This week on Married with Secrets examines the murder of Special Forces Major David Shannon, a killing that has more to do with his personal life than his job.
Fort Bragg, N.C. on July 23, 2002, and Special Forces Major David Shannon was found dead in his own bed, he’d been shot in the chest and head.
Shannon was a computer specialist and lived in the house with his wife Joan, their two young boys and Joan’s two teenage daughters from an earlier relationship.
Detectives first thought his death might be tied to his work but they soon arrested both his wife and her 15-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. It turned out that Shannon and his wife were into the swinging lifestyle and he’d hooked them up with a man called Jeffery Williams, so they could have sex.
However, Joan began a romantic relationship with Williams that began to become serious and when Shannon tried to stop it she planned his murder. Her oldest daughter had recently gotten pregnant and moved out and Shannon had been trying to crack down on Elizabeth’s wild-child behaviour, this meant it was easier for her mother to persuade her to murder her stepfather.
Joan was found guilty in 2005 and was given a life sentence with no possibility of parole, Elizabeth pled guilty and given 25-31 years.
Married with Secrets airs at 9:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.