Dixie Shanahan, 36, a hard-working nurse’s aide from Defiance, Iowa, was abused by her stepfather all through her childhood, then, in 1995, she married an abusive husband. Scott Shanahan, 40, had a violent temper, was twice convicted of beating Dixie, and once tied her up with wire coat hangers, and locked her in the basement for three days. One night, Scott threatened Dixie and her unborn baby with a loaded gun. Dixie, afraid for her daughter’s life, waited until Scott was asleep then shot him in the back of the head. Then, instead of calling 911, she pulled the covers of Scott’s body, closed and locked the bedroom door, and never went in there again. A year later, when police entered the room, there was nothing left but skeletal remains.
In April 2004, Dixie was found guilty of second-degree murder, which normally carries a 50-year sentence, but in 2018, after fifteen years behind bars, she was granted work release.
This episode features a phone call between Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, whom she was dating intermittently between February 2007 and Alexander’s death in June 2008. A member of the LDS church, Alexander presented himself in public as a virgin and politely courted a number of LDS women while keeping his highly sexual relationship with Jodi as a “dirty little secret.” Eventually the two broke up, but Jodi continued to drive from her home in Yreka, CA to visit Travis in Mesa, AZ. As Travis increasingly ignored her in favor of “pure” Mormon women, Jodi became increasingly erratic and unhinged. On Wednesday, June 4, 2008, during a visit to Mesa, the pair got into a fight and Jodi shot and stabbed Travis to death.
In December 2019, in Celebration, Florida, police performed a wellness check on the home of the Todt family, who hadn’t been seen for some time. Anthony Todt, 44, was discovered unkempt and shaking. Wife Megan, 42, was found dead, along with their three children: Alek, 13; Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4. They had been stabbed in the stomachs and smothered to death, and lay decomposing with crucifixes gripped in their hands. Also dead was the family dog, Breezy.
This episode contains testimony from public hearings of the Mollen Commission, a board established in 1992 to investigate police corruption in New York City. First is testimony from rogue cop Michael Dowd, who agreed to appear before the commission after being turned in by his partner. Dowd describes to commissioners how he and other officers at Brooklyn’s 75th and 94th Precincts began colluding with drug dealers to rob their rivals and sell cocaine, finally graduating to extortion, grand larceny, conspiracy, drug trafficking and racketeering. Next is testimony from “Mr. X,” a widely used law enforcement informant, who spoke about corruption among officers of the 9th Precinct.
In 1999, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth, 26, had a problem. A casual girlfriend, stripper Cherica Adams, 24, told him she was pregnant with his child. Rae was already paying a significant amount of child support to a woman in California, and had no desire for another baby. Prosecutors claimed Carruth conspired with three men to gun down Cherica as she was driving home from a movie. Before she died, Cherica was given a C-section and delivered Carruth’s son, Chancellor, who was born with permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy. The defense, led by David Rudolf (defense attorney in the Michael Peterson ‘Staircase’ trial), argues hit man Van Brett Watkins killed Cherica in a fit of anger following a prior argument with Rae.
Christopher Sutton, the adopted son of John and Susan Sutton of Coral Gables, Florida, was a troubled young man, constantly in trouble with the law. To curb his behavior, his wealthy parents sent him to a reform school in Samoa, and Chris never forgave them. After returning home to Florida, Chris, 25, offered his friend Garrett Kopp $10,000 to kill his parents. Kopp broke into the Suttons’ home on August 22, 2004, and shot the couple, killing Susan and blinding John. The initial suspect was John’s law partner, with whom Susan was having an affair, but the cops soon turned to Chris. He claimed Kopp acted alone out of anger after a drug deal went bad, but the jury didn’t buy it, and Chris Sutton was sentenced to three terms of life without parole.
Richard, Sheryl and Stacey Kananen survived a horrific upbringing of violence and abuse on the part of their father. Sheryl left home to marry and raise a family, but Stacey and Ricky continued to live at home with their parents in Orlando. When their father Larry disappeared, no-one missed him. But when their mother Marilyn disappeared 15 years later, police became suspicious, especially when, shortly after her mother went missing, Stacey, 37, moved with her partner Susan to live in a nudist resort.
In June 2014, at his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a man making his dinner heard gunshots. He looked through the window and saw his neighbor across the street, 41-year-old Adrien Wallace, standing in his driveway pointing a hunting rifle at the dead body of his mother, 71-year-old Saundra Wallace. He then walked to the car where his 16-year-old nephew, Nick Juarez, was sitting on the passenger seat. Wallace squatted, pointed the gun at the car, and fired. He smoked a cigarette then called 911 and confessed to his crime. He gave no reason except that he was abused as a child and hated the human race.
Tommy Carlton, a registered nurse living in Osceola County, Florida, was very angry with his ex-wife, Elizabeth. The couple were involved in a bitter custody battle, and Tommy owed $85,000 in child support. In 2008, He hired a hit man to kill her, but the hit man turned out to be an undercover cop. With the help of Elizabeth, police staged a sting operation using posed photos where she appeared to be shot in the head. When the police told him his wife had been murdered, Tommy replied, “I can’t say I’m sad about it. I hated the bitch. But I had nothing to do with it.” In court, Tommy claimed he had a hearing deficit and couldn’t understand what the hit man was saying. He was found guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison.
In this continuation of episode 180, Marc Benayer interrogates Rabbi Zalman Bukiet, of the Chabad Weltman Synagogue in Boca Raton, where the shooting occurred. He accuses the Rabbi of, among other sins, being anti-Sephardic, cheating, taking money for performing Bar Mitzvahs, and turning a somersault in the synagogue. Benayer also testified on his own behalf, doing himself no favors. He was questioned by defense attorney, Christopher Haddad. The long-suffering judge was Richard I. Wennet, of West Palm Beach Circuit Court. After his conviction, Benayer died in prison.
