known her as a friend. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melville, thank you for >> so ambitious, so hardworking, so close to realizing her dreams. debbie's tennis friends say they miss her every day. >> i think debbie is all around us and supporting us and we find hints of that constantly in our lives. she was a wonderful person. >> and we were blessed to have known her as a friend. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melville, thank you for watching. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." hello i'm craig melvin and this craig melvin: her husband, a decorated military officer, shot in the dark of night.

is dateline. >> here's the person i love he's dying. >> her husband, a decorated military officer. shot in the dark of night. it >> wasn't execution. >> was this some sort of hit? >> he was in the special forces, there must have been something at work. >> that is what police thought to. >> until they learned about the secret life of this husband and wife. >> they were on the internet. >> was there a foreign affair? >> they were meeting for sex about four times a week. >> did it lead to murder? >> she was absolutely cold blooded. >> soon there would be questions for mother and daughter. >> it was another shock. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> welcome to dateline, when i respected military officer was attacked in the middle of the night, police launched an investigation that would reveal

eyebrow raising secrets that might hold a key to murder. he is key morrison. >> the wind in the northern prairies sweeps across a vast flat land. scenes through sparse lot, -- at a military cemetery a few miles south of the canadian border. the final resting spot for a few dozen veterans. many of whom dined in con that. this is where he is resting now. major david shannon, who lost his life in 2002. his mother surely comes here to visit, and remember. his sister brenda to when she is in town. oh how they worried that more might put him here. >> except, war didn't put him. there wasn't never thought back then what could happen far from combat. what did happen. all those strange things down south in north carolina.

>> fayetteville is an old town, steeped in revolutionary and civil war history, smack in the middle of the bible belt. but now -- cargo planes buzz in and out of pope air force base. and all past the confines of the city sprawls fort bragg, home -- the special ops major denning shannon. this house was here just a few blocks off of base. the major, his wife joan and their four children. >> it was july 2002, like asana that night. so hot and humid. and then a light rain cooled down begin. david and joan watched a movie on tv. fell asleep. and then, i don't remember hearing the first shot. i remember that something woke me up. >> and then you heard a shot?

>> i know that whatever woke me up, my ears were already bringing. >> when i turn the light on, and i see that he is shot. it shocks you the. never ever forget that image. that is burned in my brain forever, no matter how much i try to -- [crying] >> hear is the person that i love, he is dying. >> and by the time the police and the ambulance whales up to the door, it was too late. david shannon, just 40, was dead. all it took was -- for lead detective mike murphy to see what happened in the bedroom was highly intentional.

it was an execution, david shannon was executed. the intruder came in while he was sleeping and place the gun to his head and shot him, once through the head. and joan? well >> the shock of it didn't help or the course that she was sound asleep when it happened, by the time she come down in enough to talk to police, she was not very helpful. >> i did not clearly see the person who shot david. i'm not sure if i saw or had a feeling of someone just leaving the room. but, i formed it as a shadow. did >> you see a shadow, or see tell the police it was like a shadow? >> it was a movement, a shadow that had left. >> she tried to follow down the highway, she was worried about the safety of our children. so she returned back to her bedroom, that is where she made the 911 call. >> the children, john and david eldest daughter daisy was out of town.

the two young boys, just seven and ten, flip through it all, unaware of what happened. down the hall was shannon's 15 year old daughter, elizabeth. she told the cops she was also in bed. and spending the night with elizabeth, was her best friend vera thompson. also just 15. >> both of their statements for similar, they were listening to music watching tv, and they fell asleep. >> five people in the house and not a one saw or heard any useful thing, that might help determine who committed this horrible crime. or why. and there weren't many clues either, or at least not in plain sight. but that wasn't necessarily because the killer covered his tracks. >> the home was cluttered, it was filth, close all over the floor, dishes in the sink. food on the counter tops. and >> the crime scene itself, what did that look like? >> it was like finding a needle

in a haystack, the house was a in such disarray. >> the cops picked the way through the clutter, but found no fingerprints, footprints or any usable dna. on the floor near david's body, they found to live bullets for a nine millimeter naylor, seventh -- >> joan confirmed to the detectives that he kept guns in the house, but he couldn't say where the two live rounds came from. she also tried to help the police make sense of the shadow images, her waking i saw. but she just couldn't. >> i know i wasn't 100 percent wide, awake and aware of what was going on. there is a lot of blank spots in my memory. >> so little to go on. except there was one curious discovery in that bedroom, something quite unusual and a family home like this. the question was, what did it mean? >> coming up. >> solving a murder means finding a motive.

>> there must have something with what he was doing at work. this must have been a hit. >> professional, or personal? the >> person who shot david chan might be familiar with joan. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues ahh! watch it! ♪♪ come on! a hero will answer the call... (laughs) you just have to answer the door. oof! that was fast. ♪♪ mucinex available on doordash. ahh! it's comeback season. [music playing] subject 1: cancer is a long journey. it's overwhelming, but you just have to put your mind to it

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while i am a paid actor, and this is not a real company, there is no way to fake how upwork can help your business. upwork is half the cost of our old recruiter and they have top-tier talent and everything from pr to project management because this is how we work now. dawn in fayetteville, north keith morrison: dawn in fayetteville, north carolina, from pr to project management it had been a long night at the home of major david shannon, now deceased. but the investigation was just beginning. the only thing that was perfectly clear was that somebody wanted this man dead, carolina. it had been a long night in the home of major david chan, and now deceased.

but the investigation was now beginning. nothing that was perfectly clear is that somebody wanted this man dead, wanted it badly. shot him in the head and chest while he slept. his wife, joan, sleeping soundly than startled awake beside him. >> she saw a shadow of a person, just described the subject as a -- >> just like, that in a split second, the kids lost their father. and their life together, over their 11 year marriage, was over. >> david and i had a good marriage. if you are alive, you would say we had a good marriage. i'm-ism, i miss what we had. there is not anybody that would ever be able to replace them. >> murder is really strictly a local event -- news of this one, skipped up country and across the windy prairie to a place called langdon north dakota. that is where the major was from, this is where he grew up,

where he became unusual young man. >> he was quiet, he was not one that was dating. he did not have a lot of friends. >> brenda strong is david's older sister. >> he was not into sports. he just was introspective. >> but his mother, surely, says that david always knew exactly what he wanted to do. >> i'm going to be in the army. that's what he said. >> i will dizzy when he first started saying that? >> maybe six or seven. >> by 19, david had enlisted. he was eventually stationed in upstate new york and that is where he met jones. >> he was funny, he had a sense of humor and he was extremely shy. >> dave it was different than

the other guys, how? >> because he treated me a lot different. he treated me like i had value. >> which was something wonderful and a new for joan, sexually abused at 12, abandoned by her parents, married to an abusive husband, had a baby with him in 18, another one born in short order. soon single again, working in a topless club, hooking up with the wrong kind of man. and that, and then she met her night and her savior. she met david. >> so, before the men had want to do for sex but that was it. this guy wanted you for you? >> he was going to protect without controlling. he treated me like an equal. >> less than a year later, joan asked david to marry her. >> i realized that he was this really, really great guy and i did not want anybody else to have a chance to find that out. >> so, in a small north dakota church, joan became mrs. david shannon. >> i thought he found somebody that was good for him. he was obviously happy. >> and what was your impression of? her >> she just seemed very, nice very sweet, very attentive to him.

very much in love. >> they complemented each other, is what they did. >> you, know it sounds almost as if you are talking about a joan as if she was one of your children. >> she was, almost like a daughter to me. yes. >> as for jones a two young daughters, daisy and elizabeth, david wanted them to be part of his new family. >> because he loved me he loved them. >> and so he did. david shannon became both a husband and a father. >> they were all having a good time, being a normal family. you know, everybody getting along, fighting as you do. he loved them. definitely. >> soon, the shannon's became six with the birth of their two boys. and in 2000, the david took the family south to fayetteville when he was transferred to fort bragg. >> david loved the military, he loved being a soldier. you said talk about somebody having a first love, he loved that uniform. >> and the military had been good to david. he was major shannon by now

well on his way to becoming a colonel. that was the phone call that he was really looking forward to from fort bragg. not the one they got that devastating morning in july of 2002. >> david has been shot. he has been murdered. no, it couldn't be. he wasn't special forces, he must have been into something odd. there must have been something with what he was doing at work that, this must of been a hit. >> we felt that something had gone wrong. he found out something that he was not supposed to have known, and that they hadn't get written to him. >> because it was so execution style? somebody came in there with the intent to kill him? >> with the intent to kill him.

>> but he was an odd thing. there is just not any sign of intruder getting into the house. it was raining outside, remember? but, nobody tracked any what footprints inside. >> what she was telling us it did not really, it just did not really matchup at the time. >> and something else that did not seem to match. stashed away in the bedroom where dozens and dozens of a magazines and videos and a cache of sex toys. when detectives asked what that was all about, joan cheerfully gave them the completely unexpected and very surprising answer. >> i told him that david and i were swingers. >> and suddenly, the investigation turned on its heels and headed in a whole new direction. >> they would need couples and her husband would prearrangement and then they would engage in some type of sexual relation with the couple themselves. >> did that make your investigative mind click into some sort -- of >> the person who shot david

shannon might be familiar with joan shannon and the swinger lifestyle might have had something to do with that. >> finally, a possible lead. but the shannon's unusual sex life created a motive for murder. >> coming up, an intriguing new lead. >> dave it actually said that -- >> was there a fatal love triangle in this circle of a swingers? when dateline continues.

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military officer and his wife were not as conservative as they appeared. but did their complicated love life lead to his murder? of major david shannon please discover the seemingly straight laced military officer and his wife were not as conservative as they appeared, but did their complicated love life lead to his murder? here again is keith morrison. >> it seemed, from the outside at least, so ordinary. exemplary, even. respected military officer, good marriage, for attractive kids. but murder investigations have a way of shattering what seems to be. and now the shannon families secrets were spilling out. of course, you could have no idea what might exist behind a photo of family values, that is what detectives are for, after all.

the shannon's may have moved to the bible belt here in fayetteville, north carolina, but lots of churches here. but, there are also other activities that occur at night that have nothing whatever to do with family values. >> joan and david shannon were swingers, enthusiastic members of clubs who the sole purposes to organize various combinations of spouses swapping. in fact, as joan told police, eat and david had been swinging for years, long before moving to north carolina. but fayetteville, after dark, to their happy surprise offered plenty of fresh opportunities to continue their lifestyle, as it is cold. david discovered, that's a. joan >> we get here and we find a computer and he finds the location of a club. >> right off the bat? >> sure did. >> who knew? it was as of this conservative bible belt state to somehow needed to secret outlets for its more lured desires. >> he would go on the internet and there are a lot of the swinger sites.

david would look for people on these swinger websites. >> the swingers club that david found was one of many in fayetteville, and this particular one catered to both couples and singles. >> how did that affect your marriage? >> i think it improved it because so many marriages fall apart because somebody cheats. but it is not the sex, it's the betrayal and lies. i do not associate sex and love together. >> in fact, we both like it a lot? >> we did, we did. >> shannon often met couples at hotels, but sometimes they even brought them home. always trying to be discreet, of course, so therefore children would not find. out but the kids found themselves hustled off to a friends place for the weekend, and returned to find their bedrooms rearranged. the of their daughters had a pretty good idea that something was going on in their absence. but, murder exposes secrets as we say.

and, detective murphy wanted to know if that swinging was somehow connected with what happened in their blood spattered bedroom? >> maybe there was some kind of triangle involved here? >> some kind of love triangle. >> i started to ask questions, the couples that i met, anybody that she was involved romantically with that made her husband know about what he did know about. >> did she offer? anything >> she identified a guy by the name of jeffrey wilson. >> jeffrey wilson. it turns out that david actually met him first on line. jeffrey was also in the army, based at fort bragg like the major. he went by the name black stunt man. by now, the deputy a, billy west, was monitoring the investigation. >> the online chat friends, i think chatting about the swinging lifestyle and that sort of thing. and david actually said that you need to meet my twice and

invited him to a swinging party. >> they all got together at the hotel, just social that first-time, no sex. >> there was a second swingers party that both the shannon's and jeffrey attended and at that party p, as well as others, did have sex. but, after this happened, joan and jeffrey started seeing one another. >> that was okay, though, according to the rules that shannon had established. as long as it was just sex and nobody got romantically entangled. anyway, wilson was married with kids. there was no indication that his wife knew what he was up to on the side with joan. >> they had done some one-on-one, which is what they called when the other person was not there. but david always knew when i was with jeff. the relationship with jeff started, it was sexual only. in time it developed into a friendship. >> sometimes, joan even brought her new friend by the house.

introduced him to her daughters. >> then, according to jeffrey and daisy and elizabeth, joan fell in love with him, and told jeffrey that she wanted to run off with him. >> but, this was no love affair, no matter what her curious daughters thought, said jonah. she was in fact about that. whether he knew it or not, she said, jeffrey was no more than a friend with benefits. >> but this never became a romance from your point of view? >> no, no. >> there was not an emotional attachment? >> there was no love there. >> but now, of course, police needed to talk to jeffrey wilson, an affair was one thing, but now wilson found himself caught in the middle of a murder investigation of a high-ranking officer. >> coming up. >> she says i cannot take this anymore, i want to be with. you >> might someone else have wanted david shannon dead? police are about to put more than one person under the microscope when dateline

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the top. story's longest serving monarch of denmark announced that she would be advocating her role, later this month. the queen said, in her new years addressed that now is the right time to hand that thrown to her son, crown prince frederick. 2024 is being welcomed across the world this morning, despite lingering security concerns over the last week, thousands were on hand in times square, just over an hour ago to watch the iconic ball drop. now, back to dateline. welcome back dateline, i'm get craig melvin. in the case of the murdered major, one thing became abundantly clear. nothing was as it seemed in the

shannon household. the family harbored secrets. for starters, other army major's wife, a mother of four, it was into a sexual relationship with a married man. but, did the affair lead to murder? once again, keith morrison. >> it was quite an eye-opener. that is, when joan shannon told detectives that she entered now dead husband, major david shannon or regulars in unenthusiastic swingers. but, when joan told that she developed a special one on one thing with a married man named jeffrey wilson, now that was a real lead. could it be that major was the victim of a jealous lover? detective murphy paid a call to wilson, a also a shoulder at fort bragg. >> jeffrey confirmed that he was involved in a romantic relationship with joan. >> where was he when this murder occurred? >> he was actually working at the time of the homicide. >> in fact, a little checking

revealed that it was a perfect, unassailable alibi. jeffrey wilson was innocent of murder, that is. but as for a three-month affair with joan, wilson was very cooperative. he revealed every lurid detail. >> back in april they were probably meeting for sex about two times a week. and angela, of course the murder occurred on july 23rd, it at least four times a week. now >> now deputy day billy west began to flip the idea of a love triangle motive on its head. the way jeffrey wilson was talking, it seemed that the person to have reason to kill dave it was not jeffrey. but joan. >> from jeffrey's point of view, he describes how she was in love with him. that she was not in love with her husband.

that she did not want to be with her husband, that she financially could not afford to leave her husband. >> wilson said he kept telling her that he was only in it for the sex. he did not want to run off with her. but, if a secret sex was all he wanted, joan, e said, kept pushing for more. >> this situation actually continued to escalate. i think it was around july 10th, again that was five days before the murder, jeffrey describes how he talks to joan and john says, i cannot take this anymore. i want to be with you. can't we just runoff together? >> david shannon knew of course that john was saying jeffrey wilson, after, all he invited to jeffrey join them in the first place. but, maybe he was not so happy about the cozy friendship that john seemed to be developing. that broke the rules.

>> david told joan that she could no longer see jeffrey because he did see that jonah and jeffrey had become romantically involved. i believe it would have been sunday that she was actually having jeffrey wilson, and actually david's killed early morning hours of tuesday. >> if you ask drone, and of course we did, wilson just did not understand. did not understand that the affair was actually winding down. >> why would he say that you were in love with him? >> he is very self centered and into himself and believes the whole world loves him. i didn't, and we're actually pulling apart, it was coming to an. and >> really?

detectives added up, and here is what they had. the story about some shadowy intruder, it did not seem to check out. the swinging, the affair, the story true or, not that she wanted out of the marriage. oh, and by the way she is stood to clock to 700,000 of insurance money. the detective confronted to joan and she, given her lifestyle, she said, she was not surprised at his attitude. >> he is disgusted. he is automatically prejudiced against me. and focuses on that, and he is determined that he is going to get me. >> back in north dakota, david shannon's family tried to keep up with all of the shocking information, the murder, the revelation of swinging, and now, joan was telling them that she had become a suspect, to which they replied, joan? not a chance.

>> we tried to play the scenario, did you don't have a part in it? none of us can see that she could possibly have done that. it is just not in her nature to do that. she cannot. >> but brenda did have somebody else in mind. >> now elizabeth, i could see. >> elizabeth? shannon's a 15 year old daughter? is it possible she was a cold blooded killer who executed her very own stepfather? the man who adopted her, raised, are provided for her? maybe, said david's sister brenda. daisy and elizabeth were always trouble, said brenda, and when elizabeth hit her teens watch out. >> david and joan did not have the tools needed to deal with what those two girls dished out. it was boys, drugs, and violence. if she got angry with somebody she would destroy something of others. >> that was hardly elizabeth view of things. she conceded that she was no angel, she acted out all. right never denied that. but, elizabeth always claimed that it was the adults who made

it ugly and hostile at home, where arguments not affection were the family routine. joan admits now that she was overwhelmed by the task of a parenting elizabeth, realizing, she said, that she wasn't manipulated easily and often by her daughter. >> i gave up, i had to admit it, but i did a gave up on that child. i did not know what to do. >> so joan turned the task of parenting elizabeth over to major david, the military man. who did what he could to keep military order. >> he was definitely the tough one. he was the one that would decide the punishment of how long the grounding was going to be. >> a war of wills, dave it would ground her, elizabeth would escape. dave it responded with locks and alarms on her bedroom doors and windows. when she's squirmed out anyways, nothing seemed to work. >> what do you do if you cannot keep your kids at home? you cannot chain them. >> a clear message to david, you cannot control me no matter

what you do. >> in fact, just a couple of weeks before his, murdered david called home to north dakota defend. to ask his mother for advice about dealing with that girl. >> i did ask him, for i said would she do something? >> what i mean what you do something? >> do something violent. yes. >> he said i don't think so. >> you asked the question for a reason? >> yes, because i did not trust her. >> coming up. someone from inside the house that night steps forward. >> she was extremely emotional and came to lay the facts on the table. >> when dateline continues. holy cannoli. look at this. it's like a science project. ordering lunch -- easy for you and me but can be so difficult for a young homeowner turning into their parents. are those all different lettuces? uh, yes, sir. brown rice, white rice, or quinoa? -[ groans ] -we're gonna need a minute. do you have any food allergies? -well, my teeth are sensitive to cold. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. that'll be $19.45. oh, i'm just paying for my own salad. right now, we are in a defining moment.

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to the comfort of your couch. slow down!... i mean (coughs) slow down! ahh! watch it! ♪♪ come on! a hero will answer the call... (laughs) you just have to answer the door. oof! that was fast. ♪♪ mucinex available on doordash. ahh! it's comeback season. murder that most abhorrent of rrison: murder, that most abhorrent of crimes, is shocking enough. but within mere days of the late major david shannon's

sudden passing, the shocks resumed, crimes is shocking enough. but, within near days of the late major david shannon's sudden passing the shocks resumed. as disturbing suspicions began to circulate and grow. and, by the time they laid the major in the ground, the question of who did this dreadful things seem to be heading towards an early answer. it was elizabeth. david's family is convinced that rebellious elizabeth was so full of hate that she actually shot and killed her own stepfather. an opinion supported by several anonymous calls to the fayetteville pd. >> we had crime stoppers and tips coming in saying that elizabeth shannon was actually

brought in by the homicide. thompson was telling people about the homicide that was shannon might be involved. >> vera thompson, remember her? that was elizabeth's best friend that was staying at the nice house the night of the murder. please broader in again for questioning, and this time they grilled her. >> she was extremely emotional, she did not want to tell on anybody. at that point in, time she began to lay the facts on the table. >> and what facts they were. vera was elizabeth buddy, her bff, they talked about everything. went everywhere together. >> when she started bringing up the facts, we are able to corroborate some of the information. >> >> vera provided plenty of supporting details. how just days before the shooting, she went west elizabeth to afield and test fired the murder weapon. cops later found matching shells there. and, how elizabeth dump the gun that night with a guy from the neighborhood named de humphrey

who is waiting near the house. humphrey was interviewed. he admitted that it was true, the air's story added up. >> everything was -- then, just 15 years old, naive, frightened, no attorney representing her, dropped her bombshell. >> she eventually became aware of through elizabeth city that shannon and elizabeth had had some discussions about killing david shannon. that her mother had attempted to poison david shannon, and that joni shannon and elizabeth shannon had conspired to kill david shannon and it was actually elizabeth who shot him that night. >> a conspiracy? joan, the brains and elisabeth braun? given the tumultuous relationship between mother and daughter, who would imagine they could agree on anything, let alone murder? but, said vera, that is the story that elizabeth told her. it implicated both her best friend and in june shannon in a homicide.

>> the arrest warrants went out for both of them simultaneously. jonah shannon was arrested, actually before elisabeth was arrested and before she gave any statement in the case. >> david shannon's family was in fayetteville for the funeral. right there with john when the cops, game saw what they did. joan had been practically paralyzed with grief, they said. then, arrested? >> they put cuffs on her. i imagine that they read her rights right to that, but i do not know. it was another shock. >> joan,, herself was unshakable in her insistence that she did not do it.

she had no part. she swore in any of it. >> i might not be clear on that night >> there is a lot i cannot be clear on, but i know, i did not kill him. i know i did not give elizabeth the gun. i know i did not try to poison, him and i know that i did not try to get anybody to kill him. >> to the police, on the day of her arrest, she said nothing at all. on the advice of apollo herzog, the lawyer appointed to represent her in the battle of her life, -- >> i found it difficult to believe that she was involved with the way she presented herself. very quiet, passive, and insist that she had not solicited to kill david. she loved david. >> and, with an experienced attorney on the case, jones loyal in law as it began to relax. >> once they finally started finding real evidence they would know that it was not joan. >> they would eliminator. >> right. >> especially once the police

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ng] keith morrison (voiceover): on the outskirts of fayetteville, north carolina is an old mobile home park-- quiet, wooded, secluded. on the outskirts of and in the summer of 2002, it had a new resident. fayetteville, north carolina is an old mobile home park, quiet, what, it's occluded. and in the summer of 2002 it had a new resident. elizabeth shannon was hold up in a trailer. hiding. >> we received a call saying that she was at such as such a location when we entered the

home we found her hiding underneath a futon in the living room. >> they arrested her, took her downtown, read her miranda, writes and then questioned her. without an attorney. . at the time, elisabeth, remembered, with just barely 15 years old. and what did she say after two hours in that room? >> i told the story. >> the whole story? >> elizabeth confessed it all. every grisly detail of that awful night in the shannon house. assuming, that, is that what she told the detectives was actually through. >> it got to the point where i finally did -- but it wouldn't happened without her. >> her, her very own mother, joan shannon. she insisted that her mom had wanted david dead for months. first, by trying to poison him,

then later recruiting one of her friends to kill him. and then finally, >> she was like would you be brave enough to do? this >> to do what? >> she wanted me to kill my dad stepdad. >> and in 25 years on the job, detective murphy had never heard a story quite like this. >> he pressed, further east, said pushing elizabeth to explain how her mother talked or in a murder. the answer, elizabeth says now, was this. it was love, given and withheld. >> it was not really -- i wanted like a real mother daughter relationship, and that was -- >> just several months prior to the murder itself, your mom was taking her shopping and they're going out. they were actually being a family, there was some type of

parental involvement. >> she like that? allot >> she liked it because that was something that she was lacking. >> but, having finally offered her something the she so craved, joan threatened to withdraw it. unless she got that done and used it to kill her father, or so elizabeth claimed. >> it sounds crazy at first, but when somebody is in your ear, let alone your mother, every day, it got to the point where it was like, normal. i just wanted it to do this to please her. i wanted to do this so that nothing changes between me and her. >> and so, elizabeth said, on that night she took one of her stepfather's many guns arranged ahead of time for way to get rid of it and waited while her parents watched their movie and fell asleep. >> she walked into the bedroom, placed gun over her father's head, squeezed the trigger, then she placed the gun to the chest and fired. >> as far as prosecutor billy west was concerned, elizabeth taylor had a ring of truth. >> i think she did it at the

behest of her mother, and in some respects, but to please her. mother >> so, in exchange for her testimony, the dea offered liz a deal. instead of life without parole, she could plead guilty and get a sentence of 25 to 31 years. >> we felt that was appropriate to offer joan the same plea deal that elizabeth had been offered, so that offer was extended by the state. >> no, i wasn't going to do it. >> why not? >> because when you are innocent you are not going to say something that you did not. >> besides, as a victim david shannon's own mother and sister insisted, elizabeth was a devious and manipulative liar, especially when she got herself in a jam. >> so, it did not sound surprising that liz would try to set up her mom like that because, as a child, if there was trouble liz was usually there. but she always had to share the blame.

>> she would blame somebody else? >> even if she was caught red-handed. >> absolutely. elizabeth always share the blame. >> so now, jonah shannon's fate would be decided by a jury. the aid billy west told them about shown and davids swinging lifestyle, jones affair, jeffrey wilson's claim that she wanted to run away with him, financed with insurance money from david's death. and then there was the allegation that jonah tried to pose poison david. , and testimony from a young man who insisted that phone -- to recruit him to commit the murder and dispose of the gun. but, the dea saved his star witness for last. 15 year old elizabeth shannon herself. who told the jury that joan used the truly devious weapon, maternal love, given and withdrawn, to manipulate her in the murder. >> i can take responsibility for my role in everything, but she was trying to put everything on me. that's the point that i kind of woke up and realized that let me tell the truth. >> was it true? on the stand elizabeth psaki's

asian was clear and powerful. >> while i was testifying, she could not even look at me. >> joan did not testify. she sat quietly and distant as her attorney portrayed liz as a liar and ruthless killer who acted entirely alone when she executed her stepfather. >> she is absolutely cold blooded, she is entirely self interested. she hated her parents. she wanted out. freedom. she would've done anything. when she killed david, she killed the only disciplinarian she ever had. >> the idea that joan manipulated elizabeth was not impossible, said the defense. certainly not for either of her parents they could not keep learn, school they cannot keep in the house, they could not do anything. and then, all of sudden, jones got to get her to kill david? >> the jury deliberated a day and a half, then, >> it came

back. guilty >> my heart dropped, it went numb. it is, like so many things flash through your mind and you realize that life, as you know, it is gone. >> it was so unbelievable. >> knew john was innocent and she had just been found guilty. it shattered our world in so many ways. >> joan shannon will spend the rest of her life in prison for orchestrating the murder. she has no chance of parole, no more appeals. and, elizabeth gradually pulled the trigger. she too was sent prison for at least 25 years. courtesy of the deal that she

got with the dea. >> i told them from day one that i would not gain anything from lying -- in the process. it does not make sense. >> they are in separate prisons now, two hours apart by car, but really, a world away. we asked if they wanted to speak to each other and make peace, perhaps. look at our camera, we suggested. speak from the heart. >> i still love you, elizabeth. it is complicated. it's difficult. you are still my daughter. and i know the situation is hard for both of us. i am sorry that i was not a better mother. i cannot go back and change that. >> but, elizabeth did not like this idea. >> i don't have anything to say to her. because it does not matter what i say, he's not going to change. -- she's not gonna tell all these

people that she lied. >> in the years following her father's death, joan shannon's two sons, david sons, we're living in north dakota and grew up in a boyhood home here in langton. his mother became, in joan's absence, their mother and grandmother. the boys believed in jones innocence. visited her sometimes and talk to her on the phone. they were not speaking to their sister. and major david shannon, his remains will spend eternity here, just down the road from home in the old military graveyard under the black prairie sawed in the wind. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." craig melvin: their world shattered, a young mother strangled.