if you believe in angels, there is one dancing up there, i promise you. and every time we have class, she's dancing. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. aisle craig melvin. >> and i'm gnat lea morales. >> and this is deadline. it was tough. it was tough to think that anybody could do that to someone. to look at the pictures of what they did to her and hear details of how it was carried out, it's just, it's devastating. >> reporter: shauna tiaffay, loving mom by day, vegas cocktail waitress by night. >> i was at one of the bars and i saw her walk by. every single head turned. >> reporte: it was after her shift that they found her, the

victim of a ruthless attack. >> i mean, your heart just drops to your stomach. >> reporter: potential suspects? how about a casino's worth of customers? >> we didn't know if there was some psycho was watching us girls working at the palms. >> reporter: or d the answers lie in the dead woman's past. >> shauna started thinking, i have got to get out of this situation. >> reporter: from out of the blue, a tip. >> he had some information that was connected to her murder. >> reporter: that would reveal a diabolical plot. >> i just could not understand how this was reality. >> reporter: but was this killer too clever to be caught? >> he is extremely smart. smarter than we all are. ♪ welcome to "date line." shauna tiaffay hit the jackpot in las vegas. a handsome husband, an adorable daughter and a good job. but there is a dark side to sin city.

and sadly, the beautiful cocktail waitress became its victim. in cases like this one, the husband is often a suspect but the crime scene was telling investigators something else. and they got a hot tip. but like so many things in vegas, nothing was as it seemed. here's keith morrison with "under a full moon." >> reporter: she was finished now. tired, wrung out. must have been as she walked away from the incessantly ' chirping machinery and the bleary eyes of the gamblers on holiday from real life who'd called out for her again and again and again. outside in the night, a full moon bathed the great houses of delight and sin in an unaccustomed shade of pale. it was september 29, 2012. at precisely 3:00 in the morning, in a back room of the palms casino, the cocktail waitress named shauna tiaffay inserted her time card in the

stamping machine, and set out to break a little rule. shauna had parked her car in the back lot, a practice discouraged because surveillance cameras were unable to track her all the way to her car. still easier this way. quicker. and after all, would a stalker really be waiting for her here, under a full moon? >> it was absolutely horrible. and we felt so helpless. >> it's every woman's worst nightmare. >> we didn't know if any of us were next. >> reporter: it never occurred to shauna to become a cocktail waitress when she moved to vegas as a 20-something back in the mid-90s. what she wanted then was to be closer to family, meaning big sister paula. >> she originally just thought, "oh, there's no way i could be a cocktail waitress. i don't even drink." >> reporter: but in a casino town, a cocktail waitress could make good money. so now, at 46, she was a veteran.

>> she would laugh at herself. you know, she giggled a lot. and she would laugh at herself, and, you know, she'd say, "well, i still don't know, you know, what these cocktails are. you know, i -- i just order 'em and i go take them to the -- the people." >> reporter: but she was good at it. everybody could see that. >> reporter: she made close friends. a work family, really, including kelly chapman and stephanie vargas. >> i was at one of the bars and i saw her walk by. every single head turned on that bar watching her walk by. and i remember thinking, i'm like, "why don't i look like her?" because men, women, they -- they just loved her. >> reporter: but no one loved her quite the way he did. a handsome boy scout of a firefighter named george tiaffay. george was the genuine article. an all-american good guy. he'd overcome early obstacles to become a top notch student in high school, a star athlete. this is his sister maria mcgrew.

>> a valedictorian and on the football team. i -- >> yeah. you'd think he'd be just a jerk, right? >> yeah. >> just kind of a jock, mean-spirited sort of who knows, stereotypical. >> reporter: but it was quite the contrary, said maria. >> he was always the calming force amongst family and friends. you know, he was the gentle speaker. he had this outlook in life where, "i wanna go out and make the world a better place. >> reporter: so george did. he earned a prestigious appointment to west point, and after graduation became a combat engineer, served as a nation builder in panama. his childhood friend, aaron solano, went down for a visit. >> the stories he told me about the missions that he accomplished -- building schools, clinics, roadways and bridges -- really had an impact on his life. he finally felt like, "hey, i'm getting to do something." >> reporter: when george left the military with the rank of captain, he took a corporate engineering job, but soon realized that life in an office building wasn't for him. he wanted to work for real

people, which is why george put aside that fancy degree of his and went to vegas to train as a firefighter/emt. >> focusing on himself was not how he wanted to live his life. he wanted to serve. that was a favorite word of his, to serve. >> reporter: so while shauna served drinks at the palms, george served as a firefighter and found time to volunteer, do what he could for the down on their luck souls who live on the fringes of so much glitz here. in 2004, they had a baby. >> there's daddy and mama. >> she loved it. her daughter was the most important thing to her in this world and everything she did revolved around her daughter. >> and they're dancing to everybody's favorite. >> reporter: and then, two years later, a marriage in hawaii. >> mama and dada just got married. what do you say? >> reporter: just the three of them.

back in vegas it was a busy, if complicated life what with george's 24-hour shifts and shauna's night times at the casino. and then it was september 29th, 2012, 3:00 a.m. she walked the empty lot to her car, started it, pointed away from the strip. and under that full moon headed home. no idea what was waiting for her. it was 9:00 a.m. when george arrived with their daughter. she'd spent the night at grandma's, he at the firehouse at work. but why was the garage door open? what was that inside? george had grown accustomed to trauma and death. but this? >> i think i need to report a break-in and a murder. >> it was a chilling discovery. shauna tiaffay is found beaten to death inside her home. some of her personal items found outside the house. what might they reveal about the -- coming up --

>> what crosses your mind when you realize it's somebody walking away from the scene discarding things? it's something a stranger does or a predator. >> absolutely, a predator, sexual predator. >> when "dateline" continues. nug from fleas and ticks for a full month. and it's the only chew, fda approved to prevent infections that cause lyme disease. nexgard. what one little chew can do. the wind in your hr... the feeling of freedom that drives us to go out and discover... at chevy, we're committed to getting you there with confidence and peace of mind. if you need a new chevy, interest-free apr financing for 84 months on many of our most popular models. you may even shop online and take delivery at home where available. and when you do, your chevy clean dealers commit to using enhanced vehicle cleaning measures with cdc-approved cleansers. so, you can find new roads with confidence. it's starting to people are surprising themselves

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shauna tiaffay lived in a good, safe, neighborhood. the part of town where vegas does not party, the part of town where the people who work the casinos raise their families and live ordinary, quiet lives. but this is where they found her. george and their 8-year-old daughter inside her own house. not so safe after all. >> i think i need to report a break-in and a murder. >> reporter: george would have known even if he hadn't been an emt. >> what's going on there? >> reporter: she had been dead for hours. >> my wife -- my wife is on the floor, bloody, stiff, not moving. >> we-- we got a call in -- in the morning. >> reporter: detective dan long has been in homicide a long time, and god knows, vegas has kept him busy. him and his partner terri miller. >> when we arrived, there were fire department personnel everywhere. >> reporter: it was all too obvious. shauna had been attacked, probably as she walked into her house, had been beaten with something blunt and hard.

>> and there was things done with the body that made us think that there was possible sexual assault of some type and there was posing of the body. >> reporter: some kind of predator at work here? a predator who escaped with a good hunk of cash from the looks of it. shauna's purse was missing. >> cash and casino chips. they get tipped with casino chips quite a bit. they're known to make $300, $400, $500 in a night. they make a lot of money. especially if they're good. and we did send detectives over to the palms. they talked to them. they said shauna is one of the best employees they had. >> reporter: but something happened after she left the palms. so what? >> shauna was very beautiful. is it someone that saw her at work and followed her home? >> there we are. >> reporter: of course, as the

husband, george would have to be considered a possible suspect, too. so detectives pulled him aside, interviewed him right on the spot. >> george, do you understand the statement's being recorded? >> i understand. >> and you understand we want to talk to you about what happened this morning? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: george told the detectives that when he saw the garage door open, he had their daughter hang back while he went inside. >> i saw shauna's feet. just laying there frozen-looking. and, in my job, i know what that means. >> okay. are you a paramedic? >> i'm an emti firefighter. >> reporter: their daughter, thank god, didn't see anything, said george. he rushed her out to the street. >> i didn't know if there was somebody there. i just wanted to get out of there with my daughter. >> reporter: he had taken the little girl to shauna's place, he said, because it was shauna's turn. >> because we're currently separated and we're planning on moving back in together because we started getting along again. >> reporter: and meanwhile, they had this complicated arrangement. shauna worked 7:00 p.m. to 3:00

a.m. at the casino. george, as a firefighter, worked long shifts and got lots of days off. their daughter shuttled back and forth between them and when they were both at work, the girl spent nights with george's mother. >> okay. what shift did you work yesterday? >> a 24-hour shift. >> reporter: so he was at work when shauna was killed. of course, they did some checking, just to be sure. >> you know, if he was there on every run. you know, if he had left for any reason. >> reporter: but he was on every run. did not leave work. at all. so, not the husband this time. >> he had nothing to do with the attack of shauna. >> reporter: but george did offer a possible lead. >> the garage door was open, which is unusual. so we were worried because my wife's house got broken into a week or two ago. >> reporter: the thief in that earlier burglary, it appeared, used shauna's bathroom to take a shower and left with several

pairs of shauna's panties and some jewelry. he left behind a pair of boxer shorts, size small. back then shauna immediately suspected some neighborhood teens, said george. >> so she had discussed it with several people, including george, and decided that it may be that she left something unlocked. and it could be maybe some kids that live in the neighborhood. >> reporter: so, is that who killed her? looking around the crime scene, the detectives realized that shauna's killer or killers had been into her booze, had taken not just her purse but, like in that earlier burglary, her underwear. so they set about checking out every one of the neighborhood boys, and they had solid alibis, all of them. >> they were not involved in the break-in. they were not involved in shauna's death. now things get even more scary, because we don't know what we have. >> reporter: once that word got

out, it could very quickly spread the terror around. like it already had among shauna's co-workers. >> we didn't know if there was some psycho watching, you know, watching us girls work at the palms. we didn't know if any of us were next. >> reporter: the predator theory got a boost that second day when on a walking path near shauna's house, someone found bits from her purse -- i.d., makeup kit, personal things. >> what crosses your mind when you realize it's somebody walking away from the scene, discarding things? >> a stalker? >> a stalker. >> absolutely. a predator. sexual predator. >> reporter: so they spread out, got the rest of homicide involved. days off were cancelled. everybody out. they looked everywhere. >> there was considerable pressure, pressure from media, pressure from our administration. everybody wants this thing solved and put away quickly. >> reporter: and then quite suddenly a break. a tipster on the crimestoppers

line with a story to tell. >> he had some information that he thought was connected to our murder. >> reporter: a wild goose chase? maybe. and maybe not. coming up, the tipster mentioned a detail about the crime. one that gets everyone's attention. >> no one knew that but the two of us. >> when "dateline" continues. ins i'm 53. but in my mind i'm still 35. that's why i take osteo bi-flex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. osteo bi-flex. plus vitamin d for immune support.

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♪ good job. >> yay. >> good singing. >> reporter: it's a terrible thing to bury a young mother in the prime of her life. especially, in the shadow of murder. big sister paula had felt somehow frozen in a terrible

dream that refused to end -- or make sense -- ever since her mother called with the news about shauna. >> what's it like to hear something like that? >> i don't know that you can describe it. you know, i mean, your heart just drops to your stomach. >> reporter: paula and shauna's family and friends gathered to mourn and remember how much they cared about her. the funeral itself was standing room only. >> it was a beautiful tribute to shauna. >> reporter: george's big sister, maria. >> i could see george was heartfelt and did what he could to express himself at a terrible time. it was all about showing that shauna was loved and cared for. >> reporter: meanwhile, las vegas homicide detectives worked diligently to identify and track down whoever killed her. >> do we have a predator? did she come home and they were burglarizing the house? is there an enemy somewhere that she made that we need to find?

>> reporter: and then -- they got lucky. a man who called himself "big will" pennix called the crimestoppers hot line. big will had a story to tell. >> he had spent time in prison. and he worked as a maintenance man. but he found satisfaction in helping others coming out of prison and helping them find the right path. >> reporter: one such man, said big will, was a homeless handyman who lived out in the desert. went by the name "greyhound." >> he did a lot of drugs. drank a lot of alcohol. and was volatile. >> reporter: according to big will, this greyhound told a lot of tall tales, but will called police this time, because greyhound bragged about killing someone -- a woman. and said he used a hammer to do it. >> and we had just come from autopsy that morning. marks that were seen on shauna's

body, we thought that it was possibly a hammer. so no one knew that but the two of us. >> but this guy brings it up. that's -- >> exactly. >> reporter: a homeless, drug-addicted ex-con with a volatile temper, said big will. certainly seemed to fit the profile of the potential predator detectives were looking for. >> he told us that greyhound walks everywhere. he lives out in the desert. >> reporter: but big will wanted to help, he said, and so he agreed to take them to some of the places where he thought greyhound liked to hang out. and what do you know? they ran into him in the parking lot of a gas station. detective long approached him. sweet as pie, greyhound was. said he'd be perfectly willing to go to the station and have a chat. his real name was noel stevens. >> what did he tell you? >> he knows shauna. he knew where they lived. that he did yard work and

handyman work for george and everybody else in the neighborhood. >> reporter: so, someone shauna knew. someone george -- the do-gooder -- had tried to help. a thing not out of character for george. but greyhound, or noel, was adamant that he had nothing to do with shauna's murder. then he agreed to show the detectives his campsite out in the desert. >> what'd you find? >> swimsuit bottoms that in our search of shauna's house appeared to me that matched the top that i had seen in her bedroom. >> reporter: so, greyhound was the burglar poking around shauna's personal things. and in fact, her friend recalled shauna had grown uncomfortable with this particular charity case who'd been doing work around the house. >> she didn't want noel in the house anymore. and she said, you know, "you're -- you better get out of this house or i'm calling the police on you." >> reporter: so was he the killer? out at the campsite, detectives did not find any evidence linking him to the murder. so, they kept looking.

>> one of the other things that big will told us was that noel had a campsite number one and a campsite number two. >> reporter: a second campsite. out there somewhere. but where? and what -- if anything -- was hidden there? coming up -- >> under the bush, he saw a pair of jeans that appeared to have blood on them. >> when "dateline" continues. and they're able to recommend new sensodyne sensitivity & gum. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions.

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hello, here's what's happening -- new york will now allow gatherings of up to ten people. residents should follow social distancing guidelines. this comes after the state's lowest single-death toll. and beaches are open with restrictions this weekend in some states. in new jersey, at the jersey shore, health officials are warning people to practice social distancing. meanwhile, in pennsylvania,

officials are urging residents to avoid beaches altogether. now back to "dateline." ♪ >> reporter: it's not on any sig sightseeing itinerary, not this way, but this, too, is las vegas. rugged desert terrain that is a kind of refuge or hiding place for the desperate and troubled. >> believe it or not, that whole area has homeless people that are up there. >> reporter: this is where greyhound took them. this is where he lived, he said. but out there somewhere, they were convinced there must be a second campsite with possible evidence about the killing of shauna tiaffay. so detective miller went up with the police air unit to have a look around. >> those two pilots decided that they were going to fly that whole area for us, and they actually located the second campsite. and we entered and we found a citation in the name of noel stevens.

so we were at the right place. >> reporter: so they spread out. kept looking. and pretty soon, one of them called out. >> about 175 feet from the tent, he found a bush. and under the bush, he saw a pair of rolled up denim jeans that appeared to him to have blood on them. >> we put those in for immediate dna testing. >> how did that come back? >> it was shauna tiaffay's blood, and the pants were worn by noel stevens. >> that's kinda your story there, huh? >> that's kind of our story there. >> reporter: proof the homeless handyman george and shauna tried to help was a murderer. but could the story be that simple, really? listen to shauna's sister paula, for example, and things start to sound a bit more complex. >> well, i just think that he always loved himself more than he loved anyone else. and it was all about him and what he wanted. >> reporter: that was george she was talking about.

the selfless firefighter had another side, said paula. >> the verbal abuse, the intimidation, the control. i mean, george was always a controlling guy. >> hold the camera in your hand. push it away from us. >> reporter: according to paula, george had become ever more controlling, and judgmental, especially about shauna's spending habits. >> first time at the beach. >> reporter: only got worse when shauna told george the marriage was over. >> he said, you know, "if you don't come back to me and we can't sort this out, you're gonna lose custody of your daughter." and that was -- >> that was his threat. >> -- her number one fear. oh, absolutely. he used their daughter as a way to manipulate shauna, time and time again. >> reporter: shauna had been letting her work mates read the text messages george sent as things got worse in the marriage. >> one text, it would be nice, you know, short and sweet. like, "i love you. i've been thinking about you all day," "we need to work things out." and then, you know, we would be

working. she wouldn't be able to text him back right away and ten minutes later, he's blowing up her phone cussing her out, calling her names. >> reporter: shauna's supporters remembered her funeral quite differently than george's people did. >> he had no emotion. no emotion at all. he did a eulogy, talking about how much money shauna liked to spend, and that there was one time she was at the gas station and accidentally left the pump in the car. >> in the eulogy? >> in the eulogy. >> reporter: paula watched george and his daughter at the cemetery and fumed. >> they hadn't even lowered her in the ground yet, and he said, "come on," and took her hand, "it's time to go." and i watched him walk off with my little niece, you know, 8 years old, just lost her mom, and i watched him walk off with her. and i thought, you know, this is exactly what he wanted. he wanted all the control over my niece.

>> reporter: paula told the police her suspicions even before they began chasing down leads on greyhound. so even though they had their killer, the idea that george was involved somehow was already in the back of their minds. on the other hand, george's family was just as eager to assure the police that those attacks on george's character from shauna's side were complete nonsense. >> i never saw shauna act cowed or afraid of my brother. she had an equal footing in the way they interacted with one another. so that's -- that's why i still can't believe the -- the insinuation, the allegations that -- that he was abusive, or even controlling. >> reporter: george's friend aaron solano couldn't agree more. >> no matter where he finds himself -- what challenging situation he finds himself in, he has always been consistently kind, consistently caring. >> reporter: so which george was

the real one? the detectives decided to pay george a visit at his house, though they didn't tell him what they'd heard about him. the good or the bad. >> mr. -- can i call you george? >> yeah, call me george. >> thank you. >> reporter: george said, sure, he knew greyhound. but said he'd never heard him called noel stevens before. >> you knew him as something else? >> i knew him as neal smith. >> reporter: george told detectives how he and shauna had befriended this neal smith. tried to help him get back on his feet. >> me and the wife kind of looked at him like our little charity case because he was a nice guy and was down on his luck. >> reporter: by now the detectives knew greyhound was an addict and a big drinker. so they asked george. >> was he a drug user? >> nothing. >> okay. alcohol? >> yes. he would drink alcohol, but not a lot. just a beer or two. >> just a beer or two every now and then? >> yeah. >> reporter: that raised the antenna a bit. in his interview with

detectives, greyhound said he and george were great friends, worked out together, drank together a lot. but then, listen to this. as george kept talking, the man he said he knew as neal became noel. >> she said, "can noel help us out with this?" if it was something i wasn't good at, well, maybe noel is good at it because noel seemed to be good at everything i wasn't good at. >> reporter: remember, george said he'd never heard the name noel stevens before. knew greyhound only as neal smith. so, was it an honest little slip or was george hiding something? >> is it possible he was confused about the name, that it, you know, greyhound used several different names? >> when you get nervous you're gonna revert back to whatever is natural. and he reverted back to noel. he just got done telling us, "i've known this man for years as neal," and then, "noel helped me move." so i -- that's a tell. >> reporter: but why would george admit to knowing

greyhound and then lie about the name? detectives left george at home and made a plan they hoped would shake out the truth. >> we decided to amp up the pressure. coming up, a bold calculation by detectives was about to trigger a stunning chain reaction. >> he was forcing vehicles off the road, and then plowed straight into a cement barrier. the officer follows said he just commit suicide. >> when "dateline" continues. nus i knew my daughter could be at risk of certain cancers later in life. from an infection human papillomavirus. i knew how widespread hpv is. and while hpv clears for most, that might not be the case for her. i knew there was a vaccine available that could help protect her before she could be exposed to hpv. i knew. so i talked to my child's doctor.

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i just... when i... let's try again. everybody back to one. accident forgiveness from allstate. click or call for a quote today. ♪ >> reporter: it's an old police tactic to stimulate -- maybe upset -- a suspect you haven't quite cornered, hoping for an overreaction. sometimes it works, sometimes not. so even though they didn't have a solid case yet, the detectives let word slip that they intended to arrest george, charge him with murder, hoping he would do something rash and maybe incriminate himself. >> he was told by his former attorney that he was going to be arrested. at the same time, police officers were showing up at my mother's doorstep. >> reporter: what did george do? got into his truck, raced over to his mother's house, dropped off his daughter, roared off again.

police watching. >> he was driving extremely fast. he was forcing vehicles out of his way, forcing vehicles off the road, and then plowed straight into a cement barrier. the officer following said, "he just committed suicide." >> so what did you think when you got that report, when you heard about that? >> well, i think it was a very good indication to us that we were definitely on the right track. >> reporter: but, if suicide was his intent, as the detectives assumed, it didn't work. his injuries were not severe. still, it looked to detectives like a guilty george would rather kill himself than face a murder charge. and as george lay in a hospital bed recovering, noel stevens gave police the final piece they needed. he confessed that he killed shauna and said his good pal, george, asked him to do it. >> so we went to see him at the hospital. we went in and told him that he was under arrest. >> did he say anything? >> he asked to speak with his attorney.

>> i just knew that george had something to do with it. >> reporter: both george and noel were booked on murder, and conspiracy and burglary charges. >> george is the one that wanted shauna dead. george is the controlling man that needed that control of shauna. and he had a tool at his disposal that worshipped him, that loved him, that would do what needed to be done. >> reporter: noel stevens pleaded guilty to several and spent the next three years cooperating with the investigation. george, who pleaded not guilty, set up a ministry in the clark county detention center. he looked his family, including his sister maria, and that he didn't do this. >> why, the age-old conclusion, the husband always does it. >> reporter: why, she asked, would anybody believe an addict

and known liar over george? and the detectives' theory that a guilty conscience led to a suicide attempt? >> but let me tell ya, he has been on suicide prevention squads, he's an emt. he is quite knowledgeable about what it takes to kill yourself in a vehicle. so, driving that large vehicle into a k-rail with your seat belt on is not how an expert tries to commit suicide. he did something stupid, but he didn't try to kill himself. >> reporter: fellow firefighters came to his defense, too, fellow west point grads, childhood friends. >> i truly believe he's innocent. he gives too much of himself, and i think that that is one of the reasons he finds himself in the situation he's in. >> were you surprised at the amount of support that george got? >> no. no. george, he makes lifelong connections. it's part of his generosity. >> reporter: and so, on a searing hot summer day in late august 2015 -- >> good morning. >> reporter: -- those lifelong

connections sat on one side of a las vegas courtroom. >> george was adamant that this go to trial. he would not accept any plea deals, anything. >> reporter: and on the other side, a sea of hot pink. >> there were just an outpouring every day. you know, lots of people that showed up wearing pink, and -- >> why that? >> pink was shauna's favorite color. and not pale pink, hot pink. >> reporter: ex-work mates were there, too. >> i wanted the jury to see that she wasn't just a vegas cocktail waitress. you know, that she was a good person, a beautiful person, a good human being. >> reporter: prosecutors mark digiacomo and pam weckerly told the jury that while noel "greyhound" stevens was the admitted killer of shauna tiaffay, he never would've done it had george not put him up to it. >> he's got this singular goal of, i need to kill my wife. and he has to keep pushing noel to do it.

>> please be seated. >> reporter: shauna's sister paula testified that she encouraged her sister to move out. >> i told her that based on the things she was telling me that had been going on for quite a while, that i believed that she should separate herself from george and move to a different home. >> reporter: so she did and george increased his contact with noel. his phone calls to stevens in the month before the murder proved a conspiracy, said the prosecutors. they showed the jury george's phone records. >> if you looked at how much he called noel, there's 87 phone calls. >> that's three or four calls a day. >> yes. his mother is about once a day. >> reporter: then, they said, look at this. here are george and noel shopping together. buying gloves, dark clothing, a knife. and on four different occasions they bought hammers. >> this ends up at mr. tiaffay's house where he happens to have two other perfectly good hammers in the garage. >> reporter: what else could all

this have been, they asked, but a murder kit. one final thing. greyhound told the cops that he got into shauna's place with a key george gave him. and look at this. here's george at the hardware store, buying a key just like the key noel used. only one possible conclusion, said the prosecutors. >> noel stevens used the hammer. the person who used noel stevens is george tiaffay. >> reporter: ahh, but -- >> it's a good story, it's real interesting, but it's not evidence yet. >> reporter: this is george's defense attorney, robert langford. >> there is absolute reasonable doubt as to george tiaffay's involvement in this case. >> reporter: those surveillance videos, for example, that the prosecution found so damning? none of the hammers they bought was the actual murder weapon. and besides, most of what they

bought together was simple -- and innocent camping gear. george helping a man in need, as usual. >> he thought he was helping out noel stevens to live out where noel wanted to live, which was outside of town. >> reporter: as for the 87 phone calls the prosecution said proved george and greyhound had conspired to kill shauna, there was nothing sinister there, said the defense, just a man trying to contact his charity case handyman. >> i live out in that area. and cell service is notoriously bad. on top of -- have you ever tried to call a handyman in this town? it is ridiculously difficult to get hold of those kinds of workers to come do work. >> reporter: in fact, said the defense, the only thing the state had tying george to the murder was noel stevens's word. >> without noel stevens's statement to the police, george is an innocent man. >> reporter: and how could the jury believe stevens, said the

defense, when even his own friends, the tipster big will said -- in court -- that the man was an habitual liar. >> honesty, i would put him at a scale of 1 to 10, i would put him at a scale of maybe 1 1/2. >> ten being very honest and -- >> one and a half, meaning not honest at all. that's correct. >> reporter: george's attorney was itching to cross-examine the habitual liar who'd condemned his client. which presented the prosecutors with a dilemma -- the man at the center of their case against george might just destroy it. >> he could be a real problem. >> he could be a real problem. and there was a substantial amount of discussion between pam and i over whether or not we're calling him or not. >> does that imply that you disagreed? >> oh, yes, we disagreed. coming up, a risky decision looks like it might just backfire. >> do you hear voices? >> yes.

>> did you remember saying to that person they sound like monsters? >> yes. >> not just voices, hallucinations, too. >> what kind of hallucinations? >> i see shauna sometimes. >> when "dateline" continues. they're out there. thousands ofr allergensyes know in each cubic yard of air. no wonder you rub your eyes hundreds of times a day. but now, relief is just one drop away. introducing pataday®

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noel stevens murdered shauna. he confessed to it. but he also claimed he was told to do it by her husband, george. prosecutors had a tough decision to make, and the case hinged on the outcome. here's keith morrison with the conclusion of "under a full moon." >> reporter: prosecutors marc digiacomo and pam weckerly had a big problem, and they knew it. the problem had a name. noel stevens. greyhound. >> noel is a very important piece of information, but he's also the biggest risk. >> reporter: in the credibility sweepstakes, he's way down here somewhere and -- >> absolutely. >> reporter: your defendant is way up there. >> reporter: and so they argued. these two prosecutors. she said put him on the stand. >> my thought was you don't understand who george is and how sinister this was until you meet noel and say this is the person that he gave access to. >> reporter: he said, don't take the chance. >> they could say this crazy,

psychotic, homeless man did it on his own. >> reporter: who prevailed? she did. >> the state calls noel stevens. >> reporter: and so up went greyhound to the witness stand and offered his grisly story. >> i hit her in the head. >> when you hit her in the head, what happens? >> she hits the floor. >> and after she hits the floor, what do you do? >> i jump on top of her. >> and after you jump on top of her, what do you do? >> i keep on hitting her. >> how long do you hit her for? >> i hit her until she doesn't move anymore. >> reporter: why? because, he said, someone told him to. >> who told you to kill shauna? >> george. >> reporter: but was it true? now the defense got to ask greyhound about, well, for starters, his addictions. >> wild turkey 101? >> yes and vodka.

whatever i could get my hands on. >> you'd drink it every day? >> every day. >> just one or two? >> i'd drink it till there ain't no more or until i don't have no more money or i drink. >> reporter: yes, and he smoked weed, he admitted, and did speed. but it got worse. >> do you hear voices? >> yes. >> do you remember saying to that person that they sounded like monsters? >> yes. >> reporter: hallucinations, too. >> what kind of hallucinations? >> i see, eh, shauna sometimes. >> sometimes? >> yes. >> do you see other people? >> sometimes. >> well, i think everybody agreed that noel stevens is crazy as an outhouse rat. >> reporter: how could you believe a man as crazy as that? >> you are outside of reality at that point. >> reporter: so, a man who hears voices? that got the jury's attention. one juror submitted a question

read by the judge. >> did the voices you said you would hear from time to time ever tell you to kill shauna? >> no. >> reporter: there was the choice for the jury. george used noel as a murder weapon, or the drunk who heard voices killed shauna and blamed an innocent man. the lawyers, the friends the family -- from both sides, could only sit and wait. >> it was nerve-wracking. >> reporter: for three days, they waited. the prosecutors, once confident, worried. >> the hung jury. >> it's the hung jury situation. and so by day three you think, uh-oh, is there a holdout. >> count one. >> reporter: then finally, here it was. >> guilty of first degree murder. >> guilty. george tiaffay, his face almost serene, absorbed the verdict. >> it was just this big weight taken off my shoulders, you know, because i felt this entire time that shauna hasn't had a voice in this. and, i've been so worried about representing her

right and saying the right things, and making sure that i portray her as the -- the wonderful person that she was. >> both george and noel were sentenced to life. george has no chance at parole. >> that was a relief. >> reporter: he had a handwritten patrician to be removed from prison. he said, my wife, who i loved dearly, is dead, brutally murdered. and it's my fault. after denying it for six years, george confessed. he did not take full responsibility for what happened. he said that prescription drugs caused him to hallucinate.

god told him to protect her from his child. and he blamed his attorney for not bringing up the hallucinations at trial. george's family felt blind sided by the confession, says her sister. and now, he's where he belongs, behind bars. george's petition was denied. and the young girl at the heart of the tragedy -- >> i feel like my niece is the true victim of all of this. it's so tragic. i don't have words for what she's going to have to come to terms with and understand as she gets older. you know? it's really tough. >> paula plans to make sure that the daughter of shauna never forgets. >> we talk about her mom and how she loves her and what we think

her mom would want for her now. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, naming names. and paying respects to those killed by covid-19. what one newspaper did as the number of dead nears 100,000. message received. whether boeeachgoers are listeng to warnings this memorial day weekend. >> the president is returning to golf at his private clubs. the optics of this as the nation battles a crisis. what's safe and what is not. we look at the risk of several of your favorite summer activities. good morning, everybody. i'm lindsey reiser. >> i'm kendis