauna had with Ig Garris, well, he's in his teens now, and he still lives with Ken. In the wake of the Shauna Nelson case, the Greeley Police Department changed its culture. Officers were told immoral or inappropriate behavior would not be tolerated. They were encouraged to police themselves and one another. It's been 15 years since I last laid eyes on Ig Garris. We were near his new home in Florida, thousands of miles from Greeley, Colorado, the city where his life careened out of control. Back then, he was tanned and rested, but still tormented.

You're ashamed of yourself. Oh, yes. I loathe. I got to hide it so my kid doesn't see how bad I loathe myself. Because a beautiful woman's dead for me having an affair, a chain of events that I had no way of foreseeing. Ig did not respond to our request for another interview. But it's easy to imagine that a part of him is tormented still. Particularly when he thinks of the old days in Colorado. And that time before the fall.

The time when he and Heather and Victoria were a family. of the old days in Colorado, and that time before the fall, the time when he and Heather and Victoria were a family. Bye, guys. Bye, say bye to Daddy. He's off to work. Go to work. Love you. Love you, too. You see, Ig and Heather's daughter, Victoria, grew up to be the very image of her mother,

a beautiful smile, long black hair, dark sparkling eyes. She might be thinking of starting a family of her own about now. Except for one terrible thing. Victoria Garris was killed in a car accident in Michigan in 2015. She was 17 years old. A woman scorned. A woman mourned. So much tragedy. So much wreckage.

And so much of it traceable to unintended consequences spawned from a string of bad decisions. Thank you. Sound mixing by Bob Mallory. Nina Bisbono is associate producer.