Snapped: Women Who Murder - Shanda Crain

Episode Date: December 26, 2021

A woman finds her parents murdered in their dairy farmhouse. Law enforcement begin to wonder if previous murders within the family and the current murders, are connected. With so many theories and suspicions around the deaths, detectives begin ruling out suspects.Season 20, Episode 3Originally aired: May 21, 2017Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WsLCJWqmIebSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Even at 29, Shanda Crain was still her parents' princess. She was a daddy's girl, whatever my mom wanted, my mom got. But then, tragedy struck. They found a land door and Bobby Spears shot the death.

She just looked like it was an execution. And it looked like someone was targeting the family. There had been two other homicides in their family. Was Shanda in danger? Authorities looked hard to see if the murders were related. Or did Daddy's girl have a deadly secret? They can still just support it with me. The

world is a world of the world. The world of the world is a world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world.

The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world.

The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. The world of the world. Washington, Parish, Louisiana, January 25, 1995.

It was a quiet winter day in this rural community, an hour and a half northeast of New Orleans. It's mostly farms, woods, fields, and no really city, little bitty country stores. And at around noon that Wednesday, 29-year-old Shanda Crane and her eight-year-old daughter were on their way to see Shanda's parents, Lander and Bobby spears. The spears on the dairy farm, and it was a very rural area. It was just farms, a few small stores, and a few houses.

But as they neared her parents' farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the farm, the Shanda approached, the hired hand flagged down the car and told Shanda that he'd spent the morning working around the dairy barn like he always did. But then around noon, he'd gone to the house and knocked on the door to speak to lander. Couldn't anybody answer the door. And when he looked in, he saw something disturbing. Missed spears were faced down in the hall. Unable to get inside, the farm hand ran toward the road, hoping to flag down someone who could help. It scared him, and he went back out to the highway where Chanda Crayon ran across him. It's something wrong with your mama. Frightened by what she'd heard, Chanda immediately drove up to the house with her father's hired hand.

He showed her what he could see. And what Chanda saw was enough to send anyone into a panic. Her mama's bloody. From the porch, Chanda ran back to where her daughter waited in the car and then sped down the road to a small country store. She went to the store to call 911. What's up, Batman? What's up, Batman?

Deputies were on the scene within minutes. When the call came over the radio, I was the closest officer to the residents. And once they made entry, the deputies uncovered a scene that would strike terror into the tight-knit rural community. They found land or, and Bobby Spears shot the down. Even more terrifying,

there had been two previous murders within the family in the past six weeks, leaving the authorities wondering was someone killing off the Spears one by one? They were suspecting the people that killed my uncle was who killed my grandparents. And if so, could Bobby and Landers daughter Shanda be next? Born in 1965, Shanda Spears spent her entire life in Washington, Parish.

It's a nice community, good people. Very quiet town, nice people, everybody looks out for everybody. People know who you are and who people are. And pretty much everyone in Washington Parish, knew Shandas, parents, lander, and Bobby's Spears. They're a very prominent, well-known, well-liked family. They had money. Money that mostly came from the family's successful dairy farm.

There used to be a large number of dairy farms across the northern part of the parish. On the side, Shandas father also owned a small roadside bar. It's on one edge of their property up on the highway. As a child, Shandas grew up roaming the fields of her family's 200 acre dairy farm. She was a good childhood. I never seen her with a frown or nothing on her face. She always had a smile. And from an early age, Shanda learned to handle the family's dairy herd.

We had to go get them up in the back field and get them up to the barn. And while Shanda may have worked hard on the farm, her parents also spoiled her. She was a daddy's girl. She had everything she wanted, a big in-ground swimming pool, private school. And when she turned 16, a sporty convertible. She drove a little MG-migid. At Bowling Green School in Franklinton, Shanda was an excellent student.

She's very smart. She was involved in a lot of stuff at school. And the pretty privileged team was popular too. She was somebody everybody wanted to be. I know that she was a cheerleader. And during her senior year in high school, Daddy's little princess became a beauty queen.

She got form bureau queen one year there in Washington pairs at the fair. Two years after graduation, the former form bureau queen had a new boyfriend and a new baby. He was not married to Shanda when she was born. They never would marry. Soon after her daughter was born, Shanda when she was born. They never would marry. Soon after her daughter was born, Shanda broke up with the baby's father. She took the little girl and moved back in with her parents. She always had a good relationship with them.

The family was all very close. You know, they looked out for each other. Shanda lived with her parents for two years before moving out again. After falling in love with a local truck driver named Brent Crane, he drove all over. He sold wholesale flowers out of the 18-willer to force. In 1987, 22-year-old Shanda married Brent, and soon after, she gave birth to a second daughter, and two years later, she had a third

child, Megan. But with a growing family, life was tough for Shanda and her truck driver, husband. We moved a couple places. I know we lived right on the Mississippi border. My dad, my mom had a place. Then we moved out to Pine, Louisiana. Although whenever they needed a little extra money to get by, Shanda could always lean on her parents, Lander, and Bobby. My grandparents was very supportive of my mom. My mom could go to them. Shanda's parents were always happy to help and don't on her little girls.

They spoiled us, especially lander who now had three little princesses to indulge. Papa did a lot with us girls. Um took us to the store. I always bought us candy. And thanks to her parents supportive example, Shanda seemed to excel at motherhood. Mom would cook for us, sit down with us, watch TV, and play with us. She was a good mom. She always took care of her girls. But even with her parents' help, being a stay-at-home mom wasn't quite within Shanda's reach. Mom would work for my dad's she also milked the cows.

I don't think she had a salary that they were given. They were taking care of things far and getting her groceries and paying bills and things like that. Still, it allowed her to spend a lot of money on the dairy and the cows. She was a bookkeeper for the dairy and she also milked the cows. I don't think she had a salary that they were given.

They were taking care of things far and getting her groceries and paying bills and things like that. Still, it allowed her to spend a lot of time with her children. My mom would take us to school, go to work, she'd pick us up, we had a normal life. And at 29, the mother of three had a family that loved her and would do anything for her. My papa would have sold all his inheritance, all of what he worked for to make sure my mom had what she needed. But in January of 1995, a horrible tragedy would tear Shandas loving family apart and strike the two people who loved her most. Coming up, deputies make up puzzling discovery. The mountain real was taken, and that leads them to wonder

is the entire family in danger. Landore Spears' cousin, Howard Spears, was murdered. MUSIC It was a little afternoon on January 25, 1995, when 29-year-old Shanda Crane called 911 from a country store in rural Washington, Parish, Louisiana. Shanda Crane made a call from a little grocery store that was maybe a mile or so down the road going east from her parents' house. Her father forced her to go over the body,

so over the body, so over the body. And the reason Shanda called for help, she had just seen something disturbing through the window of her parents' house. She goes to go get in a house, couldn't get in a house, she's seen her mom had blood on her, so she went call 911. Within minutes, Sheriff's deputies had converged on the isolated form of Shanda's parents, Lander, and Bobby Spears. They were dairy people, the high percentage of the population,

are dairy farmers in Washington, Paris. The Spears were well known, too, even to the first deputy who arrived at the scene. That's a small community, and you pretty much know everybody. Although when deputy Stevens first arrived at the Spears' Farm, the place appeared, everybody. Although when Deputy Stevens first arrived at the Spir's farm, the place appeared, deserted. No one was at round house. Shanda and the hired hand who'd first discovered something

was a mess, were still a few miles down the road, waiting at the country store where they placed the 911 call. I knocked on the door, I didn't get an answer. And when the deputy went inside, he confirmed Shandas' worst fears. Shandas' mother was dead outside the bedroom door. Her mom was in a hallway laying down. She had blood on her. And the bloody scene in the hallway wasn't the only indication of foul play. In the bedroom just beyond where Bobby laid dead was yet another victim.

Her dad was dead in a bed with a gunshot wound to the head. There were bullet holes in the wall behind the bed. Bullet holes that allowed the investigators to reconstruct what must have happened. Someone had walked in the room. He had set up in the bed, and they shot him. And based on where the deputies found her, Shanda's mother, who slept in a different bedroom, must have heard the gunshots.

Evidently, when she heard the shots, she got up out of bed and came out of the bedroom. At that point, she was shot. But why would someone kill the couple? It didn't appear to be a robbery. Bergery never crossed my mind. It didn't look like a robbery to what nothing really was taken. Instead, it looked as if whoever shot Lander and Bobby had come to the house that morning with one thing in mind. Just look like it was an execution. And the fact that Lander and Bobby's killers

hadn't ransacked the house wasn't the only thing that led the investigators to believe that the couple had been targeted. It was discovered that the telephone lines had been cut. But most disturbing of all, the double murder was only the most recent in a string of incidents involving Landors family. Six weeks prior to this, Landors fears his cousin Howard's fears was murdered. And a few weeks after that, Landore's brother Richard, he was murdered.

Was it merely a coincidence? Or was someone stalking the Spears family? The authorities looked hard to see if the murders were really. Long force were trying to connect the dots. And they found that the deaths of his cousin and brother had clearly put lander and his wife Bobby on edge. Some members of his spirit spammy at that point were extremely fearful for the lives. In fact, lander had been so fearful after his brother's murder that just days before his own death he'd gone out and bought a gun. And he asked a friend and bought a gun and he

asked a friend who was a sheriff's deputy for advice to show him how to use it and operate and all that yet for all his fears as far as investigators knew lander didn't have any enemies he got along with everybody I've never heard him have a crossword with anyone and they were soon able to rule out any connection between his death and his brother's murder. There had been an arrest in the Richard Spears homicide. The person that killed Richard, he was in jail, you know, it was no way he could have done it. With no other leaves, the next morning, the investigators turned to the dead couple's daughter, Shanda. I took her in my office and, uh, interviewer. I didn't interrogate her. I just talked to her

at some length. According to Shanda, her day had started like every other. She headed to her dad's dairy barn. And we're from a quarter after seven to seven thirty. It took me about twenty-five minutes to get up there after I've got my kids on the bus. She arrives way before daylight to milk the cows. Shanda told the investigators her parents had both been asleep when she arrived. I said I'll go get the cows up and get everything ready. And she expected her parents would sleep in.

My grandparents and my grandma had been at the bar very late. They had came in maybe two, three o'clock in the morning. Shanda had her oldest daughter with her that morning. The eight-year-old had stayed home from school. My sister had a ear infection. And she stayed at the farmhouse, well, Shanda milked. She dropped off at my grandparents' house and put her in the bed with my grandpa.

According to Shanda, her parents had still been asleep when she finished her milking, so she brought her daughter back up to the car and drove to town. So I went home and I cleaned up some. I had to go pay my electricity bill. But around lunchtime, as she drove back to her parents' farm, Shanda said she was surprised to see her father's hired hand standing out by the highway. He said, Shanda's something bad, I've been somewhere in highway,

he says they just covered with blood blood everywhere. They rushed back to her parents farmhouse and Shanda said the site of her mother's bloody body on the floor had sent her into a panic. I got to go call my mom. One at that point she left there went out to the little snow or made

a call. Then after calling 911, Shanda had called a neighbor and returned to the farmhouse. Not knowing, afraid my mom and his wife in there, you know, and then I can tell from her something. But when Shanda and the neighbor forced their way in, she discovered that her parents were beyond help.

And they found both her parents were shocked. You went in the house? Yeah. But both her parents were shot. You went in the house? Yeah. But with her parents dead and the authorities on the way, Shanda hadn't stayed at the farmhouse. Instead, fearing for her children's safety, she'd gone to her mother-in-law's and arranged for her

to pick up the kids from school. My grandma and my aunt come and pick this up. That was very unusual because they've never done that. We went to my grandma's house and my mom told us what happened. Shanda's daughter Megan was only fine when her grandparents were

murdered. I was so small. I was aware of what was being said. But I don't think I could feel no emotions behind it because I didn't understand it. According to what Shanda told the investigators, she couldn't really understand why someone would kill her parents either.

All she could tell them was that perhaps it had something to do with the bar her parents ran. My grandpa had had a lot of altercations with people at the bar because they drank, didn't fight and he didn't allow it. And as it turned out, Shanda was right. The murders did have something to do with her parents' bar. Coming up, the investigators uncover something suspicious. They will checks coming through that were not landers in Bobby signature. And they asked Shanda

some tough questions. What you need to tell me about you in particular is probably not today. Summer is finally here, which means the great outdoors are hotter, more humid, and filled with bugs. Actually come to think of it, there's no better way to spend the summer than an air-conditioned comfort while listening to your favorite podcasts.

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Right now, new subscribers can enjoy two months free of Wondery Plus. Visit Wondery.com or download the Wondery app to get started. By the afternoon of January 26, 1995, it had been more than 24 hours since Lander and Bobby Spears had been found dead on their dairy farm in rural Washington, Parish, Louisiana. Her father and son had her mother did one or four. The couple's daughter, 29-year-old Shanda Crain, was the one who called the authorities. Shanda Crain made a call to the Sheriff's Office to tell them something had happened and to get somebody out there.

It appeared that Shanda was the last person to see her parents alive, and that made her a key witness. She was not really in my mind or suspect. And as a matter of routine, investigators had ruled out everyone else who had contacts with the couple, the hired hand, even their son-in-law, Shandas, husband. My father was eliminated as a suspect because my dad was way off some hours away on a truck. In short, the investigators were stumped. We have really scratched our heads and scratched our heads.

But was that about to change? Shortly after they spoke to Shanda, the Sheriff's Department received a concerned call from a local bank. Apparently in the days before the murder, there had been some irregularities in the late couple's account. They had noticed that there were checks coming through that were not landers in Bobby's signature.

The bankers know their customers and they knew their signatures. Not only had the bank noticed something was wrong, they'd been trying to contact the couple about it prior to their murders. To let them know something was wrong. They'd been trying to contact the couple about it prior to their murders. To let them know what was happening. But the bank could never reach Lander and Bobby. The telephoto lines had been cut.

Was the forgery somehow connected to the murders? It was too soon to know for sure. But as far as who was forging the checks, Lander and Bobby's bankers had a pretty good guess, Shanda. She had control of the books. And as the Derry's bookkeeper, it appeared that Shanda had skimmed a significant amount of money off her parents. She had drained the balance from $4,000, $5,000 down to about $300, $400.

And when the investigators looked into the florist business that Shanda also kept the books for, they made a similar discovery. She wrote some checks on her husband's company that he worked for. But if Shanda had taken the money, where had it gone? The answer turned out to be right at the end of her parents' bar.

In 1991, the state of Louisiana legalized video poker. And unlike some other states, Louisiana didn't restrict the machines to dedicated casinos. State legislature had legalized the machines in any business that had a license to sell alcohol on premise. Before long, the machines were everywhere. Restaurants, bars, pizza parlors, even darn shops. Got the liquor license to have, have my video poker machines. Shanda's father got a machine for his bar too.

Her dad's bar. That's where she went play most of the time. She played alongside with her mom. However, unlike her mom, once Shanda started playing, she had a hard time stomping. She became addicted to paying video poker. And when it came to video poker, addiction wasn't Shanda's only problem either.

She wasn't good at it. Shanda apparently lost thousands of dollars in the change. She was going through any money she could get her hands on. Although, since Shanda's parents were her primary source of money, wouldn't their deaths cut her off? Not if there was a way she could cash in. Her parents had a 300,000 dollar life insurance policy. And the insurance payoff wasn't all that Bobby and Lander would leave behind.

Asset wise, dairy farmers own tremendous amounts of property. Not just farmland, either. They own all the cows, tractors, and all kinds of equipment, and everything that goes with it. And of course, the spears also own the bar out by the highway. However, their sizeable estate would be split between their three children.

She was not going to receive the whole amount. Not of the estate or the life insurance. 50,000 miles of it has a beneficiary. Still, with no other viable leads, Shanda's gambling debts, her inheritance, and the fact that she'd been at the farm earlier that morning were enough to give investigators' halls. The police began to suspect that perhaps Shanda had something to do with her parents' murder. Once we found out the problem she had, it kinda narrowed the field down. And on January 30, five days after her parents' murders,

the investigators brought her in for further questioning. They, at that point, decided to interrogate her. Question her like she was a suspect rather than a survivor of murder victims. They, fingerprint her, they booked her. They subjected her to a modified strip search. And then, just to make her, they subjected her to a modified strip search. And then, just to make her sweat a little more.

They took my mom and put my mom in a hold-in cell for close to two hours. Shandha was becoming increasingly upset. So upset that when the investigator is finally brought Shandha into the interrogation room, she completely broke down. Oh God, what am I doing? Shanda's new story started out just like the first, that she'd gone out to the farm that morning to do the milking same as always. I still call this said so you took her.

The day is after you mama's house. What time to go get there. So between that and that with the other. But after the milking and after she carried her daughter back out to the car, Shanda's story took a radically different and deadly turn. At that point, she went back inside the house, got her daddy's gun, on the floor, laying by your dad. And just as the investigators suspected, Shanda said she'd taken the gun her father bought for protection and turned it on him.

He woke up and you got the first time. That's next time. Do you remember C. For Ian? Yes, take your time. It's okay. So it's not okay? One gun shot went through his head and killed him instantly.

There were two shots, I think, maybe three that were fired in the room. And she missed him with at least one of them. Then, once her father was dead, she had a little problem with her. She had a little problem. What did she have? She just had a baby. She justl. What did she howl? She just howl. She just screamed. She just screamed. Chana went into the other room and showed her mother. She made what I could, what could only be described as a very gripping, emotional confession. After shooting her parents, Chanda said that she had gone outside and disposed of the gun. I guess it's going to go in the oxidative card.

Now did you throw that gun in the oxidation form? I needed yes and no answer on that. I think it did. I think that's where I was at when I said so. And then once she ditched the gun, Shanda got in the car with her daughter and drove away. Shanda was out running errands. But why kill her parents?

Shanda had a surprising explanation. Her husband. He's so jealous of my brother, but I didn't. So jealous. And he didn't want me to get there. He didn't want me to be up there. And if my brother died, he was out of the body. He'd feel sorry for me and keep wanting to see.

But investigators suspected her motive wasn't love. She was in financial trouble, and she needed some money. What you need to tell me about you, is a particular little problem that you had, okay? You gave them a problem, okay? At that point, Shanda admitted to stealing money from her parents and trying to hide her gambling problem. Shanda exhorted to robbing money

from her father's bank accounts by writing a forged checks and that sort of thing to cover her losses. And then, to keep her parents from discovering the theft, she did something drastic. I want to show up with my brother. Not for the money, according to Shanda. Instead, she claimed it was for this simple fact that she couldn't

face them and admit what she had done. Her confession complete, the investigators placed Shanda under arrest for the murder of her parents. Then they allowed her to speak to her family. My mom called and we talked to her and she told us that she was sorry. But within weeks of her confession, Shanda would be saying something else. Coming up, Shanda takes it all back. I tried to sit back taking a rest or something like that.

But can she keep her confession out of courts? The entire confession was unconstitutional. On January 13, 1997, Shanda Crane went on trial for murder at the Washington Parish courthouse in Franklinton, Louisiana. Television stations from Baton Rouge in New Orleans covered the case as did all the newspapers in the area. The interest was due to two things.

The first was the crime, the 31-year-old was accused of committing. A double homicide of your parents was a pretty heinous thing. And if she were convicted, the punishment could be severe. It was made pretty clear early on that they were going to be seeking to death penalty. The second thing that made Chanda's case stand out was what had allegedly motivated the murders. With the video poker was new in the stable Louisiana so the press had made it out to be the first big crime case based on a gambling addiction.

And Shanda had admitted to the murders in a confession she'd made shortly before her arrest. There's the strongest thing the prosecution had without any question was her confession. The confession was the basis of their case. But would the jury ever hear it? Six months after her arrest, while held in jail awaiting trial, Shanda had contacted the detectives and requested another interview.

And when she sat down with them, she had yet another version of her story. And the defense would make an issue of just how much pressure the investigators had allegedly put on her, once Shanda's trial got underway. We had a motion to quash the confession. And I believe the entire confession was unconstitutional. According to her attorney, it had to do with the extreme pressure they put on Shanda in order to bring a confession out of her. They immediately took her down, locked her up in a cell, they fingered her twice, they

mugged shot her twice, they interrogated and gave her a modified strip search. And it was only once she was thoroughly intimidated and humiliated that they started grilling her hard. They told her that they knew she had done it. They had the evidence to prove it. They told her that if she did not confess to the crime, that she would die by lethal injection, and it would be televised for her children to watch.

And the only way to avoid that, according to the defense, was for Shanda to say that she killed her parents. Y'all watch me up back there for starters, and it's little bitty thing. And then Harold, if you confess, we'll send you to a mental hospital. But if you don't, you're going to get legal injection. I was scared to death. They told my mom that if she confessed that she did it, they would send her to a mental hospital,

and she would get to go home with her kids. And with three children under the age of 10, getting home was Shanda's primary concern. She was a young mother. She had some kids who she was trying to protect. They were aware of her fragile state when they asked her to come in. My mom had felt guilty because she had took money from my grandparents for her gambling problem. And according to the defense, when Shanda still refused to confess, the investigators had made one last attempt to exploit the fragile young mothers guilt. They brought in a civil deputy who was also a Baptist minister to sit and talk to her about

redemption and God and forgiveness. And according to the defense, it was only then, after hours of grueling intimidation and manipulation, that Shanda finally broke. She just wanted the believer alone. When police officers use those tactics, people will confess to crimes that they don't commit. At least, that's what the defense claimed in their motion to suppress the confession. But would the judge agree? I allowed the confession to be presented to the jury.

Because in the judge's experience, recanting a confession is not unusual in criminal cases. After reflection and talking with an attorney, they say, oh, wait, you mean that's going to happen to me because of this confession? And I didn't mean to confess. It was a devastating blow for the defense. With the confession, it was a very, very strong case.

And to make the most of it, the prosecutors began their case by playing a section of the tape. The moment where Shanda described just how the gun felt in her hands when she killed her mom and dad. I got chills when I heard. And that still stick, I still remember that, I pulled 20 years later. And unfortunately for Shanda, the confession wasn't the only evidence they had against her.

After her arrest, the investigators had focused their attention on the oxidation pond outside the family's dairy barn. She told the deputies that that's where she threw the gun. It's a pond just kind of like a 70-tank. It's about three days, four days to ever drain it, but eventually we found it on. The grime-coated gun was a 38-calibur revolver. The weapon turns out to be a gun that belonged to landers.

And not only had the investigators found it exactly where Shandas said it would be, ballistics testing proved it was the murder weapon, too. The crime bag was able to match the bullets and the casings and everything else to the gun that was used to kill Bobby and Lander. And in addition to the gun that was used to kill Bobby and Lander. And in addition to the murder weapon, the prosecutors also produced a witness

who was with Shanda the morning of the murder, her 10-year-old daughter. My sister got up on the stand and testified. Shanda's oldest daughter had only been eight years old when she accompanied her mother to the farm on the morning of her grandparents' murder, but the judge allowed the little girl to take the stand anyway. She seemed to be very cognizant of the her surroundings, of the ramification of her testimony. But just how serious would those ramifications, be.

Eric, oldest daughter testified that when she and her mother went over there, she had to left her with her grandfather and went and milked the cow. She says, little while later, Mama came back, came into the house, got me out of the bed, took me outside the house, and then she went back in. Shanda's daughter said she'd waited in the car while her mother went back inside. The car was parked about 50 to 60 yards from the house. The radio was on. And in addition to that, the little girl said that while waiting on her mother, she'd

sat in the car with the door open. She says, but it's any shots or anything like that. But there was something Shanda's daughter did here. What her mother told her when she returned from the farm house a few minutes later. Then she came back into the car and told her daughter not to tell anyone that they had seen Mom Walloppawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawpawp Much like their claim that Shanda's confession had been coerced, the defense suggested that the prosecution had unduly influenced her daughter's testimony, slowly turning the little girl against her mother over the last two years.

She was not in the presence of her mother for a long period of time prior to the trial. The defense also did its best to raise reasonable doubt about the murder weapon, because while the investigators had found the gun exactly where she said it would be, there was no way to forensically place the grime-coded weapon in Shandas' hands. When they pulled the gun out, they didn't take no fingerprints, so nothing said they couldn't. The gun was never connected to Shandah Krain in any way. They also did their best to cast doubt on Shandah's so-called motives. Their best defense was as ridiculous to think that someone would kill their parents for $50,000.

I mean, who would do that? But most of all, since they hadn't succeeded in keeping it out, the defense made the case that Shanda's confession had been coerced. There have been many, many cases, particularly since DNA has come out, where they have been able to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that people have confessed to crimes that they don't commit. And while her attorneys didn't put Shanda on the stand to profess her innocence, even the judge agreed that the sight of the anxious young mother sitting in the courtroom

only underscored the defense's point. She did not seem to be the kind of person who would shoot anybody, more or less her parents. Coming up, will the defense strategy, hey, Alps? She's not that person, she's not a violent person. And what will it mean for Shanda? I was trying to keep her from having her life taken from her by the state of Louisiana. On January 21, 1997, the jury announced that it had reached a verdict in Shanda Cranes' murder trial.

They were only out for like four or five hours. Not only have the 31-year-old mother of three been accused of killing her parents, lander and Bobby Spears, inside their Washington parish Louisiana home. She'd confessed to the crime. She originally confessed to the detectives about five or six days after the murderous. The confession was audio tapes and played to the jury during a trial. At trial, Shandas Attorneys had argued that her confession had been coerced. I believe we were able to show the jury that real serious problems with the confession.

But had they done enough to raise reasonable doubt, it all came down to the verdict. The jury unanimously determined that she was guilty. Shanda's daughter Megan is still shot by the verdict. She's not that person. She's not a violent person. I believe my mom's innocent. But in the courtroom, those who'd heard the evidence against Shanda found the prosecution's case compelling.

They were able to support every element of her confession. Determining Shanda's guilt or innocence wasn't all the jury had to do though. There was also her sentence and the stakes couldn't be higher. This was a death penalty case. Now it's trying to keep her from having her life taken from her by the state of Louisiana. And this time, the decision wasn't so easy. The family did not want the death penalty imposed,

and I think that had a big bearing on the jury. Being deadlocked and not reaching a conclusion to impose the death penalty. Since the jury wasn't unanimous on the death penalty, Shanda was immediately sentenced to life in prison. In Louisiana, if you're not put to death, then it's automatic life. With no chance of parole, she will die in the prison.

And that's much to the disappointment of Shanda's daughter Megan. More than 20 years after her grandparents murder, she remains close to her mother. I talked to her weekly. I go see my mom two, three, four times a year. She's the same person. 22 years later, there's nothing different about my mom. She's still nice, outgoing, best mom ever. Shanda Crain's appeals have all been denied. In 1996, Washington Parish and 32 other parishes across Louisiana, voted to ban video poker.

Bobby and Landr spears his murders. We're a major motivation for the referendum.