True Crime with Kendall Rae - Fireman Hires Handyman To “End” His Marriage: The Case of Shauna Tiaffay

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Shauna and George Tiaffay were seen as a picture perfect couple, and they were genuinely happy until having a child and the financial crisis really changed George’s demeanor. One day in 2012, after separating, George brought their daughter over to Shauna’s house to get something, and the two found her lying dead on the floor, clearly brutally beaten. The following week was extremely stressful on Shauna’s family, as everything in the investigation really picked up speed. But they had a feeling that George wasn’t innocent as he claimed to be. For more information on S.A.F.E. House Nevada: https://safehousenv.org/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Zocdoc Rocket Money Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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Wayfair, every style, every home. ["True Crime"] Hi everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you are new, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. So today guys, I'm gonna be telling you about a case that I found thanks to a lot of you.

It was highly requested in my case submission form, which is always linked below. And as soon as I looked into the details of this one and who the victim really was, the more I wanted to share her story and make sure that she is remembered for the wonderful human that really was. The more I wanted to share her story and make sure that she is remembered for the wonderful human that she was. We're gonna be talking about Shana Tia Fey,

who was a very, very special person. And what happened to her is just unimaginable and was so unnecessary. So let me jump right in and start by, of course, telling you more about Shana. So Shana was born Shawna Ann Castleton on March 13th, 1966 in Salt Lake City, Utah to her parents William and Nancy. She had one sister, Paula, who you will hear me talking about more today and I think is

a very, very strong inspirational person, but she also had five brothers, all of whom were raised in the Mormon Church. And while Utah was definitely home for their family, they moved in 1978 to Pennsylvania, actually, where they stayed for two years, followed by a move to North Virginia where Shawna attended both middle school and high school. And despite these two moves at such a pivotal age where I could imagine it would be very hard to move,

Shawna seemed to do really well with it and didn't really have any trouble fitting in and making new friends. And I think that's really thanks to her bubbly personality. From a young age, it seems like people were just sort of drawn to her and that really remained true throughout her entire life. And the more I looked into her, the more I got a sense that she was someone that anyone could really become fast friends with. She was very open-minded and caring and just had this positive outlook on life and would do kind things like bring cupcakes into work for her coworkers on their birthdays and, you know, just go the extra mile.

That made her very easy to love. And Shawna was definitely one of those people who would always look at things on the bright side. The glass half full type of person, which I try to be that. It's often very hard for me. I tend to get negative and my anxiety kicks in, but Shauna was able to really hold a positive attitude most of the time. And that really affected the people around her and brought them up as well which is why it's so nice to have friends like that in your life. She was always smiling and looking for the best in people plus she had this infectious laugh that her loved ones say they'll never forget and honestly it's because of her upbeat and fun personality that made Las Vegas the perfect place for her to live. In 1994 at 28 years old Shauna moved to Las Vegas the perfect place for her to live. In 1994, at 28 years old, Shana moved to Las Vegas

where she initially started working in the cosmetic department at Saks Fifth Avenue in Neiman Marcus. But really her true calling ended up being cocktail waitressing. A few years living into Vegas, Shana got a job working as a cocktail waitress at the Fiesta.

However, in 2001, when the Palms Hotel and Casino first opened, she got a job there and that's where she would continue to work for the next 11 years. Now her former coworkers say that they can't remember a single moment over all of those years where she didn't have a smile on her face, that she was truly the most positive person

that they had ever met. And Shawna did very well as a cocktail waitress. And I think that's because of her personality and also just how driven she was, very dedicated to any job that she had. And she did so well that in the early 2000s, she was bringing in upwards of $100,000 a year in salary and tips.

And keep in mind, that's the 2000, so that was a lot. And a lot of her tips were often paid out in casino chips from patrons of the casino. And those patrons absolutely loved her. And obviously Shana was meeting tons of people in this line of work. And one of those people she ended up meeting fell in love with her.

And his name is George TFA. And she met George only about a year into working her new job at the Palms. And they definitely had a very rapid love story. George was a handsome, all-American man who worked for the Las Vegas Fire Department, and his charm was more than enough to really sweep Shana off her feet.

Not only did she think that he was good-looking and funny, I mean, the dude was literally a pinup model on a sexy firefighter calendar, but she appreciated that he was a man dedicated to service. After graduating as homecoming king and valedictorian of his high school, George went on to attend the U.S. Military Academy, otherwise known as West Point. Following this, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers, where he built schools and water systems in third world countries.

And he also would send quite a bit of money home back to his mom to help her in caring for his disabled sister. And the more that Shana learned about him and who he really was as a person, the more she fell in love with him. In fact, only a year after they first met, they were already welcoming a baby girl into the world. And for the next several years, loved ones and the people closest to them really saw Shana and George as the, you know, perfect couple. George appeared to dote over his wife and his daughter, and Shana seemed equally happy and in love. But as soon as she became a mother, which was something that she had always wanted,

her greatest priority, the joy of her life became her daughter. And that was always, always, always what was most important to her was being a good mom and making sure her daughter was taken care of. Motherhood seemed to come very naturally to her and she spent every waking moment being the best mom that she could be. And even though her time with her daughter was cut short far too soon,

the two of them really shared some incredible moments with the time that they did have. Sean had just had a fun spirited way about her and she was always playing and laughing and just making the most of their time together. And one memory in particular that they shared was actually Shawna and George's wedding. In March of 2006, three years after their daughter was born,

Shawna and George had a private wedding ceremony in Hawaii, just days after Shawna's 40th birthday. And in the photos from that day, they really do look like this picture perfect family. Nothing in their faces, in the pictures from those days, their smiles would tell you that something truly terrible would happen just a few short years later. But of course we live in the age of social media

and we know that pictures definitely don't always tell the full story. I will say that Shana and George did truly seem to be happy and in love with each other in those first few years but unfortunately that just didn't last. Sometimes searching for the right doctor is like a bad game of Mad Libs. You need a blank specialist who takes your blank insurance, who's within blank miles of you, who doesn't have a blank month wait

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Plus ZocDoc appointments happen fast, typically within 24 to 72 hours of booking. And sometimes you can even score same day appointments, which I was able to do recently and it's always so great. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to zocdoc.com slash Kendall Rae to find an instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's zocdoc.com slash Kendall Rae, zocdoc.com slash Kendall Rae. If I were to ask you how many active subscriptions you have, would you be able to give me an

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in cancelled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's features. So stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash kendalray. That's rocketmoney.com slash kendalray. Once again rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Once again, rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. After they lost a substantial amount of money in the 2008 recession and housing crisis, George went from a loving husband to an angry, jealous, and bitter man.

The man that Shawna used to be head over heels in love with was now just a completely different person. Shana told her friends that he just became incredibly critical of everything that she did and everything about her. He was very demeaning towards her. In fact, there was one thing that really stood out to me and that is a time where she claimed he called her a slut while she was getting ready for work and he did it right in front of her daughter, which I just cannot imagine being in that situation that is wrong on so many different levels. And what's really sad is their financial problems seem to really be the root cause of it all. He seemed to be very insecure and didn't like the fact that Shana was really the primary bread

winner in the house. He was super, super controlling of the way that she spent money, which a lot of it was hers to begin with. And as you can imagine, that caused a lot of tension. And really tension is a lightweight of putting it. The problems in their marriage and the way that George was treating her was so upsetting and hurtful to her.

And those problems only continued to grow in the months and years following the recession. And one thing that was very scary and upsetting to Shawna was the way that George would befriend homeless people. And it wasn't that he would befriend people. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, of course, but he befriended a specific homeless person. He hired them to do odd jobs around their house and their garden. And she just had always gotten very bad vibes from this person and multiple friends and

family members remember her saying that she thought this guy was super, super creepy. And oftentimes it was her alone with her child and this man who she barely knew. And it wasn't the fact that he was homeless. It was just the way that he acted that made her very uncomfortable. But despite the fact that she expressed this to George, how uneasy she felt, how uncomfortable she felt in her own home when this guy was there, George didn't really seem to care at all. And of course him not showing any concern for her, not validating her feelings about the situation at all,

and really not caring if she felt uncomfortable having this person in her home only added to their growing list of issues. And their marriage was just really falling apart. And that was very, very hard for Shawna. I mean, I just wanted to really stress how deeply upset she was that their marriage was struggling so badly. And it's definitely not what she wanted.

She always kind of wanted that like white picket fence type of life, the perfect relationship, the perfect family. And, you know, when they first had their daughter, I think she really had hope that that's how type of life, the perfect relationship, the perfect family. And you know, when they first had their daughter, I think she really had hope that that's how things were going to be, especially when they were first falling in love and she wasn't seeing this other side of him. So for him to have changed so quickly and shown such little care of her and, you know, saying these demeaning things to her all the time and controlling every aspect of their

finances and what she did and just being so critical of her, she felt like she couldn't and meaning things to her all the time and controlling every aspect of their finances and what she did and just being so critical of her, she felt like she couldn't be in this relationship anymore, but that was so hard for her to come to that realization and accept it. But she just knew that the fairy tale that she wanted and the relationship that she actually had now were not the same anymore.

And so eventually in April of 2012, things ended up getting so bad that she decided to move out of the home and they agreed to split custody of their daughter. However, even still at this point, Shana wasn't ready to stop fighting for their marriage. As I said in the beginning, she was really an optimist to her core

and was hopeful that maybe marriage counseling would be able to help them. But sadly by this point, it was just too late. And during the summer of 2012, there was a lot of change happening in Shawna's life. But all things considered, she seemed to be really doing a great job of adjusting to her new routine

and making sure that her daughter was adjusting as well. And like I said, she and George were splitting custody of their daughter. And meanwhile, she was also settling into her new town home in the suburb of Summerlin, Nevada, which was just 30 minutes away from where she worked. So not too bad. And I know this change could not have been easy to adapt to by any means. But again, her positive outlook on life definitely helped her to get by. Plus, we can't forget that Shana loved her job, even despite the long working hours,

sometimes super late into the night, but really work was something that she could always look forward to. But one day in early September, Shawna got off work and headed home like any other day, and this time she realized that her town home had been broken into. And what's very strange and very interesting is out of all the things that could have been stolen from her townhome, the two things that turned up missing were her engagement ring and then this is really weird but also a pair of swimsuit bottoms. Now obviously an engagement ring is definitely a valuable item but swimsuit bottoms? What? And I think we can all agree that taking something like that seems very personal, very strange,

and just overall very creepy. And what's even creepier is that whoever broke in also left behind a pair of men's boxers in size small. And I can't help but wonder, and I have no way to confirm this, but I'm curious what you guys think. I wonder if this person had taken off their boxers and put on her swimsuit bottoms. And I'm not sure if Shana made that connection or wondered that herself, but just overall the experience was very violating, felt very, very creepy. Not only did they take that strange item, but also just someone breaking to your house would, of course, feel very upsetting, very violating, and I'm sure anyone would feel that way. But as creeped out as she was, being the optimist that she was, she decided not to take any additional efforts to secure her home. The idea that this would happen twice didn't seem too likely and despite being shaken up, she did her best to move forward.

And I truly understand her thought process there, but I think it's something that we can learn from and I'm sure she would want us all to learn from. As if something like that happens to you, it is definitely the wise move to do anything you can to better secure your home. And that's because just three weeks later, someone broke into her home again, and this time it was not with the intent to rob her. In the early morning hours of September 29th, security footage from the Palms Hotel and Casino captured Shana clocking out of work at 3.01 a.m. After this, she walks to her car in the parking lot and makes the same 30-minute drive home that she'd been making for the last couple months. This time, though, she sadly did not

make it safely into her bed for the night. After pulling up to her house and entering through the garage, Shana was senselessly attacked in her stairwell. And God, it was brutal. Her attacker really showed no mercy and left only after he was certain that she was no longer alive. And it wasn't until six hours later, around 9 a.m., that her body would be discovered. That morning, after finishing a 24-hour shift

at the fire station, George picked up their daughter from his mom's house where she had spent the night. And it was very common, like in a lot of families, for their daughter to spend nights over at her grandmother's house. Considering that George and Shana worked very late into the night, sometimes overnight, and they both worked long shifts. Especially George doing 24 hour shifts at the firefighter, sometimes longer. So this wasn't anything out of the norm.

And the night of September 28th into the 29th was no exception. However, that following morning was anything but normal. So after picking her up, George says that they drove over to Shawna's house because there was something that he said his daughter needed there. And I'm sure you all know where this is going.

When George arrived at Shana's townhouse and saw that the garage door had been left open, he and their daughter walked right inside. And when they did, that's when George saw Shana's body badly beaten lying on the living room floor. So he quickly ushered their daughter back outside and immediately called 911. 911 emergency. quickly ushered their daughter back outside and immediately called 911. I want to take her to my mom's house.

Stay right there a minute, okay? Okay. Do you know what the address is and you don't live there, correct? No, my wife and I live in separate places. When's the last time you saw her? Oh, I don't know. All right, you did good. Take a deep breath. I'm a fireman. I was at work yesterday, so I saw her about 36 hours ago, I guess.

Okay. A day and a half ago. I'm thinking something like that. Okay. How old is your daughter? She's eight. And she's with you, or where's she at? She's right here with me. Okay. What's your name, sir? My name is George TSA. Okay. Do you see anything suspicious around her? Any weapons, any knives, guns?

No, I had to get my daughter out of there. We came over and the garage door was open and it's never open. So we went in to grab some stuff for my daughter. My wife sleeps during the day because she works at night. Right. And she was on the floor when we walked in the door. Where are you at right now? I'm at the garage right now. Okay, we do have an officer on the way so just stay right outside and we'll get somebody out there for you, okay? Oh god, I didn't touch the body to check for a pulse. That's okay. We'll have medical on the way as well,

okay? Okay. Thanks. Thank you. Now this is truly disturbing to have to say, but when first responders got there, they thought that because of the condition she was in, because there was so much blood and she was beaten so badly that they actually thought she had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. But upon further inspection, they realized that she was not shot. She was just very, very badly beaten. They realized pretty quickly that she must've had repeated blows to her head, 17 to be exact.

And this is just so, so upsetting, but they also realized that fingers on her right hand were broken, which obviously indicates that she had tried to put up her hands in self-defense. And a neighbor actually did tell detectives that they had remembered hearing a thudding sound coming from Shawna's place between 3.30 and 4 a.m.,

but since Shawna normally came home from work around this time, they didn't think the sounds were anything out of the ordinary. And of course, naturally, George was considered immediately the first person of interest. Right there at the scene,

he was interviewed by an officer and of course considering that he and Shawna had been having some marital problems, well the data, the statistics around violence in marriages and cases like this tell us that he is the most likely suspect, right? But here's the thing, George had an airtight alibi. As I said earlier, he had just gotten done with a shift, a 24-hour shift at the fire

station and multiple coworkers could corroborate that he was there. So as quickly as he was considered a person of interest, he was just as quickly cleared. And he wasn't the only person that detectives were considering. Now they weren't entirely sure of course, but considering that there was a robbery at her home just three weeks earlier, they thought maybe it could be connected. Maybe it was someone that had followed her home

from the casino, someone who was stalking her and obsessed with her, which sadly does happen in those types of professions. And obviously hearing this really frightened a lot of her coworkers. But Shana's sister Paula thought that there was only one person that she really felt could have been responsible for this. And that was George. Now she didn't know how, but she felt like he had to have been involved. And she was so convinced that she ends up calling him that day to see what he had to say.

And we actually have a clip of that. Is she still, is Shawna's body still there? George then handed the phone over to the grief counselor who had arrived on scene, and Paula didn't hesitate to let her know what she and her husband thought. I have my suspicions that her husband may be involved in this based on you know many many conversations I've had with my sister. I highly suspect that he may be involved. After this call, Paula and her husband booked a flight from Nashville to Vegas, not knowing what would happen over the next few days and weeks. But luckily, investigators did not let the ball drop on this one. Only 48 hours into the investigation, they ended up getting a call that changed everything and quite frankly, is the reason that they were able to solve Shawna's murder as quickly as they did. Now,

this call came from a local man named William Pennex, who goes by Big Will. And what he had to say to detectives was shocking. In this call, he explained that someone he knew called him and told him that he desperately needed to see him and talk to him. So he agrees to meet up with this person. And he tells investigators that this person goes by Greyhound.

And that when he met up with Greyhound, he told him that he had just killed a woman. And it wasn't just what he told Big Will that really freaked him out, it was the way he told him and how he told him. He seemed, I don't know how else to describe it other than happy. Like he had completed some type of mission

by killing this woman. Like he wanted Big Will to be impressed with him. Big Will said that this Greyhound guy was practically laughing as he explained how he had beaten this woman over and over and over again with a hammer. And what do we know about Shawna's injuries? That she was beaten over and over again

with what investigators believed to be some type of tool. And at first, the story that Big Will was telling them seemed a little outlandish. They didn't know if they could really believe it. But they also wondered if there could be some truth to it. And they looked into things and it turns out that there was some truth to it. Now Big Will, who worked as a maintenance man, basically explained to detectives that he likes to help people straighten out their lives after serving time in prison and Greyhound was one of those people. But obviously murder was something that, you know, was beyond

the scope of the type of people that Big Will was willing to try and help. So after he had spoken to him and was very disturbed by what he said, the following morning he hears on the news about a local woman who was beaten to death in her own home. And that's when he knew he had to go to police. And I wanna just take a moment to say what a true hero, Big Will, was in this case. He could have just, you know, not wanted to get involved

in things, moved on with his life, but he knew the right thing to do was to go to police. Especially considering how unreliable and frankly dishonest this Greyhound person was, and he didn't know if he could take his words seriously. He knew there was a chance that what he was saying was true and that he had to make sure he came forward with this information that could be crucial to solving this case if they were connected. The case was solved. The case was solved.

The case was solved. The case was solved. The case was solved. The case was solved. The case was solved. The case was solved. The case was solved. The case was solved.

The case was solved. The case was solved. con named Noel Stevens. And after their conversation with Big Will, they also learned that Noel lived in a tent on the outskirts of Vegas, but often could be found stealing food from one particular Albertson's grocery store closer to the city. And he was also known for selling drugs at the Chevron gas station across the street. And so with the help of Big Will, he joined them

and they all went over there to see if maybe they could find them. And they knew it was kind of a shot in the dark that he likely wouldn't be there or they would miss him, you know, who knows if he was going to show up, but he did. Noel was outside the Chevron gas station selling drugs, and because of that, they were able to bring him into the station. But the thing was, Noel had always been a low-level criminal. Yes, he had been in and out of jail, but it was always for non-violent crimes. So it didn't really make sense to them

that this seemingly random homeless guy would have any reason to go into Shawna's home and murder her. Like, for what? And as far as they could tell, there was no connection between the two of them or at least that's what they thought at first. And at first, Knoll denied any involvement in Shawna's murder.

But he changed his tune pretty quickly after investigators found his campsite. After scouring the Las Vegas desert on foot and by helicopter, detectives uncovered Knoll's tent where he had actually left undeniable evidence that he had to have been involved in Shana's murder. The biggest finding was a pair of his roll-up jeans, which had been covered in blood, and after they tested them on site, they learned later on that the blood belonged to Shana.

And not just that, they also found a price tag with a barcode on it that was connected to a hammer and based on Big Will's story that a hammer was used, detectives were currently under the impression that she was murdered with a hammer. Now to be clear they didn't find the hammer there but the price tag and the barcode were definitely damning and I will explain more about why later but now with this new information and evidence detectives felt pretty confident that Knoll had to be involved in Shawna's murder. And they gave him one last opportunity to admit

what he had done and he did. Detectives actually had to lie to him and tell him that someone came forward and identified him specifically as Shauna's killer, which I guess was partially true because Big Will did say it was Null, but he didn't necessarily know that Shauna was the victim. But either way, it was definitely enough to get Null to confess, and once he did, he explained in detail exactly what he had done to her. But what they couldn't understand was why? What was the motive? Why did he do this specifically to Shawna? That is until they searched his phone. And I'm sure 99.9 of you

can guess where this is going, but George's number came up in his call logs repeatedly, which made a lot of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Detectives quickly realized that Noel was the homeless man that George had hired to come do odd jobs around the house, the one that Shawna kept complaining she felt uncomfortable around. And so of course, detectives asked Noel if he knew who George was, and he immediately said that's my friend, the firefighter. But of course, having his number in his phone didn't necessarily prove he was involved in the murder because he did hire him to do these, you know, handyman odd jobs around their house.

And so he could have been contacting him about that, right? However, the connection to George's involvement in Shawna's murder ended up not being that hard to make. Because once they started looking into Noel's phone data, they realized that he and George had called each other 87 times in the month leading up to Shawna's murder. And that seemed pretty egregious for some handyman work. Plus, remember that price tag for the hammer that I mentioned detectives had found? Well, it had a barcode on it, and detectives were able to determine the type of hammer it belonged to. After doing some research, they realized

that that specific hammer could be purchased at a major retailer nearby. And so they began searching through hours of surveillance footage, and they eventually found exactly what they were looking for. On those tapes, they uncovered footage of Noel and George shopping together for a hammer, a ski mask, and black clothing.

The footage undeniably showed the faces of these two men, and I'm no detective, but that seems pretty damn incriminating if you ask me. And when he was presented with this information, Noel continued to share the truth with investigators. And the truth was that George had paid him $600 to murder his wife with the promise of thousands more after he collected on her life insurance policy.

Noel even explained that he and George had considered a few other ideas about how to commit the murder. And they ultimately came to the conclusion that a home invasion would be the best option. And that included that robbery three weeks prior. Knoll explained that this was some sort of like practice run for him to get a feel of the house, and also George said that he could steal her ring and pawn it for cash. And through the detective's conversations with him, it seemed pretty clear that Noel

was enamored by George and just seemed to look up to him a lot. And it's because of this that detectives felt George was able to manipulate him. In fact, they believe he took advantage of him really from the moment that the two of them met, but especially in the months leading up to the murder. It turns out that Noel at one point was actually living at his sister's house, just a few doors down from the TFA's and that's how they met. But even after he moved out and became homeless,

George made sure to keep him around, which many people believe, myself included, I'm sure many of you that he did this specifically because he knew he could manipulate him, especially with him being in a more desperate situation now. But now the tables were turning because Null was spilling everything to investigators and even told them where he buried the hammer,

which, and this is again, just so awful to say, but he had hit Shana so violently that the hammer actually had snapped in half. And like I said earlier, it was determined that she had been struck 17 times. And according to Null, she asked him, and this breaks my heart to hear this, but she asked him, why are you doing this?

As he repeatedly hit her. And ultimately everything he said was more than enough to convince detectives that George had to have played a role in Shawna's murder. For whatever reason, I have never heard of this happening. I don't think. I think it's very, very strange. I'm curious if anyone out there knows why they would have done this. It just seems so odd. But instead of just arresting him, they ended up calling his mother and his sister to let them know that he was a suspect. And when they called them, they were very adamant

that he definitely was not capable of doing something like this, that there's no way that he did it, that they were wrong, and they just didn't know who George was. This isn't in his nature, you know, all of that, that many of us would feel if we found out something shocking like this about a family member,

we would never have expected to be involved in a murder, right? But here's why calling them, in my opinion, was a big mistake before actually making the arrest, because, and I understand where they were coming from as his family wanting to let him know, but they called him right up and told him that he was now being considered a suspect.

But where this became a huge problem and why I think they shouldn't have done that was because after getting off the phone, George attempted to take his own life. He ended up getting into his car and began speeding through Las Vegas where he eventually drove head on into a cement barrier. And because there were no skid marks

to indicate that he had tried to break, detectives do believe that this was an attempt to take his life and personally I agree. But thankfully he did survive because he was wearing his seatbelt and they believe that he possibly wouldn't have if he wasn't wearing a seatbelt and thank God he did because it would have really pissed me off and her family off if he didn't have to face any consequences for what he had potentially done. And just so you know, this is only nine days after Shawna's murder. So everything that I've just gone over happened very, very quickly. And that same day, October 8th, George TFA was arrested in his hospital bed for the murder

of his wife. And apparently when they told him, all he did was lean back in the bed and go, okay. Now, meanwhile, back at the police station, Noel was being charged too. And as you can imagine, finding out about all of this was of course very shocking to Shawna's family, but also came with a lot of relief. Not having to question and wonder about what happened

and feel like things were moving along quickly and that justice was on the horizon was huge for them. And I wish every family could have that experience because it is fairly rare for things to move that quickly. Of course, they knew that it wasn't going to change what had happened. I mean, nothing was ever going to bring her back, but at least it was a step in the direction of justice. I mean, these arrests were huge for them, a huge sense of relief.

But they did know that the fight was far from over. It was just beginning. So three months after his arrest, Noel Stevens pleaded guilty to murder. And in doing so, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against him. But it also meant that he would have to testify against George, who, as I explained, he really looked up to. And George was continuing to maintain his innocence.

So in August of 2015, he did exactly that. And he really ended up being the prosecution star witness against George. But as you can imagine, he really wasn't the most reliable witness. That being said, he did his best to explain to the jury what happened. And in doing so, he implicated George as the mastermind behind it all. George was the one who asked him to murder his wife. George was the one who paid him $600 with the promise of more. George was the one who gave him a key to Shawna's apartment. George George George.

But at the end of the day, no one in the courtroom could deny Null's shady credibility. And the defense definitely really emphasized that. And under cross-examination, Null ended up admitting that he had experienced hallucinations and heard voices in his head. He also admitted to his copious drug and alcohol use, and both of these things combined absolutely made him less credible. Big Will even testified for the prosecution, but under cross-examination, he admitted that Null is not a person

whose word you can always trust. But I want to stress that while Null may not have been the best witness, the prosecution had so much more than his testimony. I mean, at the end of the day, they had irrefutable evidence the best witness, the prosecution had so much more than his testimony. I mean, at the end of the day, they had irrefutable evidence that he and George were in communication in the weeks leading up to the murder,

including those 87 calls in the month of, and five calls the night before. And that communication was far out of the ordinary compared to how often they would communicate before that month. Not to mention the surveillance tapes showing George with Null as they bought that hammer. The hammer that would end up being used in the murder. The defense would argue that this proved nothing and that all the stuff they bought was just

for him to use in his handiwork around the house. But the jury thankfully ultimately saw this for what it was. Which of course was George aiding and abetting Null in the murder of his wife. And after three days of jury deliberation, George TFA was found guilty on all charges. And he showed no emotion when his verdict was read, which honestly doesn't surprise me

considering he showed no emotion throughout the entire trial. He seemed to have like the same face on the whole time. It's honestly really creepy, which it's just so hard to wrap your mind around someone being so cold when this trial is going over the brutal way that your wife, they were still married, was brutally murdered in detail. I don't know how you have no emotion, whether you were involved or not. And obviously he's trying to paint the picture that he wasn't involved,

but he seemed to have no sympathy, no sadness at all. It just really speaks a lot to who he is, in my opinion. And Shawna's loved ones were there and they were definitely showing lots of emotion. And they wore pink to the courtroom every day in her honor, which I thought was so beautiful as pink was her favorite color. And finally, after three years had gone by

since she was murdered, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief. And this is just a small detail that I wanted to add because I really loved hearing this, but the lead prosecutor in this case was so, so dedicated to the case all of this time and was very, very supportive of her family and, you know, just truly took on their pain and wanted to see justice for them so badly and for Shawna.

And their family had gifted him one of Shawna's lucky poker chips, and he actually kept it in his pocket every day during trial. And he also said while he was working on the case throughout those years, he would keep it on his desk or on his computer. I can't remember exactly, but would always keep it in sight and remind him what he was fighting for. And at the end of the day, I'm just so happy that this family was able to get the outcome that they deserved, that justice was served. However, not everyone was happy with this outcome. George's family and friends and coworkers even just could not wrap their minds around him having done this. And they

still to this day believe in his innocence. I was watching an interview with his sister where she is talking about how people call him a monster and she just can't believe that people would call him that. And I mean, I get it. It must be really hard to accept that someone you loved and who you had never seen violence from according to them could be capable of doing something like this. I'm sure it's very, very shocking. But at the end of the day, the evidence is very overwhelming. And several people, his loved ones, his friends,

even his coworkers got up on the stand before his sentencing to try and speak on his good character. And his defense attorney even tried to get up there and said something along the lines of, everyone deserves mercy and whatever, it's ridiculous. But luckily none of that worked. And he was still sentenced to life in prison without parole plus an additional 32 to 81 years. Now as for Null who actually carried out the murder, he was sentenced to 42 years to life

in prison and considering how brutal this murder was, I do hope that he remains behind bars for the rest of his life. But that's not actually where this case ends, because in 2017, of course, George tried to appeal his conviction. In a 107-page appeal that George wrote himself, he argued that his conviction should be overturned due to ineffective counsel and that he was incompetent to stand trial. According to court documents, George alleges that in the months leading up to the murder,

he was in a psychiatrically altered state and was experiencing distorted thoughts and delusions. And in these delusions he was claiming to have, he said he was led to believe that God was instructing him to kill Shaana in order to protect their daughter, aka medications that he was taking for an injury were making him go crazy and think that God wanted him to kill Shana. And he argued that it was these same delusions that allowed him to trust his trial attorney and the decisions his attorney was making.

He believes he was never competent to stand trial due to his mental state and that he was not adequately represented because his attorney ignored that. Now in the end, this appeal was luckily unsuccessful, but George continued to try. There were multiple other attempts made to appeal his conviction. However, all of them have been unsuccessful. And I know that Shawna's loved ones are praying that they never have to live another day where the man who orchestrated her murder walks free. Now I'm sure many of you are wondering about their daughter. Her loved ones have rallied around her daughter in support. She was only eight years old when her mother was killed

and 11 years old when her father was sentenced for her mom's murder. And of course, aside from Shana, she has been the biggest victim in all of this. And even though quite a bit of time has passed now and she's actually now a young adult, I'm sure that this is something that she carries with her every day. And my heart truly goes out to her for all that she has lost and been through. I mean, how traumatizing.

And their family was eventually able to move Shana's grave from Nevada back to Utah. And I really hope that that brings them some sort of peace knowing that her final resting place is back at home. Shana was a beautiful person inside and out. And what happened to her was so sick and twisted and unfair in ways that I don't think I can adequately describe. And in her honor this week,

I wanted to make a donation to Safe House Nevada. Now, Safe House Nevada is a nonprofit organization that's committed to stopping abuse in the family environment by providing a comprehensive approach to ending domestic violence. This includes crisis intervention, providing a safe shelter, counseling, advocacy, and community education.

Over the last two decades, this organization has grown into one of the most comprehensive domestic violence organizations in the state of Nevada, helping more than 100,000 people. And I wanted to point out that they have this incredible website with tons of resources. It provides countless ways to get help and how to help others. So I'm definitely going to link that below for you guys to check out, especially those of you who might need it. But that is all I have for you guys today. I wish so badly that there was a happier ending for Shana, although I'm really happy that at the end of the day,

this family and Shana received justice. But as I wrap up here, I sort of wanted to take a page out of Shana's book and try to look at the bright side, which seems really weird and hard to look at the bright side, which seems really weird and hard to do, of course, after talking about a case like this. But Shana was, as I said, described as this, you know, just contagiously optimistic, positive person who was always looking on the bright side of things and lived her life with as much happiness, love and light as she could. And even though horrible, horrible things happen that there's truly so much evil in

this world, there's also a lot of good. And I think it's important to remember that sort of in her honor. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae.

I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.