Welcome everyone! Welcome to a new episode of Love and Murder – the weekly true crime podcast discussing relationships gone terribly wrong. Where our motto is [you’re either someone’s last love or first murder]
I am your host Ky along with my co-host Rick.
Our show discusses true crime cases told in the form of a story with mystery, suspense, and just a little bit of humor sprinkled on top – but never at the expense of the victim.
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In today’s episode, we discuss why infidelity is a HORRIBLE idea.
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Shawna Louise Buntz was born October 1, 1971, in Greeley, Colorado. She was given to her biological aunt, as her mother felt that she was incapable of raising a child. Shawna did not know this until after she graduated high school in 1990 and this had a heavy affect on Shawna. Her friend, Janet Rotello, said, “She was upset that it was kept from her and just the fact that she was lied to for so long.”
In 1992, Shawna took on a job working as a 911 dispatcher for Weld County. During this time, she fell for Ken Nelson who was a Sheriff Deputy at the time. They were dating by 1995, got married by 1996, and had two children. Shawna also had a lot of friends at work, including another Sherrif Deputy named Michelle Moore. Michelle and Shawna often went out for drinks with their co-workers and other members of the emergency services community. Michelle would also babysit Shawna and Ken’s children frequently in order form them to go out and be a couple.
In 2004, when Weld County and Greeley combined their 911 work forces, Shawna met detective Ignacio Garraus. Ignacio was called Ig by his friends so we’ll call him that in this case. According to Ig, he and Shawna would see each other around town a lot. The two eventually got really close, and started confiding in each other about their own marital issues. Not a good idea at all. Shawna was having problems with Ken at this time and apparently Ig was having issues with his wife, Heather, as well. This would lead to an affair. We didn’t see that coming.
Shawna and Ig’s coworkers soon caught wind of their affair and, until 2005, Ken didn’t know about it. When he did find out, he obviously asked for a divorce. Shawna then moved into an apartment with the kids. Her social life at this time mainly consisted of seeing Michelle, as usual, and still having a sex with Ig. Shouldn’t she be home taking care of her kids through this difficult time that she caused? Ig, on the other hand, kept the affair hidden from Heather as he had no intention of leaving her. He would act the part of a loving husband, visiting her at work with flowers. Then at night he would meet Shawna to hook up.
In July of 2005, Shawna ended up getting pregnant. Who’s baby do you think it was Ky? Ig’s baby. Now, Ig asked for her to get an abortion, because remember he wasn’t trying to bust up his marriage, but Shawna said no. Shawna, probably feeling down and unwanted, tried to get back with Ken, who agreed to give their marriage another shot. Ken what are you doing?! He even stated that he wanted to raise the baby as his own. KEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! So, baby Christian was born in March of 2006.
In the meantime, Ig told his wife about the affair. Why did he decide to tell her now? Heather agreed to continue their marriage IF he broke things off with Shawna. Being that Shawna was not his main focus, Ig immediately called her and told her that it was over; he couldn’t hurt his wife anymore. Notice that he also just turned his back on his kid. I don’t want that to go unnoticed. Heather, by the way, was sitting there watching him call Shawna and listened to the call too. Ig then gave Shawna and Ken complete custody of Christian, and waved all of his paternal rights at a court hearing that December. Wow. For some reason, this enraged Shawna. I mean, why are you mad. You decided to have an affair with a married man you knew wasn’t going to leave his wife. Not that he’s right for this, but why is she surprised?
Not long after this, Shawna started sending threats to the Ig and his wife. She would threaten Heather through voicemails, which, for some reason, Heather did not take seriously. People are crazy; I take everything seriously if you’re not my friend. Ig would receive messages saying things like, “You broke my heart, you f***ed me, be prepared.” Yea, I would be calling the cops.
On the evening of January 23, 2007, Heather was leaving her job at the Colorado State Employee Credit Union. She was in the parking lot with her co-workers when a hooded figure wearing a Grim Reaper mask came out with a gun. The figure told Heather to get down on her knees and told her, “You ruined my life.” The person then shot Heather twice in the back of the head. Wait! Weren’t people around? 911 was called but Heather was pronounced dead 30 minutes later. She was 37.
When police arrived, all of the witnesses said that that the killer had to be Shawna. Um yea. Who else would have said that? Heather’s co-workers knew of the affair, and believed that no one else had the motive to kill her. Heather’s friend, Carole Rose said, “My mind immediately thought Shawna. She was the only person that could have possibly done or had the motive to do anything.” They described the killer as wearing black clothes. The call went out for Shawna. At the time of the call, Ken was in a squad room briefing. So he heard it. He and his partner, Kell Hulsey, rushed to his house.
On the way there, they ran into Shawna who was driving Ken’s personal truck. Ken flagged her down, and said, “Get out of the vehicle! What have you done?” At the same time, some high school kids were coming from from school and witnessed the stop. When Shawna got out of the car, she was wearing all black and had no shoes on. The highschoolers said Ken had gone into the truck and gotten something out, but his partner said he didn’t see this happen. Shawna was taken into custody where she said that she didn’t even know that Heather had died, and that she was just on her way to the liquor store when Ken stopped her.
Upon searching the truck, a grim reaper mask was found, under the seat and bloody shoes were found 700 feet away from the stop. The tested the shoes and found her DNA, Heather’s DNA and gun residue.
During the investigation, the gun used to murder Heather couldn’t be found, but it was thought to be Ken’s Glock. Basically his police gun.
Ken was later arrested for taking the gun, but the charges were dropped becuase they couldn’t actually prove that he took it.
Bullet casings were found at the scene and they matched a Glock. The DNA test that was completed on the bullet casings told investigators that it was handled by a female. When the shells were fired, they overheated and wiped out some of the DNA so all they could tell was that it was handled by a female.
Shawna was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
While interviewing friends and associates, the police questioned Michelle Moore. Michelle claimed that she didn’t know anything about the shooting, and the she didn’t think Shawna held any animosity towards Heather. Detectives did not believe her claims. She was arrested in November of 2007, on the eve of Shawna’s murder trial. She was charged with conspiracy and attempt to commit first degree murder. It didn’t take long for Michelle to tell police everything. She told police about, “a discussion with Shawna Nelson, where they spoke about leaving ‘misleading’ evidence at the scene, which would contain someone else’s DNA.”
Due to this new evidence, Shawna’s trial was pushed back.
On February 21st, 2008, Shawna’s trial began. The prosecution started their opening statement by saying they had more than enough evidence to convict Shawna of the crime. During the trial, Michelle confessed that Shawna confided in her about killing Heather. They discussed the plan together in great detail. Michelle then went on to detail how they would hide Shawna’s identity and plant the evidence to frame someone else. The Credit Union employees’ description of the killer also helped pin Shawna for the crime, as she was in possession of clothes matching the assailants at the time of her arrest. It looks like, allegedly, that she was going to set up Ken for the murder. “Why else would she be wearing my underwear, wearing my socks, my baseball cap, and drive my truck that she hated? Is there any other explanation for that? I can’t think of one.”
In Shawna’s defence, she claimed that her and Michelle had been lovers, and Michelle’s testimony was just to get back at her for ending their relationship. “I was driving Michelle home and told her that I could no longer have a sexual relationship with her. I still loved her and wanted to be friends but that I couldn’t keep lying to Ken.” This supposedly made Michelle “very upset,” but Michelle testified that they never maintained a relationship. For her involvement in the murder of Heather Garraus, Shawna pleaded…. NOT GUILTY!
In February of 2007, Ig, who at this time was a 16-year veteran of the police force, resigned from his position. He stated, “A beautiful woman’s dead for me having an affair, the chain of events that I had no way of foreseeing. But ultimately if I never had an affair, Heather would be alive. It’s on me.”
On March 3rd of 2008, the jury found Shawna guilty of first-degree murder. She was given the maximum sentence of life in prison. There was no possibility of parole. Shawna reportedly showed no emotion during the verdict, and declined to speak before the sentencing was given. She will remain behind bars at the Denver Women’s Correctional facility.
Michelle was sentenced to 9 years in prison with 3 years of mandatory parole. While she was originally charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder, her charge was lightened to accessory to a crime after she agreed to testify against Shawna.
Ig and his daughter, Victoria, moved away shortly after. Sadly, in 2015, Victoria died in an unfortunate car accident. She was buried with Heather. She was allegedly residing in Florida at the time, but Ig’s where abouts are unknown.
As of 2022, Michelle Moore has served her 9-year sentence and 3 years of parole; she has been released. Shawna has only served 14 years of her life sentence. Ken has divorced Shawna and is now living with his three children, out of state.
And that is the case of Shawna Nelson. Shawna was jealous and someone paid the price of infidelity.
What did yall think of this case? Do you think Ig is as much to blame as Shawna? Let us know in the comments below. Personally, I think all the blame for the murder is on her, but they shouldn’t have been having the affair in the first place – obviously. I know that Ig is feeling immense guilt because of this. I wonder how the kids on both sides are taking this.
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