True Crime All The Time - George Tiaffay

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

George and Shauna Tiaffay had what many believed was a perfect marriage. They were in love, had a beautiful daughter, and were happy with their lives. A few years into their marriage, things changed. George became obsessed with controlling Shauna’s life. His need for control turned into an elaborate murder-for-hire plot. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the crimes of George Tiaffay. He most likely would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for the moral convictions of one man, who tied George and his accomplice to the crime and got justice for Shauna and her family. George Tiaffay made the decision that if he could not have Shauna then no one could.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 265 of the True Crime All The Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey man, I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing great. Yeah. You know, we had a little two week break.

We did from True Crime All the Time. It was great. I feel refreshed. You look refreshed. I'm ready to go. It's exciting to be back in the studio doing both episodes and Patreon and and all of that at the same time. But we're past Christmas.

We are. We're past the other holidays. We're past New Year's. I'll ask you, how was yours? Mine was good. Yeah, mine was too. It really was. And I'm not blowing smoke.

I even told my wife, this was one of the better Christmases I'd had in a long time. Yeah. You know, people really were thoughtful with their gifts. And that means a lot to me. It doesn't matter how much they cost. Right.

It just means that they know me. Yeah. or that they paid attention to what I like or what I might like. And that always really means a lot to me. Yeah, yeah, I got some amazing gifts for sure, too. We're all getting used to saying 2022. Yep. And that always takes a while.

Not as big a deal for me now since I don't work in the corporate world. Right. But I remember, you know, when I had that job, as you still do, the documents, all of that. It was just like a constant battle for, you know, a period of time to make sure that I got the new year in. You know, I had to set up all my new folders this week, you know. Oh, my gosh, the new folders. And all the different drives. Did you have to call a tech person then for that?

I thought about it. Can you, is there a way to do this in like mass production wise? So let's give our shoutouts. For Patreon, we had Princess Pookie Bear and Big Daddy. That's like saying Fergie and Gibby. Almost. in that order. Almost.

So in your mind, I'm Princess Pookie Bear. Absolutely. And your big daddy? That's all right, man. Okay, that scares me a little bit, but we'll go with it. Yeah. Madison Bogus. Hey, Madison.

William Hernandez jumped out of our highest level. Well, thank you, William. We had Tona Ogle. What's up? Tona Loak. Get it? Tona Loak. Like Tone Loak?

Yeah. Okay. Danny Breckenridge. What's going on, Danny? AJ Pulse. Hey, thank you. Sally Pack. Sorry, I kind of jumped over you there.

You did. That's all right. That's right. Well, you were just trying to keep the pulse going. I was. I was. I was. Yeah.

Thanks, Sally. Andrea. Hey, Andrea. Lisa Dunachee. What's going on? Donachee. Angela White jumped out at higher than our highest level. Wow.

Thanks, Angela. We had Ashley Harrison. What's going on, Harrison? Colleen Murphy jumped out higher than our highest level. Murphy, man. It's like, Iters. And last but not least, Elena Wood. Well, thank you, Alina.

And then if we go back into the vault, Gibbs. This week, we selected. Melissa Escott. Well, thank you, Melissa. Appreciate it. Yeah. We appreciate all the new Patreon support, the continued support. We had some great PayPal donations. We had a birthday shout out. We do. To Pam Sherwood from her daughter, Lori. Well, happy birthday, Pam. Yeah. We had a donation from Kipper Westbrook. What's going on, Kipper? Mary Bader. Hey, Bader. And Janet Lamb. Oh, there's Janet. So thank you to everyone. Gibbs right now on True Crime all the time, Unsolved. We have an episode out on Jane Britton. This is perfect for our T-CAT listeners because this is more of a unresolved case.

So go over there, check it out. It's 1969. It's a horrific murder at Harvard University. Yeah, this is one that has had some recent developments that have shed some light on who they believe was responsible for the murder. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am ready. first in the new year, 2022. We're talking about George Miguel TFA. George and Shana TFA had what many thought was a perfect marriage. They were in love. They had a beautiful daughter. And they were happy with their lives. But just a few years into the marriage, things changed. George became obsessed with controlling Shana's life. George's need for control turned into an elaborate

murder for hire plot and gives this is one that I think a lot of people believe he would have gotten away with if it were not for the moral convictions of one person who tied George to the crime and helped get justice for Shauna and her family but you know how many times do we kind of talk about this in a domestic murder type of case right to the outside A couple has what appears to be an idealic marriage. Sure. Great family life, great kids. They're happy.

They're smiling. Nobody really knows in a lot of instances, kind of what's going on behind closed doors, what's bubbling, you know, beneath the surface. I think this is one of those types of cases. So George TFA is a former firefighter from the Las Vegas area. but now he's an inmate serving a life sentence. And George had everything going for him. He was a star athlete.

He was the high school valedictorian. Which is not easy to do. As you well know. Absolutely. Now, it wasn't that tough for you, but I think for a lot of people to climb that mountain to get to the highest point is very tough. You want to be the top of the echelon, man. You somehow had like a 4.7 grade point average when at that time, I think 4.3 was the highest you could get.

I did grade my own papers. Well, because the teacher let you. You needed me. Yeah, you knew more than the teacher. Exactly. And then George graduated from the prestigious West Point Military Academy. Impressive. It really is.

And then after graduation, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers. He worked as a Las Vegas firefighter for 10 years. years because he wanted to serve his community. He really did have everything going for him. Yeah. You know, when you look at pictures of George and Shauna, these were good looking people. This was a good looking couple. So you had George, good looking guy, star athlete. Obviously, he was very intelligent. Yeah. I think he did have everything going for him. In a 48 hour segment, George's friends described him as an all-around great guy to hang out with. And he was a guy that would just get the job done.

No matter what it was, George's friends and family described him as kind and generous. And I'm sure he was that guy. You know, that's the thing in these types of stories. You can have what is a really great person. Sure. do a very, very horrible thing, you know, as opposed to some of the episodes we do where it's kind of very obvious from an early age that somebody is heading down a very bad path. Yeah.

And there's many cases where the individual is so nice and wonderful to everybody except for one person. Sometimes a significant other or a spouse. Yeah. I think you're right about that as well. Shana TFA was born into a Mormon family in Salt Lake City. She lived in Virginia. She also lived in Pennsylvania before she moved out to Las Vegas in 1994. She was 28 at the time and she wanted to pursue some different type of career opportunities.

She got a job as a cocktail waitress at the Palms Casino Resort, one of the more popular casinos in town. Probably making some good money too. I would say she probably did. did she loved her job she loved her co-workers she loved interacting with the customers there were some reports gibbs about her income that said it was north of you know 100k i believe that between salary and tips and and all of that she was a kind person loved by many people she liked to bake cupcakes for her co-workers on their birthdays she always said that her daughter was her great greatest joy in life. Her friend said she was young at heart, fun to be around, and a person who

really loved to laugh. George and Shauna met at the Palm's Casino in 2002. He saw her working and was instantly attracted to her. The two began a relationship and they quickly fell in love. Friends have said that Shauna was George's world. He loved her and their daughter Maddie, who was born in 2003, George and Shauna got married in Hawaii in 2006. The newlyweds were happy. They were in love. But like I said,

it was really just a matter of a couple of years. After the marriage, when everything kind of started to change, George lost a considerable amount of money in the housing market crash, as a lot of us did. I'll say, you know, he wasn't the only one at that time.

No, and if you think about that 2008 timeframe. You and I were smack dab in the middle of it. It was a real mess. It was. But because of this, he became more concerned about finances. And I think that is somewhat natural, right? Gibbs, when you look at a situation like that, if everything's going great, okay, well, people aren't concerned about finances. No. Because if you have enough money to do whatever you want to do, well, there's no need to be worried. But when something happens, whether it's the loss of a job, you know, you got a lot of money tied up in real estate and the housing market crashes, well, then all of a sudden there are major concerns. Sure. All your equity's gone and,

you know, now what are you going to do? And I know one of the issues was in their marriage that George was the saver and Shauna was the spender. Yeah. And I think that is somewhat natural as well. Sure. You know, we have that in my family, or at least we did when my wife and I first met, and even in the early years of our marriage, my wife was a big time saver. Right. I mean, she had multiple accounts. She had envelopes with things written on them that, you know, we were aspiring to buy. We didn't have a lot of money. I have always been more of an impulsive type buyer. I have trouble with delaying gratification. when it comes to things that I see and want. Right. Yeah. It's just how I am. That's,

this is how you, uh, are wired. The problem is she has adopted more of my way of thinking as the years have gone on. She had. And that's why the Amazon packages are piled up at the door when you get here. Yeah. I mean,

I have to hurdle myself over them. But you're right when it comes to how each person was in regards to spending. And I think because of that, they, they started fighting. about money more and more often. Like a lot of couples do. Well, you know, finances is a stressor in a marriage.

Can be one of the big stressors. Shauna told her friends that George was jealous, controlling, and that he constantly criticized her in front of their daughter Maddie. Well, that's a recipe for a disaster in a marriage. Yeah. He also often called her a slut when she put on her work uniform. That's not how you want to talk to your wife. wife. Not at all. Women in general don't like to be called that. Wives, especially by their husbands,

don't want to be called that. Shawna also didn't like it when George started bringing a man named Noel Stevens to the house. A few years before George had befriended Noel, a homeless ex-convict and handyman. At the time, Noel was living with his sister in a suburban neighborhood outside the Las Vegas strip. He asked George if he needed help with yard work, and George hired him to do some odd jobs around the house. From everything that I read, Gibbs, it was as if Noel idolized George. He thought that these two guys were best friends. Now, detectives later theorized that George was just using Noel. Well, that probably wasn't that difficult since he idolized him. Shana told all her friends that Noel scared her.

And she described him as creepy. Okay. Something most people don't want to be described as either is creepy. Now eventually Shauna grew tired of the way that George was treating her and she moved out. They shared custody of Maddie. But Shauna didn't want to file for a divorce. I think Gibbs, she was devastated that her family was breaking up, the marriage was breaking up. She and George agreed to see a marriage counselor, but nothing worked.

Those kind of things only work if both parties want to participate completely. And sometimes even at that point, it might not even work. Still doesn't still may not work. It was in 2012 that George and Shauna separated permanently after six years of marriage. They were on, I guess what you would call a trial separation. But Shauna told George that the marriage was over. and that they should live separately. But tragically, Shana was murdered just a few months later. From September 28th through the 29th,

2012, George worked a 24-hour shift at the fire department. After work, he picked up his daughter and took her to Shana's house. George entered Shana's home at 9 a.m. on the 29th, he and his daughter discovered a brutal murder scene. And George immediately called 9-1.

one. The operator said, hi, is this police, fire or medical? George responded by saying, um, police, I think. I need to report a break in and murder. The operator came back with, okay, what's going on there? And George said, my wife, my wife is, uh, on the floor, bloody, stiff, not moving. Oh, God. I, I, I, I didn't touch the body except for a pulse. The operator said take a deep breath. We have an officer on the way, so just stay right outside and we'll get somebody up there for you. Okay. And George said, okay. Let's analyze this. Sure. I wish I actually had the audio so we could hear it, but I don't. It's not the same when I just, you know, read the transcript. So I guess what I really want to focus on is the, oh God, I didn't touch the body

except for a pulse. Seems like a strange thing to say. It kind of jumps out at me as a little strange. Yeah, not the same thing. And why would, as a husband or even the ex-husband, why would you be worried about that?

Right. Because even if you're separated, there's still a love there. Sure. It's not like that love just completely goes away. If you saw somebody that you spent so many years, you know, being married to lying there on the ground, what's your first instinct going to be? Or the first instinct for most people?

Yeah, pick them. Rush over there. Yeah. Rush over. Cradle them up. Yeah. So, I mean, to say I didn't touch the body, okay. To me, it kind of screams CSI type talk in a situation where it shouldn't be.

Now, I know a lot of times I make things out of these types of. situations that I shouldn't, but yeah, that's what I got from it. Shauna died from a blow to the head. And Gibbs, it was said that the injury was so severe that the medics couldn't tell if she had been shot or bludgeoned. So that really tells you something. Sure does. Pretty brutal.

Yeah, a gunshot versus being bludgeoned to death. And trained professionals can't tell at the scene. That tells you. how bloody and how vicious this was. And she was still in her work uniform, indicating she was attacked as soon as she got home. Yeah, I think it wouldn't be that hard to make that conclusion.

I think a lot of us, right? You get home from a hard day's work. I think especially if your job entails wearing some type of uniform, right. That uniform is probably coming off fairly quickly. Yeah. You're changing into something a little more comfortable. and, you know, not even a uniform, just suit and tie, dresses.

If you have to get dressed up for work, well, you want to get in your PJs or you want to get into some sweatpants or something like that. Sure. The officers at the scene immediately questioned George. He told detectives she was lying on the floor and just covered in blood. I wanted to die. He told the police he was on call on a 24 hour shift at the fire station. Maddie was at her grandparents' house. So I think fairly quickly, the police dismissed George as a suspect,

mainly based on the fact that he had kind of a rock solid alibi. Yeah. You know, how many people were at the fire station? How many people could attest to the fact that he was there this entire time, not that hard to figure out. I'm sure his peers were very credible. Well, I'm sure they were. I'm sure they were also viewed by police as very credible alibi witnesses.

You know, we put a lot of trust and faith in firefighters and people like that. And why would they lie? Right. You know, you have to ask that question as well. I think anytime you're talking about an alibi and a person who is corroborating an alibi, that's the big question that I ask. Does this person have a reason to lie? we've seen in a lot of cases where mothers have lied for kids yeah and said that they were with them

and it later comes out that they really weren't you know spouses have lied for each other well there's a reason for them to lie right you know they have an interest in whether this person is viewed as having an alibi or not you know five 10 15 firefighters i don't know how many there would have been at the station at the time, what vested interest would they have in lying for George? Yeah. I did find it strange that he was pretty quick to refer all additional questions to his lawyer. So, I mean, it is something I always say, get a lawyer right away, regardless.

It just seemed fairly quick. Well, you know, he knew, obviously, that he was being looked at, but you would think when the alibi was confirmed and all that, okay. Yeah, do you really need to refer everything to an attorney? No, but is it a good practice? Yes, we've talked about that type of stuff before. All right, Gibbs, let's take our first break to talk about Upstart. You know, when it comes to paying off debt, it can feel like an uphill battle. High interest rates resulting in minimum monthly payments keeps you in an endless cycle of debt. But Upstart can help you get ahead. Upstart is the fast and easy way to pay off your debt with a personal loan all online. Whether it's paying off credit cards, or consolidating high interest debt or funding personal expenses. Over half a million people have used Upstart to get a simple fixed monthly payment. Unlike other lenders, Upstart looks at more than just your credit school, like your income and employment history.

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And she lived about 30 minutes from where she worked. The police determined that she parked her car in the garage just after 3.30 a.m. Shauna entered her home and someone snuck up behind her in the living room as she was going up to stairs to her bedroom. Now, investigators also found out that Shawna's apartment had been burglarized on September 4th. Someone took some clothing, her wedding ring, and very strangely, they left a pair of boxer shorts, neatly folded on her washing machine. That is very strange. Someone also drank from a bottle of vodka that she had in her fridge.

Shauna didn't report the burglary until September 14th. So I think for most people, this would be something that would really freak them out. I mean, anytime that your home is burglarized, that's an invasion. You're going to feel that. But now you have someone that not only broke in, they're drinking your vodka. They're folding up clothes and leaving them. I mean, there's some strange aspects to this one. Very bizarre.

Shauna's friend said that she was an optimist. Now, she was worried after the burglary, as I think anyone would be. But she didn't really think that anyone would actually want to hurt her. Shauna's friends were afraid that someone was targeting female casino workers. And they believed that someone was stalking Shauna and might come after them next. Well, I mean, it's plausible. It is. I mean, if you have someone who is visiting a casino and becomes enamored with some of these cocktail wait

is I mentioned it. If you see pictures of Shauna, she was a very beautiful woman. George was a good looking guy. This was a good looking couple. I could see where somebody could become infatuated. Sure. Obsessed. Obsessed with her, maybe some of the other cocktail waitresses there. So they were probably right to be fearful about something like that. After Shauna was murdered, a jogger found a makeup bag. a cell phone and a health card with Shauna's name on it on a dirt path leading away from her townhome. On the afternoon that Shauna was discovered, Noel Stevens bragged to his friend, William Hinnix, who apparently Gibbs had the nickname Big Will. Okay.

But he was bragging to this guy about murdering a woman. Will worked as a maintenance man at an apartment complex, which is how he knew, Noel Stevens, he later told CBS that Noel called him and said, Big Will, I need to talk to you. Apparently, they met up, and Noel confessed to murdering a woman. Will said he was extremely disturbed. According to him, Noel looked happy, like he just completed a mission, a mission to where he's going to be paid a lot of money. He's going to leave town and live a happy line. He's going to leave a happy life. And Will said Noel was laughing as he described the murder. Will said that Noel told him, I hit this woman with a hammer over and over and over until the hammer broke. Which kind of lines

with how her body was found. The wounds to her head were so brutal. They couldn't determine if it was a gunshot or being bludgeoned to death. Well, let's face it gives as sick as it is to think about. getting someone in the head with a hammer over and over and over, you know, we don't know how many times, but obviously this was a lot of force, a lot of blows. That is really going to be a nasty, nasty scene. Yeah. According to 48 hours, Will didn't want to snitch on his friend, but he also wanted to, quote, live a straight life under the hands of the Lord. He also said, that he wanted the woman's family to have the answers they deserved. So he called crime stoppers and told them about the confession on September 30th.

Well, there you go. He did the right thing. Yeah, he definitely did the right thing. But I also want to point out the timeline here. Things are happening very quickly, right? On the same day that her body is found, Noel makes this confession. The very next day will make the call to crime stopper. Now, the problem is police didn't believe Will at first. I think they thought that his story sounded, you know, too far fetched to be believable. Will told them a homeless man who lived in a tent in the mountains killed Shana. So I think just by that, you can kind of see why maybe the police didn't believe him at first.

But Will insisted that he could help them find Noel. Now, he didn't know his name, right? he only knew him as Greyhound at the time. And apparently, you know, Noel was very, very skinny. And that's how he earned the nickname Greyhound. There's a nickname I'll never have then. Me neither.

I have more of an English bulldog build. You said it, not me. Hey, I'm honest with myself. I'm trying to change it, but that's the way it is right now. Yeah. Will told the police that Greyhound walked miles every, every day from his tent to the Albertson's grocery store.

He'd been caught stealing food there before. The police spoke to store employees who recognized his picture. Well, also said that Greyhound sold drugs at the Chevron station next door. So they don't really believe him, but Will is giving the police quite a bit of information. It's a lot to go on, you know, at the very least to find this guy and talk to. him. Well, Will is making a lot of effort to find him. Yeah, he is. And on October 1st, Will spotted Noel at the Chevron station. You know, he greeted Noel. Then he said that he would be right back. But when he came back, he brought the police with him. The police identified

themselves to Noel and discovered that he had marijuana on him. So they arrested him on drug charges and took him to jail. But in reality Gibbs, their main goal was to talk to him, to figure out if he had anything to do with this murder. And if so, to build a case for, you know, a murder charge. Noel denied killing shot and told police that, you know, number one, he didn't do it. Number two, they had the wrong guy. But the police looked into Noel Stevens. And they found some disturbing evidence. He was a. four-time convicted felon. He had been arrested on September 17th. I guess before dawn he was walking less than three miles from Sean his home. And he dropped a bag before the police stopped him.

They accused him of being in possession of a hammer, a knife, gloves, and a cap. And I think Gibbs, what they suspected was that he was out burglarizing homes. So you're out in the very, very early morning hours carrying around a hammer, a knife, gloves, and, you know, a cap. What for? You know, there's really not that many reasons why you would need those four items other than your casing houses. Absolutely. You're doing some bad things.

The police then searched the desert to find Knowles campsite. And they found his tent on a hill in the desert about eight miles from. the Las Vegas strip, detectives found bloody jeans with both Noel Stevens and Shana's DNA in a shrub near one of his tents. They also found a pair of Shana's underwear, a black dress, and swimsuit bottoms around his campsite. They pretty quickly confirmed the DNA. They also found a tag to a one pound hammer in another one of Nol's deserted tens. Not looking good for Noel. Not looking good at all.

You can explain away some things. Very hard to explain away why you have a pair of bloody jeans that contains both your DNA as well as Shannas. Pretty hard to explain why you have a

pair of her underwear and some other pieces of her clothing. Yeah, I think he's up the creek without a paddle. So at the station, detectives confronted Noel with their evidence and they lied to him, basically telling him that someone had come forward and snitched on him about the murder, which is a tactic that we know police use quite often. Oh, for sure. Very successfully. Yeah. Some people have a problem with it, right? The outright

lying. But it's been upheld and police are able to do that. And it worked. Noll confessed to everything right away. So police charged him with murder, conspiracy, and robbery. He confessed to murdering Shana TFA in the early morning hours of September 29th. He hid inside her apartment and attacked Shana with a wooden hammer when she got home from work. He said he hit her several times until she died. He also said that the hammer broke during the attack, Noel admitted that he continued hitting Shana with the metal end of the hammer until she stopped moving.

Afterwards, one of his friends hid the key to Shana's apartment in a goodwill donation shed. And eventually, Noel led police to the broken hammer, which he had buried near one of his encampments in the desert. Things are definitely not looking good for Noel. No, not at all. I mean, you know,

it's one thing. to confess to a murder. We've seen a number of people confess who really didn't commit murders, but they confessed. I think when you add in all of this evidence, right, the DNA on the genes, well, now, you know, he's leading them to the murder weapon. You know, once you start to get all of that evidence that really kind of gift wraps the confession, well, then you really have something. They also found cell phone data that traced Noel Stevens movements between his various campsites,

the Palms Casino, and George and Shauna's separate homes in September of 2012. Police learned that a man named George called Noel 87 times in the month leading up to Shauna's death. That's a lot. Well, obviously, detectives wanted to know from Noel. who this guy George was. Right. And when they asked him, he responded, that's my friend, the firefighter.

And I think from there, it was an easy connection to George TFA. And obviously, he's the husband. They're separated. He's a firefighter. Not too hard to put all that together. No. And there was a lot out there, Gibbs, about how Sean's family suspected George

in that he was involved from the beginning. Shana's sister Paula and her husband, John, called George on September 29th. When they found out about Shana's death, they recorded the conversation. Apparently George gave the phone to a grief counselor. And Paula told the grief counselor

that she thought George was involved based on past conversations with Shana. John and Paula showed up on the 30th to give any evidence they could to police, to advocate for Shana. They even gave the police one of Shana's casino chips as a good luck charm. And it really was, you know, their statements combined with Noel's confession, combined with the cell phone evidence that gave the police the solid evidence they needed against George.

So as we've said, it's not looking good for Noel. Well, now you got to make that same statement about George. It's not looking good for George now. Gibbs police also found out that George purchased a 380 caliber handgun and some ammunition. He used a gun at an indoor range in Las Vegas. And apparently they figured out that he had never gone there before. They also found some evidence that looked as though he was trying to hide money through his mother's bank account.

Things are looking suspicious. Well, they are. I mean, a lot of people buy their first gun, right? buy some ammunition. Normally when you do that, you make the decision that, okay, I got to go to a gun range. I've got to learn how to shoot this thing. In a bubble, that wouldn't be all that out of the ordinary. Right.

Here in the United States, for other people listening around the world, they're going to think, okay, that's not ordinary. Here, that would be if you're going to make the decision to buy a handgun. I think where it becomes very strange is when it's, it, you know, it happens right before your wife is murdered. And then add the fact that he potentially was hiding money in his mom's account. Yeah, none of it looks good. Now, I will also say that, I mean, those couple of things just on their own,

they're not going to sink him in court. But there's other things that will do that, right? The police questioned George's mother and sister on October 8th. The police told them they believed George. George was involved in Shauna's murder. George's family cried. They insisted to police that they were wrong, something that I believe is very natural. Sure it is.

I think your family is always going to stick up for you. Most families, most people in a family, unless you're just a really, really bad person. Right. And they know you're a bad person. Yeah. They don't want nothing to do with you. I honestly think it's hard for, you know, families to come. to grips with the fact that someone, a family member, could be involved in, you know,

something like this. It's not an easy thing to come to terms with because let's not forget, right? Star athlete, balledictorian, graduate of West Point. Super great guy. Everybody seems to think so. Firefighter puts his life on the line. George was also under surveillance at the time. his sister called him after the meeting with police and told him that police suspected him of murder. I guess a few minutes after this call, he got into his car and drove off. And George crashed his Ford truck into a concrete retaining wall going somewhere between 76 and 90 miles per hour. There's sources are kind of all over. Right.

On, you know, how fast he was actually going. But either way, that's pretty fast. It is. Whether it's 76 or 90 to crash into a retaining wall, George survived the crash and really just had a few cuts and bruises. He did have a seatbelt on. But I think to police, they looked at this as an attempt by George to end his life. Yeah, because I think he realized after talking to his sister, the police were closing in. And they were.

George was arrested on October. 10th, 2012, as soon as he was released from the hospital. On October 15th, a prosecutor announced that he may ask a grand jury to indict George and Noel Stevens. The police presented all the evidence that they'd gathered and a judge scheduled a hearing for January 24th, 2013. George's lawyer, Richard Langford, told the Associated Press, on the best of days when the police file charges, they only have 70% of the information in a case. It's the other 30% where the truth lies. Well, of course his lawyer is going to say that.

Yeah, he may be right in some instances. He might, it might happen quite a bit. I don't know, but I think just based off of what we've already talked about, there's no doubt that George TFA was going to be arrested in charge. Right. There is enough to do that at the very least. The hearing took place on January 10th, 2013. Noel Stevens pleaded guilty to first degree murder.

He faced at least 21 years in prison. But his sentencing hearing was delayed until January 7th of 2016. It was a three year delay. Yeah. Now, I think a big part of that was because he was set to testify for the prosecution at George's trial as part of his plea deal. So I guess you want to delay that sentencing, right? You want to make sure that Noel Stevens lives up to his end of the bargain before the sentence is passed out for sure. George TFA pleaded not guilty.

Noel testified at the grand jury hearing that George gave him a key to Shauna's house. He also said that George paid him $600 as a down payment. He also made $600 from having a friend sell. Shaana's engagement ring at a poncha. And Gibbs, Noel told the jury that he hit Shauna 17 times with the hammer. So we know it was a brutal beating, a brutal murder. Now he's putting an exact number on it. We said before, right? So many times that the handle of the hammer broke off. Well, 17 times with a hammer to somebody's head. That's just brutal. Yeah. And, What for six, $1,200, whatever he got out of it.

Kind of hard to fathom, right? Yeah. Now, George's defense argued that Noel was not a reliable witness because he was a known liar. He told some friends that he was going to get paid $20,000 for the murder. He told others that he was a crime family hitman and that he was going to get paid 40, 50 to some even $60,000 to kill someone from the Palm Casino. Really bragging out there. Well, Noel also had an unspecified mental illness and admitted

in court that he saw visions and that he experienced auditory hallucinations. The defense described him as a quote, zombie parrot and said that basically he was just trying to blame George TFA for everything. And, you know, for me Gibbs, this is some of the most interesting parts of true kind cases. You know, when you get to trial and you have an individual who has all the goods on somebody else and they've cut a plea deal, they're going to testify. Well, the defense is going to try to shred them to pieces. Yeah, you got to discredit them.

You have to as a defense attorney. So it comes out that this guy had lied about how much he was going to get paid. Okay. Then it comes out that he had some type of mental illness, even himself admitted in court that he saw visions, he experienced auditory hallucinations. So it's really going to be up to the jury, right? At that point, do you believe this individual? Or do you believe the defense and all the things and all the kind of the mud that they're throwing at him or the things that they're pointing out about his character.

Well, the defense asked to hope that they did enough to discredit him. Yeah, that's a big key. Georgia's trial began on August 25th, 2015. He pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy. The prosecution led by Mark D. Giacomo chose not to seek the death penalty. So I do want to go back to the timeline just for a second, right? We kind of talked about how quickly everything happened. Sure.

from the time that Shauna was murdered until the time that police put together Noel Stevens and George. It was a very short period of time. Now, it took years to get George to trial, but that's just kind of how the judicial system works sometimes. The prosecution argued that Noel had no motive to kill Sean, but George did. They said that George manipulated Noel. so that he would take all the blame for the murder. George was angry that Shauna wanted a divorce. He didn't want to have to pay alimony or child support.

So George supplied Noel with the money and tools to murder Shana. And they pointed out that George left behind a trail of evidence that really kind of painted him as the mastermind. The prosecution also argued that George walked his eight-year-old. daughter inside the home knowing that Shauna was dead. That's really disturbing that a father would do that to his daughter. Yeah, because he knows what's waiting inside that home, right? So to intentionally traumatize his own daughter just kind of in the hopes of improving

his story, his alibi, you know, whatever it is, you're a real POS. I mean, this is on top of orchestrating the murder of your wife. Yeah, he's really a sick individual. George's defense was led by Robert Langford. The defense argued that Noel Stevens just could not be believed. George was being wrongfully prosecuted, and they would provide reasonable doubt about George's involvement in the murder. Langford said, if you put it all together just the right way, that's what you get.

But there's a lot of reason not to put it together that way. So the first time I read that Gibbs, I was like, that makes absolutely no sense to me at all. But I mean, I kind of understand what he's saying, but it's almost like talking in circles a little bit. It's a good defense attorney saying that. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe it is just trying to muddy the water. Noel Stevens testified for the prosecution.

He said that George promised him $5,000 in total for the murder. He instructed him to use a fiberglass hammer. because a wooden hammer may break. Obviously he didn't follow those instructions because he did use a wood hammer and it did break. He said that George gave him a key to Shauna's place. Noel testified that when he first hit Shauna with the hammer, she asked him,

why are you doing this? That'd be a tough thing to hear if you had a conscience. And these are always kind of heartbreaking. You know, these revelations. about what victims say when they realize that someone is trying to end their life. You know, we've heard about it in some of the family murders, sons who have killed parents and things like that, where a mother might say, you know, why are you doing this?

How can you do this to me? It's heartbreaking. Yeah. The prosecutor asked Noel, who told you to kill Shana? And Noel responded, George did. Now, according to Noel, he and George did. George plotted several different ways to kill Shana. Before the actual murder occurred, they decided that staging a robbery would be best.

The defense tried to argue that Noel's testimony was tainted by the plea deal. Robert Langford argued that Noel was mentally unstable. And I think he tried real hard, Gibbs, to constantly point out to the jury that Noel's testimony just wasn't credible. William Hinnick, who we talked about earlier, testified for the prosecution about Noel's confession. But when he was questioned by the defense, he said that Noel Stevens was a liar. He said on a scale of one to 10 of trustworthiness, Noel was a one. That's pretty low. Well, that's as low as you can get on a scale of one to 10. That hurts your credibility for sure. It does. And it, and it,

it's a real kind of conundrum here when you look at the testimony of Noel Stevens because he is making statements that make him seem not all that credible. He has a friend who's saying, hey, he's not credible. Yet all of the things that he's saying kind of line up with the evidence. Sure does. A crime scene analyst testified that the right side of Shauna's head was severely injured. she broke three fingers on her right hand, trying to protect herself. The jury was shown a video of George and Noel at a Walmart on September 13th. They purchased some dark clothing. And then on the 15th, they purchased a hammer, a knife, and gloves at a different store.

Okay. Now, now, you know, you're really tying these two guys together. So, I mean, I think as a juror, you, would be questioning Noel Stevens. You know, how credible is this guy? And then you see the video and you find out what purchases were made together with George. It's pretty hard not to kind of put all of this together in your mind, I think. You got to start asking some more questions for sure. The defense only called on one witness and that was George's sister Maria. She said that George was not a violent person. On September 3rd, 2015,

The jury found George TFA guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, burglary, robbery, and weapons enhancements. He showed no visible reaction. As the jury read the verdict, his sisters cried in the courtroom for him. Shana's sister Paula Stokes Richards told reporters outside the courthouse. Shauna was brutally murdered. So many people loved Shana. We're just happy and satisfied.

that the jury saw the truth. On December 1st, 2015, George TFA was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 30 years. And then the judge added on consecutive sentences for conspiracy, burglary, and robbery. Judge Eric Johnson said he saw pure evil in the details of George's plot.

On January 7, 2016, Noel Stevens was sentenced to 42 years. years in prison for first degree murder and other charges. So he might have got to reduce sentence for his plea deal, but he didn't get off, uh, light. No, he did not. 42 years, no joke. Now, how much of those 42 he'll have to serve? I don't know. I think they both were sentenced correctly in this case. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, it's always a little up in the air. I think when you have these murder for higher plots. George TFA didn't strike the blows that murdered his wife. Noel Stevens did that. But Noel Stevens would have never done that unless George TFA set

everything in motion, paid him, did all of that. On July 19th, 2017, George went to court in an effort to file an appeal. He showed up to court by himself, requesting a lawyer for a new appeal. This was the first time that he ever confessed to the crime. And he wrote his account of events in third person on a piece of paper. George claimed he was suffering from the lingering effects of prescription medications when Shawna was murdered. He said he suffered an injury while working as a firefighter and he had to take hormones, estrogen blockers, and adderol.

And it was this cocktail, this medication that made him mentally unstated. at the time. The review journal reported that George said he told his defense counsel about prescriptions that led to hallucinations that God was directing him to perpetrate a crime, to protect his child. I guess he also said Gibbs, he saw visions of his deceased wife, letting him know all was okay, and that he thought God told him to trust Robert Langford. He said Langford told him not to get help and failed to request psychiatric evaluation required for his condition. George also listed dozens of other grounds for his appeal. It's pretty common, right?

We see this time and time again, right? Ineffective assistance of counsel. Now, this one has an added element of George saying that he told his attorney about, you know, all these prescriptions that he was taking and that he was mentally. stable and that his attorney just didn't do anything with the information. Mark D. Giacomo said outside the courthouse, it was always pretty evident that he committed the crime. The fact that he's now using a confession to try to get out of it is somewhat ironic. And it really is, if you think about it, right?

He denied, he denied, he denied. Now he's trying to file an appeal. And it's at this point that he confesses. to the crime. But he adds all this other stuff to it. Yeah, I did it, but I was under the influence of all these different prescriptions. It messed with my mental state and all that. But it is kind of ironic. I think so that you would choose to confess at the time you're making your appeal. The review journal reported that Richard Langford responded to the appeal by saying he never indicated any kinds of psychosis or any kind of abnormal behavior that led me to believe that he was anything other than

competent and able to assist in his defense. And I always wonder about this, Gibbs, right? With so many claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, you have all these defense attorneys that kind of have to come out and defend themselves, like time and time again. Yeah. Now, sometimes it's proven that they were ineffective. Oh, for sure. And we've seen that. And we've seen that in a number of cases. But I think as a whole, there's not that many that are actually guilty of that. Yeah, I would agree with you. I mean, could you pick apart a defensive strategy?

Yeah, probably in every single case. But does that mean that they were ineffective? Not necessarily. Could they have done this? Could they have done that? Yeah, you can do the Monday morning quarterback thing. Right. You know, after the fact, that's pretty easy.

Shaana's family was insulted by the appeal. They said that George was just lying in an effort to try to get a retrial or a reduced sentence. But why wouldn't he try that? Well, he's going to try anything and everything. I think a victim's family is always going to be insulted by whatever the perpetrator tries to do. Sure. You know, especially when they're changing their story and saying this and saying that, they're never going to be happy with anything that comes out of that person's mouth

because that person took their family member away from them. Yeah. So far, George has filed two appeals, both of which have been unsuccessful. George TFA is currently incarcerated at high desert state prison. He's 49 years old and will most likely die in prison. Noel Stevens is incarcerated at Lovelot Correctional Center. if he survives his sentence and he's not let out early, which I doubt he would be, he'd be 82 years old when he leaves prison. It's a long time in prison. It is.

And I think back to your point, I think these sentences were fair and just. Yeah. I'm totally fine with both of them. You know, some people might make the argument that Noel being the actual murderer, the one that swung the hammer, the one that swung the hammer, the one that struck the blows that killed Shauna should have been given a longer sentence. But let's not forget, you know, he entered into a plea deal. Right.

So in exchange for his cooperation and his testimony, I'm sure he got a reduced sentence. Shana's family started a Facebook page called Justice for Shana to raise awareness for her case and other domestic violence victims. On August 21st, 2016, they announced that. they'd raised enough money to move Shauna's grave from Las Vegas to Utah so that she could be next to her father. So Gibbs, as we wrap up this case, you know, I'll go back to the very beginning, right? George and Shauna had what many believed was this kind of picture perfect life, but like we talked about, they weren't as happy as they seemed to people, you know, on the outside. I think that happens more than a lot of us would like to admit.

Prosecutors theorized that when Shauna finally grew tired of the abuse and left, George didn't know what to do, right? He had her under his thumb. He was so controlling of her so that when she left, he lost all control. Sure he did. Yeah. They weren't underneath the same roof anymore. He didn't have that power.

No, he had no power. He went from having all the power to having none. Now, he also didn't want to pay all of the legal fees, the divorce fees, alimony, child support, you know, you have to factor in the money because that always comes into play. I also think that he didn't want Shauna to be with anyone else, you know, a person who is that controlling. Right. Who is literally telling you who you can.

can and cannot see what you should wear, what you shouldn't wear. You know, that, that's a person that is not going to handle a breakup, a separation very well. They're definitely not going to want you to be seeing other people. No. And while you're together with them, they're calling you a slut. What are they calling you after that when you're not with them anymore? Yeah, probably words that we don't want to repeat. Exactly.

But when you get down to it, you know, this, this thought by George, George, that the only way for him to fix all this was to pay someone to murder Shana, you know, it's just something that most of us just can't understand. And I mentioned it, right? He didn't physically commit the act of murder. He didn't swing the hammer, but he put it all in motion. I don't think it ever would have happened without him. I absolutely believe it wouldn't have happened without him. No, and I think he used Noel Stevens. I think he used Noel Stevens. I think he was, I the almost in a way prayed upon him. He controlled him as well, making him believe that they were

friends, kind of, you know, sowing the seeds for what he was going to ask this guy to do later on. George's selfishness into the life of a kind and generous person and also left his daughter without a mother or a father because he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison. Right. Yeah. You know, I mean, that poor daughter, who knows how her life is turning out. As opposed to how it would have turned out with with two parents in her life, even if they were divorced. Yeah.

There's a lot of what ifs here. But the selfishness for a person to say, well, if I can't have you, nobody can have you. Right. That's one thing. To intentionally walk your daughter into a crime scene that you know is there. That's unbelievable. It's disturbing. And then to ultimately leave her without a father or a mother, man, it is just something else.

And all he had to do is just walk away. You know, hey, she doesn't want you because you abuse her. So let her have her life. You go have your life, man. Yeah. Some people just can't do it. I don't understand it, but they can't do it. Now, I get not wanting to pay a bunch of money.

I understand that. Sure. I do too. People don't want to give up, you know, a large chunk of. what they earn in alimony, child support. I understand all that. But that's just part of the deal. Yeah. You know, if you, if you can't make it work and, and you have to go your separate ways, that's just the way it works. That's the deal, man. You don't kill over it. No, you don't. But so many people do that I just don't get it. But that's it, Gibbs, for our episode on George TFA.

We've got some voicemails. You want to check those out? Yeah. Hello, Mike and Gipy. Everyone says how much they love your podcast. Well, I hate it. I can't keep up with that big accent. Anyway, I just hate it. I hate everything about it. I hate both of you.

I hate all the stories. Actually, I love both of you. But Team Gippie. Sorry, Mike. There was something else I was going to say, but with that stupid accent, I forgot. Anyway, keep doing what you're doing and keep your own time checking. Hello, I just called, and I just remembered what I was going to say. It is 1 o'clock on New Year's Day, 2022.

Happy New Year's, Gibby and Mike or Mikey-Gibby. Go, Team Ghibie. That's a really good accent. What was that? That's the compatible accent in the mail version. You're just making accents up now. They're not even real. They don't even equate to anything.

Somewhere somehow, it does. So there was a couple of things about that voicemail that cracked me up. Number one, that, you know, trying to play it off as she hated us, the accent. But it was kind of like you, right? You try to do the accent. It throws you off. The next thing you know, you can't remember what you wanted to say. That has happened to you a number of times.

There's nothing like me. I am so proficient at my accentanto. It's just uncalled for it. You said that. I'm uncalled for it. The other thing I will say is friends don't let friends leave voicemails at 1 a.m. Yeah. On New Year's.

Yeah. Hey, guys. I just personally wanted to say, I've never listened to a podcast before, and now I'm completely hooked. I've been binging. I drive a truck, so I've been binging y'all's podcast for like three weeks now, and I just got to the Shannon Christian and Christopher Newsom, and I wanted to let y'all know, thank you so much for doing that. We live in between Chattanooga in Knoxville, 45 either way,

and we didn't know anything about this case until a couple of years ago. And usually when there's something big going on in Knoxville or Chattanooga, we get it on the news here. So thank you for doing this. You are the first people that I have heard to do this outside of my school. I'm loving every single minute of it. You guys are completely awesome. And I am on to the next. Everybody take care.

And keep your own time picking. Bye. You know what I want to know about these truckers? What? What are their cabs look like on the inside? I drive by a lot of these trucks. Some of them look like, man, they're really big. Like extended cab.

I wonder how nice they are on the inside. And what's the thing upstairs? You know, the upper deck, is that where they sleep? And downstairs, they had like a recliner and a little fridge. Well, hey. What they got in there? Here's what you do. You go to the local truck stop.

Yeah. And maybe 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning. Just bang on the trucker's door. Sure, yeah. And just say, hey, I'm Mike Gibson. That's right. You probably know who I am. Yeah.

Can I come inside and take a tour of your truck? Can I spend a little time with you? I wouldn't say it that way. Okay. Yeah. I'm sure that, you know, I think some of them are very nice. They look like they're really nice.

Well, I mean, when you're, you got to sleep in there and you're in there, you know, pretty much all day, every day, you want, you want some of the amenities. It's one of how roomy it is. All right. Well, I'm sure you can figure it out. You know, go for it. Yeah.

And then report back and let me know how it turns out. I'll let you know how it goes. I have a black eye. It's Rebecca from Orangeville, Ontario. I started listening to you guys back in August, and I'm pretty much caught up. I have three or four episodes left. I just want to say, you guys, make my 10-hour work days fly by, and I love the banter and the respect that you guys give to the victims and how you tell the story.

So thank you so much for that. There's a lot of true crime podcast out there, but I find it very difficult to listen to most of them. So thanks so much. Have a great night, guys. Oh, very nice voicemail. Appreciate it. I like that. Thank you.

And because we took a couple weeks off, Gibbs, she's probably caught up for sure by now. Yeah. And is hearing this voicemail. It's amazing. We had mailbag. Mitch and Jennifer sent us a bunch of great chocolate from Canada. Very good. We're actually eating some of it as we record.

We take little breaks. I mean, I'm not eating chocolate as I'm talking, but. You're eating a lot of it, though. I got to back off. Mary Beth Long, our good friends sent us a bunch of stuff. But she sent some games. Oh, yeah. My game was called sushi go party.

I played that with my family on New Year's Eve. Gibby, you got a movie game. I did. But you've already forgotten what it's about, who's in it, and all of that. But I'll nail it next time. But we appreciate everyone who sends in stuff. All right, buddy. That is it for another episode of true crime all the time.

So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.