Snapped: Women Who Murder - Sharon Halstead

Episode Date: August 7, 2022

When a young mother is executed and her family critically injured, investigators piece together haunting clues and an earlier murder to capture deranged killers with a spiritual calling.Seaso...n 25, Episode 07Originally aired: April 21, 2019Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee 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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Starting point is 00:00:00 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. They were a beautiful couple devoted to their faith and their young son. They were very happy, very much in love. We were all content. No real big dreams just trying to be happy, you know.
Starting point is 00:00:35 But then, a brutal shooting shotters the happiness they've built together. Her gunshots hurt her scream. I heard them execute her. This tragedy is only part of a terrifying crime spree. We learned of another homicide in Yamhill County. Screaming, why did you shoot? At the scenes of these horrific crimes, lie unsettling clues. It showed me both written on the wall and there, trusted Jesus.
Starting point is 00:01:08 The path to justice leads police to a cluster of believers with a twisted take on religion. They believe they had angels telling them instructions. The madness, extreme possession of people, souls by an evil, satanic influence. If you had namens in you, you're totaled. They believed these people were total, and they needed to die.
Starting point is 00:01:33 It's just sort of sends a little chill up your neck. Let God be that judge. It's not your job to eliminate people. A small community off Interstate 5 in the southwest corner of the state. On November 5, 1988, just before 10 p.m., Evelyn Drake is watching television when a pounding at her front door startles her. Outside is her neighbor, 31-year-old David Green. Outside is her neighbor, 31-year-old David Green. I was bleeding and hurting, and she answered the door,
Starting point is 00:02:30 and I collapsed on their living room floor. Blood pours from a gunshot wound to the back of his shoulder as David pleads for help for his family. Evelyn immediately calls 911. When grants pass police officers race to the scene, they find David Delirious from blood loss. I was fading in and I had tunnel vision, so things would go dark,
Starting point is 00:02:56 everything was kind of in the background. Before he passes out, David begs police to go to his house to check on his wife, 32-year-old Lynn Green, and his young son, Nathaniel. [♪eerie music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, and turn out to be Mrs. Green. She was deceased. Then, the officers spot Nathaniel. The child was sitting in the high chair right in the dining room. He's been shot. Against all odds, Nathaniel is still breathing.
Starting point is 00:03:38 The officers try their best to comfort the young child until an ambulance arrives. It's a heartbreaking start to a horrifying investigation. It's bad if an adult is shot killed or injured. But when somebody shoots a child, that's really bad. Born in California on November 5, 1957, David Green was part of a loving and strictly religious Seventh-day Adventist family. We're a Protestant organization founded in 1844, mainly on the belief in the whole Bible,
Starting point is 00:04:20 old and New Testament together. If the Bible doesn't talk about it or back it up, then it's not part of the church. Seventh-day Adventists have strict dietary restrictions and a belief in good and evil that perhaps is not mainstream Christian belief. In 1977, David was working towards a dental technician certification at La Ciara University,
Starting point is 00:04:46 a 7th-day Adventist school in Riverside, California. In chemistry class, he locked eyes with a beautiful freshman named Lynn Sapienza, who was studying to be a teacher. She was very pleasant and happy, a cheerful person, giving and generous. And so I waited for her to get out of class one day and I asked her out. Lynn was Roman Catholic, but they quickly found commonalities in their face and love in their hearts. The couple dated throughout college.
Starting point is 00:05:22 When David graduated, he decided to move to Grant's Pass Oregon, where his parents had moved a few years earlier. I just left her, I think she was upset about that, and so we would communicate every day on the phone. Finally, she says, well, you know, we don't do this, I'm gonna go out with other people. So I thought, oh, wow, okay, don't want to lose her. David asked Lynn to make a real leap of faith, marry him and join him in Oregon. The couple tied the knot on April 12, 1981. It was a beautiful day, beautiful sunny day. We were both just enjoying the day. It was like the perfect day with wind and the sun and you know and you're in love.
Starting point is 00:06:07 After getting certified to teach, Lynn converted to the seventh day Adventist Church and made the pilgrimage to Grants Pass. Lynn Green was very highly thought of not only within the S.K.A. community, but within the community in general, in terms of her personality. David and Lynn joined a prayer group, started by David's father. Well, you have to have guiding principles. We were trying to base it on truth, what the Bible says. Although a new member, Lynn soon became a charismatic leader. Lynn was sort of the rock of this group in terms of her ability to attract and interrelate with people.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Everyone I ever came in contact with thought the world of Lynn Green. Soon, Lynn and David decided part of their spiritual path was to help some of David's childhood friends who had also moved to Oregon. Debra and Sharon Hallsted. David was brought up in the same church as Debra and Sharon, as well as their brother Michael. The Greens and the Hallsted families were about four generations of seventh-day Adventists. Every now and then they would come over to our house and visit,
Starting point is 00:07:27 play with the kids, you know, hide and seek, or stuff like that. While David adhered to the church's teachings, the Holstead siblings drifted away as they became adults. They had their issues, they had a lot of kids in their family, some didn't turn out as well as others, so we know it's trebled. Michael worked as a ranch hand in Yamhill County, Oregon. Just kind of an ordinary guy, a little reclusive, but lived up here and and worked up here on the ranch. Debra had been tempted by the glossy allure of Hollywood. She used to work as more or less a secretary
Starting point is 00:08:08 and stuff with recording contracts, studio work. At 27 years old, Sharon had defied her father and aloped with a blacksmith named Tex Shively, who was more than twice her age. The couple had two sons, Harry and Leo. My grandfather disapproved of the marriage in the first place. I believe age difference, the fact that my father was not religious. He was not a someday of Venice.
Starting point is 00:08:37 The couple's different backgrounds eventually drove them to divorce in 1984. Sharon and the boys moved to Grant's Pass, Oregon to be near her parents, who had followed the Green family to that area. When we moved down here, she was really scrambling. We were getting some sort of help from the state. We're on low income housing. Debra felt unfulfilled in the city of angels,
Starting point is 00:09:03 so she moved from Los Angeles to the quiet of Oregon to live with her sister Sharon and the boys. That kind of created, in a sense, a little more stability, used to have a mom and dad, at least, ants here now. Hearing that the Hallstead sisters were in town, David and Lynn Greene's prayer group invited the women and Sharon's boys to join, offering emotional support.
Starting point is 00:09:28 They would get together and pray. It was peaceful. Those meetings had a tremendous impact on my mom and my aunt. In 1985, David and Lynn welcomed little Nathaniel. When your first kid enters the world, it's a rush, very emotional. Even with a young child in tow, Lynn faithfully poured energy into the prayer group.
Starting point is 00:09:55 And by 1988, the group was still growing. We were all happy and content. We had plans for him just trying to be happy, you know. Those plans would be destroyed on David Green's 31st birthday, November 5, 1988, when David and Nathaniel are shot, and Lynn is murdered in their own home. As EMT's rush David and Nathaniel to the hospital, detectives arrive to begin processing the scene.
Starting point is 00:10:32 They start by examining Lynn's body. Because of the entry wound in the top of her head, we thought it might have been execution style. It's shocking when you learn that a child has been shot. It motivates you to work harder, to look harder into the answers for the case. What kind of evil monster could be behind such a brutal shooting? Coming up, detectives discover their first clue
Starting point is 00:11:01 in a crime scene that becomes more and more bizarre. The only thing that was there was what was written in the bathroom on the wall. Those words trusted Jesus. Very unusual. It's sort of out of a crime thriller. On November 5, 1988, Grants Pass Oregon police are working the scene of a heartless triple shooting. Lynn Green is dead, and her husband David and son Nathaniel are in critical condition
Starting point is 00:11:41 at an area hospital. Checking Lynn's body, investigators note that in addition to the head wound, she was also shot in her chest. Gunpowder residues suggests that both shots were from point blank range. The young mother had been executed. This was pretty shocking to the community to have a family shot, all three of them.
Starting point is 00:12:08 You know, you're talking a population of about 15,000 people at that time. It's pretty shocking. Although the Grants Pass area is fairly rural, it is no stranger to crime due to its location on the only major highway between San Francisco and Seattle. At the time I was on the police department, we had one of the highest crime rates
Starting point is 00:12:32 still was in the state of Oregon, mostly because we're on the I-5 corridor. You get a lot of people that are not vocals that come into the area and commit crimes. Could a drifter have killed Lynn Greene in a burglary gone wrong? As investigators process the scene for clues, they discover a cryptic message
Starting point is 00:12:57 scrolled in the Greene's bathroom. Written on the wall in there was Trusted Jesus. It looked like it was done with lipstick. Well, already known the walls are unusual. We don't see that, at least in my experience. It's sort of out of a crime thriller. Why this would be written on the bathroom wall, and then you go and you shoot people that live there.
Starting point is 00:13:22 Didn't make any sense at all. and shoot people that live there. Didn't make any sense at all. A meticulous search turns up very little in the way of evidence. He had the projectiles from the shells that would be in the bodies of all three of the victims. Other than that, then there wasn't very much there. And Lynn's purse was missing.
Starting point is 00:13:44 When detective search for more clues among Bibles and other seventh-day Adventist materials in the home, they discover Lynn Green's journal. We were able to obtain a diary that was about 175 pages that I recall, and through the writings, we were able to sort of track the daily activities of the greens. Inside, investigators find passages describing religious rituals
Starting point is 00:14:12 and apocalyptic prophecies, which the Greens prayer group must fight against. There will ultimately be an armageddon-like issue battle between good and evil. And over time, there was an evolution of this concept of speaking with angels. People sit in a circle and there be one person that can speak with an angel and help other people
Starting point is 00:14:37 with their problems. They wanted to believe in this intermediary between God and them. Did these rituals have something to do with the trust in Jesus' message in the bathroom? The religious overtones and what appear to be a motivation for this are very unusual. I don't even know that I've read anything that approaches this.
Starting point is 00:15:02 As the investigation continues, more detectives are brought in, and they are given specific things that they need to do. So other detectives go and talk to neighbors, get the full information from them. Although one neighbor reports hearing gunshots, unfortunately, no one saw anything that could help investigators. Whoever attacked this family vanished without a trace and is still out there. I know there was a lot of anxiety about the neighborhood, perhaps being endangered if there were crazed killers
Starting point is 00:15:40 and some kind of additional danger to other people. Law enforcement wants to take the people into custody that's been involved. Really bad. As investigators work, they get an update from doctors at Rogue Valley Medical Center about Nathaniel's condition. They went in from the back and removed the bullet from his spinal cord. He was on the edge for a while there. I believe he had stopped breathing at one point so they had put him on a respirator. I had to lean on God to help me through this. But you can pray all you want that he fix things and make it all
Starting point is 00:16:22 better but ultimately it's up to him, so let it all go. I like it. Within that hour, they pulled the tubes out and he started getting better from then on. Sadly, Nathaniel's life will be forever transformed. He's totally paralyzed, and now he's got a different life than most people. And it's not the life that most people want. That was hard.
Starting point is 00:16:51 It was hell. Doctors tell investigators that David's injuries are also severe. He was shot in the back, believes up more towards the shoulder area. The bullet had injured a nerve in my left shoulder, and the part of the bullet ended up in my chest right about here. The other parts in my lung cavity, peripheral cavity,
Starting point is 00:17:18 I lost two courts, and in my lung filled up with fluid. So it was a hard time breathing. Almost didn't make it. They didn't want to take the chance of removing the bullet, doing more damage than what had already been done. Doctors tell detectives that David is finally stable enough for a formal interview. He was in like a shock situation that he couldn't believe this actually took place.
Starting point is 00:17:45 This isn't happening. I'm in a bad dream. I want to wake up. You know, you can't escape the pain. You're in shock. At first, you're numb. You can't think. Immediately, the loving father and husband struggles with what he did when he saw an intruder with a gun. I remember he was feeling huge remorse about us decision to leave in the house. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:18:14 You know, could I have grabbed the gun? Possibly. Would they have shot me while I grabbed it? Possibly. I don't know. I reminded him that there were no good choices at the time. Had he stayed, my belief is that he would have been shot and killed along with his family members.
Starting point is 00:18:33 Had David chosen to stay, we might never have known who did it. It was really important that we get information from him. He's the only person that can tell us who the perpetrators were, who the people were. Coming up, as David shares his story, a disturbing motive for the attack begins to surface. It's not a mainstream. Seven-th-day Adventist belief.
Starting point is 00:19:02 They were becoming warped and twisted in their thinking. They thought he was an oracle of some kind, and when he was giving instructions, they were coming from God. In Grant's Pass Oregon, investigators talk to David Green about the tragedy wrought on his family, which left his wife Lynn dead. David explains how the night of November 5th had begun. It had been my birthday, so he'd just got home from my folks' house.
Starting point is 00:19:40 It was time for Nathan to go to bed. Lynn was reading a bit-time story. He was at the table. David tells detectives that just before 10 p.m., their friends Debra and Sharon Hallstedt arrived unexpectedly. With the women were Sharon's two boys, nine-year-old Leo, and 12-year-old Harry.
Starting point is 00:20:06 The greens knew the hallsteads through a long-term family relationship. The hallstead parents were good friends of the greens' parents. David explains that the greens and the hallsteads had a history of getting together as part of their prayer group. David admits that some of the group's beliefs were unorthodox. It's my understanding that the green,
Starting point is 00:20:32 hall-stead prayer group would have been not a mainstream, seventh-day Adventist belief. They got off into a splinter group from the church, and for some reason they believe they had angels and angels were telling them instructions. A certain people in the group would have an angel they could talk to, and someone would bring up a problem they're having, and that person would ask the angel
Starting point is 00:20:57 how to solve this problem. And then this person would tell them what the angel told them. We were the belief that everyone had the capability of doing it, you just had to focus on your thoughts. So talking to the angel was something that had been going on for quite some time. According to David, the Hallsteads
Starting point is 00:21:17 were convinced that nine-year-old Leo was especially capable of receiving messages from angels. I remember them coming over, oh, Leo can hear really well. They thought he was an oracle of some kind. And when he was giving instructions, they were coming from God. David tells police that during earlier meetings, he and Lynn talked to the Hallstead sisters about Leo. He and Lynn were concerned
Starting point is 00:21:46 because, although most of the group recounted peaceful messages from angels, the messages the Hallsteads claimed Leo received didn't sound like the god they knew. They came over to the house and was talking about things, which I thought were pretty and was talking about things, which I thought were pretty outrageous, stupid, from the mind of a nine-year-old. The Hallsteads became involved in this belief system, a belief in this possession, extreme possession of people's souls or bodies by an evil, satanic sort of influence. According to David, the sisters claimed Leo could identify who was possessed by evil,
Starting point is 00:22:30 and God gave them permission to steal from those people, or even destroy them. We disagreed on that, you know, you shouldn't judge people. It God be that judge, and it's not your shouldn't judge people. Let God be that judge. And it's not your job to eliminate people. They were becoming warped and twisted in their thinking. We did our best to keep the boundaries. We were trying to separate from them. They disappeared and got quiet for a while.
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Starting point is 00:24:12 David tells detectives that on November 4th, just the night before the shooting, the hallsteads visited the green home. And when they left, Lynn believed they had stolen her purse. Then on November 5th, the night of the shooting, Sharon, Deborah, and the boys reappeared. David and Lynn were immediately wary. They were acting a little odd.
Starting point is 00:24:37 They didn't want to sit down. They didn't want to make themselves comfortable. They were kind of milling around. Soon, Deborah and the boys asked to use the restroom. Three of them immediately go into the bathroom. Lynn is suspicious of them. Goes into the bathroom. And then she saw the writings inside.
Starting point is 00:24:59 Trust in Jesus. Lynn says, I don't know what you guys are doing, but you need to leave. According to David, in one wicked incident, things went from strange to terrifying. Debra grabs the phone so I couldn't make any calls. And that's when they produced the gun. Sharon had the gun, and Harry was just jumping around hollering that the gun is loaded. the gun, and Harry was just jumping around hollering that the gun is loaded. The gun is loaded.
Starting point is 00:25:30 The old first thought I thought was, okay, I need to tell someone what's going on. I didn't have a gun. We didn't have cell phones back then. David had known the sisters most of his life and never expected they would actually shoot anyone. He hoped he could get help before anyone got hurt. I realized we needed help at that time. That was first and foremost.
Starting point is 00:25:54 So I ran out to get the neighbor across the street. While I was running out the back door, they shot me. I fell to the ground. While I was running to the neighbors, heard gunshots, heard her scream. I heard them execute, Lynn. David Green told us that after the shooting, he saw the Hallstead's depart in a red truck.
Starting point is 00:26:22 They were lifelong friends. They had known these people for a long period of time. He didn't understand why it took place. Following the interview with David Green, detectives race to track down the Hallstead family. They found out where the people lived, and they went to that location. They started a surveillance of that location there.
Starting point is 00:26:48 At the Hallstead House, investigators spot a truck matching the description of the one David saw after the shooting. They found a red, duly pickup park there and they ran the license plate on that and it came back stolen. We learned that that was related to the homicide in Yamhill County. Grants past detectives call the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office 230 miles to the north.
Starting point is 00:27:20 We got to call that the truck had been located in Grants Pass and that got the call that the truck had been located in Grand Spass, and that got the ball rolling. Yamhill County detectives explain their case began two days before the Green Family shootings, on November 3rd, when they got a 911 call from a ranch hand named Michael Holstead. Michael is the brother of Sharon and Deborah Halstead. Michael Halstead came home and he found his apartment all messed up. There was condiments from the refrigerator
Starting point is 00:27:56 just through and throughout the apartment on the walls, all over the floors and everything. And there was some messages indicating that maybe Michael might die. The writing that was found in Michael's residence, as I recall, said your dead Michael. J.C. Michael was so disturbed by the message
Starting point is 00:28:22 that he went to check on his fellow ranch hand, 58-year-old Marston Lemke, who lived in a nearby trailer. That's when he found Mr. Lemke in a trailer, brutally murdered with multiple gunshot wounds. Although Marston Lemke had been killed, Yamhill detectives believed Michael was the original target target due to the message on the wall. At the time, detectives in Yanhil did not know what the initials J.C. stood for. But now, as grants pass and Yanhil investigators share information,
Starting point is 00:28:59 they believe it might stand for Jesus Christ. Time was of the essence in terms of trying to get the Hallstead sisters under control. We have stolen vehicle in front of the house that's been involved in a homicide just a few days prior to this shooting that took place this night. And so now you have at least two adults involved, two minor children.
Starting point is 00:29:27 You don't know how many weapons are gonna be involved. You don't know what type of mental attitude they're going to have. [♪eerie music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, force police into a standoff. We ended up calling the SWAT team in. And the truth finally comes out. When the other victims in this case, the killer's sons get a chance to talk. It was the steady progression of my mother of feeling that she was doing God's work in doing this.
Starting point is 00:30:26 We were concerned with resolving the thing peacefully without danger to other people. We ended up calling the SWAT team in. They assisted in getting the neighborhood cleared. At 5.30 a.m. on November 6, the arrest team makes their moves. We ended up calling them and telling them that the residents is surrounded by police and that we need to have people come out. What we didn't know at the time was whether any resistance would be met by officers who were making their arrests.
Starting point is 00:30:58 The Hallsteads came out, along with the boys, and offered no resistance. I expected them to at least be surprised, and there were just blank slates as far as I was concerned. The Hallsteads were taken immediately into custody. At the police station, detectives tried to question Sharon and Deborah Hallstedt. I went in and tried to talk to them and they wanted a turning, so I just told them they were under arrest for murder in Yamhill County. Grant's past authorities also charged the sisters with assault, attempted murder, and
Starting point is 00:31:43 murder for the attack on the Green family. Sharon endeavor might have the answers, but they're not talking. However, nine-year-old Leo and 12-year-old Harry are willing to share their heartbreaking story, accompanied by a court-appointed lawyer. According to the boys, it all began with an announcement that Leo had a gift.
Starting point is 00:32:08 Lindgren had said that I had the power to see angels and talk to God. The boys say that after that, Sharon and Deborah began coaching Leo. I remember being asked all these questions if there was an angel or a present or if I could see one now, just ask repeatedly over and over and over and up. And I just wanted to go out and play.
Starting point is 00:32:31 There was a lot of pressure on my brother. It seemed like our daily lives revolved around him being able to see and hear angels. My brother never, ever, ever said that he could see and hear. He was told that and he's said that he could see in here. He was told that, and he's convinced that he could see in here just simply by being told this by adults. He felt obliged to give them what they wanted.
Starting point is 00:32:56 They're leading Leo on, cheering especially, as leading Leo on as to what needs to be said. That's when they apparently came up with this concept of people being sharing especially is leading Leo on as to what needs to be said. That's when they apparently came up with this concept of people being totaled. If you have namens in you, you're totaled. It started off with the justification that certain business owners were totaled. Anybody that was demonically possessed,
Starting point is 00:33:26 it was okay to steal from. It was as if the Holsted sisters decided to fabricate communication with God to play out their sociopathic fantasies. Investigators were able to verify that there were multiple episodes of tire slashing, stealing of motorcycles and an ATV all with this justification that they were battling evil people.
Starting point is 00:33:57 After that, this whole mess just biodegraded control. It's just that steady progression into worse, towards the worse, the steady progression of my mother allowing us to steal, stealing things to assaulting people. And they were big leaps, but they were still leaps to murdering people. According to the boys, their mother and aunt coached Leo
Starting point is 00:34:24 that their brother Michael was totaled. And so were the greens. The boys say that on November 2, 1988, their mother and aunt drove them up to the Yamhill County Farm where their uncle Michael worked. They believed that my uncle Mike was controlled by the devil. This person's control, so they're no longer human. Michael worked. They believed that my uncle Mike was controlled by the devil. This person's controlled, so they're no longer human.
Starting point is 00:34:48 I believe the basic idea was is that when we went, it was with the intention of my uncle being killed. When they arrived, Michael was not home. My mom was a little bit upset that he wasn't there, but the four of us trashed his place. And I wrote in the wall. Sharon and Deborah realized that although Michael wasn't home, Marston Lemke was.
Starting point is 00:35:16 There was nobody else in the farm but him. Walked back to the trailer. And she knocked. And Marston Lemke opened the door and asked her and she knocked. And Marsekin Lemke opened the door and asked her what she wanted. And that's when my mother took the gun and shot him several times. He even said, you shot me. Why did you shoot me? It's a horrible sound. It know, it was screaming, very high-pitched sound.
Starting point is 00:35:46 And my mother had just continued firing until he was no more. Pretty horrible thing I'd never heard or seen anything like that in my life. So it was very shocking. I was scared. The boys say that they stole the red pickup from the farm and fled in it, parking the truck at home. That's when the sisters set their cruel sights
Starting point is 00:36:19 on David and Lynn Green. After stealing Lynn's purse during a visit on November 4, 1988, the family returned the next night with more devilish plans. She believed that they were totally controlled and possessed by the devil. I know that she was going there to do harm. My mother planned this out.
Starting point is 00:36:41 This was premeditated murder. That's all there is to it. I recalled the gun coming out and then sort of wrestling over it. And I recall seeing Dave Green run past. I recall seeing my mom go after him. She followed him to the back door and leaned out the back door and fired at him.
Starting point is 00:37:11 I remember land fighting. She was fighting to defend her son. I heard a shot and men felt her knees and sort of just like a reflex, a second shot, and that one hit her in the forehead. And I was just blood everywhere. Nathaniel was sitting at the table, started screaming and waving her arms. And my mom, she just turned and shot. And I was just in the days like it was unregrobed
Starting point is 00:37:47 what just happened. After my mother did this, she went to McDonald's and ordered food. That's where my mother went afterwards, and then she went home. I went to bed. It's just sort of sends a little chill up your neck. I'm thinking that a person can do that and not have any remorse at all.
Starting point is 00:38:09 None whatsoever. After shooting a little child. Leo and Harry were taken off by investigators to be placed in foster care. I think they're all tangled up in a pretty bizarre, malevolent web. Coming up, prosecutors fear the deadly sister duo might not serve prison time.
Starting point is 00:38:36 We were worried that there might be a defense related to insanity. And Sharon's children struggle with what their mother has become. She has yet to accept responsibility for her actions. In Grant's past Oregon, David Green has to break the news to his toddler son, Nathaniel, that the shooting that left Nathaniel paralyzed also killed the little boy's mother, Lynn Green.
Starting point is 00:39:12 The hardest thing for me to do was to tell him Mama wasn't coming back. Mama was gone. That was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I had to do that in the ICU. He was all tied up with beeping, blinking things. He said, hey, he was resilient, so he would get through it. And then many times he's stronger than I am.
Starting point is 00:39:39 The Green's longtime friends Sharon and Deborah Hallstead now await trial for the murder of ranch hand Marston Lemke and the triple shooting of the Green family. The alleged motive, a twisted belief that angels told them to do it. I believe that it was a sense of importance. This egotistical moral high ground feeling that she got, like she was doing God's work in doing this. One of our concerns the whole time was how the defense might
Starting point is 00:40:15 spend this delusional thinking that they were in. On January 20, 1989, the Holsteads lawyers announced that they intend to pursue an insanity defense, which might get the sisters out of any prison time. They certainly knew the difference between right and wrong, and they were able to control themselves and conform to the law. Had they chosen to do that, but they didn't. However, on May 12, 1989, Deborah Holstead surprises everyone by changing her plea to guilty of conspiracy.
Starting point is 00:40:55 Under the system that existed in Oregon at the time, Deborah got the full measure of the penalties she could have received for conspiracy to commit murder. Debra's sentence, 20 years in prison, with the possibility of parole in nine years. At the time I wish that it had been longer, but still live with herself too. I hope she finds the right path in life.
Starting point is 00:41:23 A few months later, on August 16, 1989, Sharon Holstead also makes a sudden change. On the condition that the death penalty is taken off the table, she pleads guilty to attempted murder, murder, and aggravated murder. Yet Sharon still refuses to take responsibility for the crimes. Unbelievably, she continues to place the blame squarely on the small shoulders of her then nine-year-old son, Leo. My mother did this and said that my brother directed her to do it. That is not true.
Starting point is 00:42:06 We'd never wanted to go and kill anybody or hurt anybody. I don't know how she could minimize her role when she pulled the trigger. The judge wanted to make sure she never got out. He gave them maximum. She has a sentence of 75 years. That's, in essence, a death sentence for her. Sharon will never get out. Sharon's sons will forever carry the burden
Starting point is 00:42:39 of the twisted things their mother made them do at such a young age. She has yet to apologize as far as I know, and it's difficult because on one hand, I have to love her for bringing me into this world, but at the same time, I despise her for what she did. If I could travel back in time and stop that from happening, I would.
Starting point is 00:43:00 I really would. What happened with Marsekin Lemke, a man that's working on the farm, my name is Ohn Damn Business, and that happens to him. It's that's shocking. Just one night, one night, just like that. I detest everything she did. I think that the most tragic part is Nathaniel being stuck in a wheelchair. He is a kid sitting there eating his food and got shot
Starting point is 00:43:27 and up in a wheelchair. That's horrible. That's really horrible. Lin was a loving, caring, sweet, gentle person. Creative. She could have done so much good for children if she became a teacher. That was her love to create a good legacy.
Starting point is 00:43:49 And a good mom, you know, doting, yeah, she could have benefited a lot of people. I think there's an answer sometimes. Evil exists. That's all I can say. It's all I can say. Debra Hellsted was released from prison in 2008 and moved back to California. Sharon Hellsted remains in prison. She has been denied parole multiple times, including in 2018. Nathaniel Green recently graduated from Southern Oregon University with a degree in communications.
Starting point is 00:44:30 For more information on SNAPT, go to oxygen.com. you

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