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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Shannon Lee Collins Part 1 · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

0:08
Speaker 1: School of Humans. On March eleventh, twenty twenty one, Shannon
0:16
Speaker 1: Lee Collins, a forty eight year old veteran, came back
0:20
Speaker 1: from a work trip to his home in Pottsville, Arkansas.
0:23
Speaker 1: He was working a part time job delivering packages, which
0:26
Speaker 1: sometimes took him on the road out of state. Shannon
0:30
Speaker 1: had been married to his wife, Teresa for more than
0:32
Speaker 1: twenty years, and they raised their family together. They had
0:36
Speaker 1: their son, Josh, who was in his early twenties, and
0:39
Speaker 1: Shannon's stepdaughter, Brittany, who was in her early thirties. But
0:43
Speaker 1: Shannon had raised Brittany since she was very young and
0:46
Speaker 1: been a father figure to her. They were a close
0:49
Speaker 1: family in general. They attended a local church, Russellville First Assembly,
0:53
Speaker 1: and were very active in their church community. And Yet,
0:57
Speaker 1: after March eleventh, twenty twenty one, when Shannon Collins walked
1:01
Speaker 1: into his family home in Pottsville that he shared with
1:04
Speaker 1: his wife, son and sie stepdaughter, he seemed to vanish
1:08
Speaker 1: into thin air, and no one has seen Shannon Collin
1:12
Speaker 1: since then. How could a veteran just disappear and why
1:17
Speaker 1: did no one report him missing for nine months? I'm
1:21
Speaker 1: Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my
1:25
Speaker 1: true crime podcast, Helen Gone. I've learned that there is
1:28
Speaker 1: no such thing as a small town where murder never happens.
1:32
Speaker 1: I have received hundreds of messages from people all around
1:35
Speaker 1: the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's
1:38
Speaker 1: affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have
1:42
Speaker 1: a case you'd like me and my team to look into,
1:45
Speaker 1: you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone
1:47
Speaker 1: Murder line at six seven eight seven four four, six
1:51
Speaker 1: one four five that six seven, eight seven four four,
1:55
Speaker 1: six one four or five. This is Helen Gone Murder Line.
2:48
Speaker 1: I talked to Blake, Shannon's brother, who is five years
2:51
Speaker 1: younger than Shannon, after he reached out to me a
2:53
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. They also have a younger sister named Holly.
2:58
Speaker 2: We've then moved from the base Ville area to the
3:00
Speaker 2: Russellville area, which is northwest Arkansas. Hoopville little town, small
3:06
Speaker 2: community outside of Russellville. We lived there until I was
3:10
Speaker 2: the age eight to around thirteen, and then we moved
3:14
Speaker 2: closer to the Little Rock area. And I say that
3:17
Speaker 2: because at that time my brother is five or sixt
3:19
Speaker 2: years older than me, so he actually went to high
3:22
Speaker 2: school in the Russellville area. He basically built his roots
3:25
Speaker 2: in that area. He has lived where he has for
3:28
Speaker 2: quite some time when he disappeared because of those routs
3:32
Speaker 2: and those connections to where he went to high school.
3:36
Speaker 1: Blake clarified that Shannon loved that little town so much
3:40
Speaker 1: that even when he enlisted in the military, he would
3:43
Speaker 1: make a seventy mile daily commute from Pottsville to the
3:46
Speaker 1: base in North Little Rock where he was stationed, just
3:48
Speaker 1: so that he would not have to leave the Pottsville area.
3:52
Speaker 1: He served in the military for twenty four years in
3:54
Speaker 1: the Army National Guard. Eventually he attained the rank of
3:58
Speaker 1: Sergeant Major SGM. Then, due to an injury, he received
4:02
Speaker 1: a medical discharge. This made him eligible for VA disability payments.
4:08
Speaker 1: Before his military service, Shannon attended Arkansas Tech University, the
4:12
Speaker 1: same university as his wife, Teresa. Teresa grew up in
4:16
Speaker 1: the small town of Delaware, Arkansas. She and Shannon had
4:20
Speaker 1: another property there near where Teresa's family lived that was
4:23
Speaker 1: on about twenty acres of land. Blake, Shannon's brother moved
4:28
Speaker 1: to Austin in twenty twelve, so he didn't have as
4:31
Speaker 1: much close contact with Shannon and Teresa. Over the past
4:34
Speaker 1: decade as the rest of his family, but he said
4:38
Speaker 1: that from what he could see, his brother was close
4:40
Speaker 1: to his wife, his son, and his stepdaughter. In twenty twenty,
4:46
Speaker 1: COVID hit hard and in many parts of the country
4:50
Speaker 1: people were under lockdown orders. Even family members living in
4:54
Speaker 1: the same area found it hard to maintain contact during
4:57
Speaker 1: that time. I remember that weeks felt like long days,
5:02
Speaker 1: and it made family members living across the country even
5:05
Speaker 1: more i Blake said that his father was battling cancer,
5:09
Speaker 1: so both he and their mother were in a high
5:12
Speaker 1: risk category. They were told by their doctors not to
5:14
Speaker 1: go out in public unless absolutely necessary, so they told
5:18
Speaker 1: Shannon they wouldn't be able to go to his stepdaughter's
5:21
Speaker 1: wedding that was in December of twenty twenty. Blake said
5:26
Speaker 1: Shannon was upset, and Shannon made a comment to his
5:29
Speaker 1: mother something along the lines of if they didn't show
5:32
Speaker 1: up to the wedding, she should not bother trying to
5:34
Speaker 1: talk to him again. Blake explained his parents knew that
5:38
Speaker 1: Shannon was annoyed, but they also knew his nature. They
5:42
Speaker 1: knew he would get over it. Before this argument, he
5:45
Speaker 1: usually talked to his parents multiple times per week. On
5:48
Speaker 1: the phone. He would also regularly talk to his sister Holly.
5:52
Speaker 1: But when Blake and Holly and everyone else in the
5:55
Speaker 1: family had not heard from Shannon for weeks and then months,
6:00
Speaker 1: Shannon's parents and everyone else started to get worried. Remember,
6:04
Speaker 1: Shannon had been working part time at a delivery job.
6:08
Speaker 1: This involved driving to deliver items, sometimes out of state,
6:12
Speaker 1: and sometimes these trips would last a few days. And
6:16
Speaker 1: on that last work trip, the one that ended on
6:19
Speaker 1: March eleventh, twenty twenty one, Shannon had another reason for
6:23
Speaker 1: going out of town. He had a girlfriend, and his wife, Teresa,
6:29
Speaker 1: knew all about it. I asked Blake about Shannon's relationship
6:35
Speaker 1: with Teresa, his wife. Blake said that over the years,
6:38
Speaker 1: his family was close to Teresa. He said they watched
6:41
Speaker 1: her children grow up, both her son with Shannon and
6:44
Speaker 1: his stepdaughter, who again he raised from a very young age.
6:48
Speaker 2: Our perspective is if they had a good relationship. Not
6:51
Speaker 2: only did they have good relationship, but my brother had
6:54
Speaker 2: an extremely good relationship with his only son and his stepdaughter.
6:58
Speaker 2: So again I talked in the story about the fact
7:02
Speaker 2: that he had decided that he was going to read
7:04
Speaker 2: his wife and that she was well aware of that.
7:07
Speaker 2: But the relationship itself over the years that we saw overall,
7:12
Speaker 2: we felt it was good. There were things that we
7:15
Speaker 2: saw it within her possessiveness, traits, jealousy, we saw those things.
7:22
Speaker 2: But outside of seeing that, I mean, if from the
7:26
Speaker 2: outside looking in, I think anyone would have said they
7:28
Speaker 2: felt like they had a pretty good relationship.
7:31
Speaker 1: But eventually, according to Blake, Shannon started telling family members
7:35
Speaker 1: that his marriage was not working and that he planned
7:39
Speaker 1: to leave Teresa. Now Blake is clear about the fact
7:43
Speaker 1: this was not a secret. This was something Shannon discussed
7:46
Speaker 1: with him and with other family members, and as evidence
7:49
Speaker 1: will show, with his wife Teresa.
7:52
Speaker 2: He had not only told us that that, he informed
7:55
Speaker 2: us that he had told her that, So she was
7:57
Speaker 2: well aware of that to our understanding, And we know
8:02
Speaker 2: that he was saying that he wanted to wait until
8:05
Speaker 2: his son graduating college, that he wanted him to have
8:07
Speaker 2: a good footing, and he wanted to make sure he
8:10
Speaker 2: was okay before he made that decision. I mean, this
8:14
Speaker 2: is a big decision to make, and like I said,
8:17
Speaker 2: that was their only son, so he was trying to
8:19
Speaker 2: do right by his son. And so I think he
8:22
Speaker 2: had maybe a year year and a half before he
8:25
Speaker 2: graduated college, so she was well aware of it before
8:29
Speaker 2: he disappeared.
8:31
Speaker 1: The point that Teresa knew about Shannon wanting to end
8:35
Speaker 1: their marriage before is extremely important in my opinion. So
8:39
Speaker 1: I asked Blake if he was sure that his brother
8:41
Speaker 1: Shannon told Teresa about his plans to end the marriage,
8:45
Speaker 1: because if she didn't know, that would obviously potentially be
8:48
Speaker 1: shocking news. If we're looking at victimology, any big change
8:52
Speaker 1: in life is something we would definitely want to consider.
8:55
Speaker 1: But Blake says he has spoken multiple times to the police,
8:59
Speaker 1: and through what they have told him, he has learned
9:02
Speaker 1: that Shannon's wife, Teresa, allegedly had already consulted several divorce
9:06
Speaker 1: lawyers in the area before Shannon disappeared.
9:09
Speaker 2: She had actually contacted divorce lawyers, So I think she
9:13
Speaker 2: might have done that to I guess because to protect
9:17
Speaker 2: the relationship. If someone reaches out to a divorce attorney,
9:22
Speaker 2: my understanding is that once one individual does that, the
9:25
Speaker 2: other individual in the relationship can't use that attorney to
9:27
Speaker 2: do to a conflict aventsiist. We don't know if that's
9:30
Speaker 2: why she did it, but to our understanding, she reached
9:32
Speaker 2: out to two or three different divorce lawyers not long
9:36
Speaker 2: before he disappeared.
9:38
Speaker 1: When Shannon's family started not hearing from him, they of
9:42
Speaker 1: course reached out and talked to Teresa. Blake said when
9:46
Speaker 1: his sister Holly and his family asked Teresa about Shannon,
9:49
Speaker 1: she would tell them he wasn't around. At first, Blake
9:53
Speaker 1: said he believed Teresa, remember he had known her for
9:57
Speaker 1: over twenty years. He had been close to her family
10:00
Speaker 1: and watched her children grow up. But the family knew
10:03
Speaker 1: something was wrong because Shannon was, in Blake's words, a talker,
10:08
Speaker 1: not a texter. Blake was clear that his brother preferred
10:12
Speaker 1: to talk on the phone, and if Shannon missed a call,
10:14
Speaker 1: his pattern was to call back promptly to chat, even
10:18
Speaker 1: during the time when he wasn't speaking to his parents
10:21
Speaker 1: around the time of his stepdaughter's wedding. From late twenty
10:24
Speaker 1: twenty until March of twenty twenty one, when Shannon disappeared,
10:27
Speaker 1: he was still talking to his sister Holly fairly regularly,
10:32
Speaker 1: and he was talking to and texting Blake. Then came
10:36
Speaker 1: that fateful night March eleventh, twenty twenty one. Police had
10:42
Speaker 1: been talking to Blake and they have confirmed some facts
10:45
Speaker 1: to him. Blake said that they had figured out through
10:48
Speaker 1: electronic data police had verified Shannon did return from that
10:52
Speaker 1: work trip. He flew into the Little Rock Airport, where
10:55
Speaker 1: he had a car parked. He drove home and entered
10:58
Speaker 1: his house at around ten pm that night. That evening, Shannon,
11:03
Speaker 1: his son, and his wife, Teresa were all in the home.
11:07
Speaker 1: Police also confirmed Shannon's stepdaughter came to the residence the
11:10
Speaker 1: next morning. That morning, March twelfth, Shannon was scheduled to
11:15
Speaker 1: drive another delivery for the company, but he never showed
11:19
Speaker 1: up for that delivery. The last time Blake and Hally
11:23
Speaker 1: heard from Shannon was around the end of February twenty
11:26
Speaker 1: twenty one. They had both sent texts and heard back,
11:30
Speaker 1: but after March of twenty twenty one, all they got
11:34
Speaker 1: was radio silence. Eventually, in or around April of twenty
11:39
Speaker 1: twenty one, Teresa started telling Blake and the rest of
11:42
Speaker 1: the family that Shannon had, in her words, quote, walked
11:47
Speaker 1: out on the family end quote. Now, even though Blake
11:51
Speaker 1: was suspicious because it was not like Shannon to not
11:55
Speaker 1: respond to calls or text and he had not heard
11:57
Speaker 1: from him in a while, at first he thought, well,
12:00
Speaker 1: maybe that's plausible, after all, Shannon had said he was
12:03
Speaker 1: going to leave his wife. So Blake continued to reach
12:06
Speaker 1: out to his brother with no success. When Blake's sister
12:10
Speaker 1: Holly spoke to Teresa, Teresa again told her Shannon had
12:14
Speaker 1: walked away from the family, and now Teresa allegedly told
12:19
Speaker 1: them and police that Shannon had left on foot, but
12:23
Speaker 1: Shannon's stepdaughter allegedly told Holly that Shannon drove away. That's
12:28
Speaker 1: when Blake started to suspect something else was going on.
12:31
Speaker 1: Blake wondered, why would they allegedly be telling two different stories,
12:36
Speaker 1: so even.
12:36
Speaker 2: After all that time passed, they still had two inconsistent stories.
12:40
Speaker 2: They tell us the same story they tell the police.
12:44
Speaker 2: But the only problem is that both two completely different
12:46
Speaker 2: stories of how he left on March twelve, twenty twenty one.
12:50
Speaker 1: By this time, according to Blake, as months went on,
12:53
Speaker 1: Shannon's wife began to say Shannon had been on pain
12:56
Speaker 1: medications and may have been confused. She also said that
13:00
Speaker 1: he had checked himself into a mental hospital. Blake was
13:04
Speaker 1: increasingly concerned that something might have happened to his brother.
13:08
Speaker 1: Shannon was not reported missing until November thirtieth, twenty twenty one,
13:13
Speaker 1: and it was Blake, not Shannon's wife or anyone in
13:16
Speaker 1: his immediate family, who reported him missing. So naturally, a
13:20
Speaker 1: lot of people wondered, why did it take nine months?
13:23
Speaker 1: Why did no one report this man missing. Blake said
13:28
Speaker 1: that for all those months, Teresa told his family Shannon
13:32
Speaker 1: was still in touch with them. Then things got even weirder. Suddenly,
13:38
Speaker 1: Shannon's wife, Teresa, told police that Shannon had gotten a
13:42
Speaker 1: new cell phone number, one that his siblings and parents
13:45
Speaker 1: were not aware of, and that Shannon was supposedly contacting Teresa,
13:49
Speaker 1: calling and texting from that cell phone, not the original number,
13:53
Speaker 1: which Blake said that Shannon had had for more than
13:56
Speaker 1: twenty years.
13:57
Speaker 2: Something doesn't sound like. Then we all of a sudden
14:01
Speaker 2: hear about this new phone, and so that a few
14:06
Speaker 2: months later, my sister tells my brother's stepdaughter, are you
14:11
Speaker 2: saying that Shannon is calling you from a new phone?
14:14
Speaker 2: Is that what you're saying? And they have a conversation
14:17
Speaker 2: about this new phone that had mysteriously popped up.
14:22
Speaker 1: In the only interview that Shannon's wife did with the police,
14:26
Speaker 1: Blake heard that text messages from this new phone were
14:29
Speaker 1: allegedly sent to the phones of Shannon's son and Teresa.
14:34
Speaker 1: But then police discovered the person who bought this new
14:39
Speaker 1: cell phone that Shannon was supposedly using was Teresa.
14:43
Speaker 2: They know that she purchases the cell phone, and they
14:46
Speaker 2: know that these text messages are coming from the phone
14:50
Speaker 2: that she fought, So she's trying to make it look
14:53
Speaker 2: as if my brother is sending these text messages, but
14:55
Speaker 2: she's the one who has the phone.
14:57
Speaker 1: That's Blake's working theory that Teresa is the one sending
15:01
Speaker 1: messages from this phone posing as Shannon. Blake said that
15:05
Speaker 1: once he got the police involved in his brother's disappearance,
15:09
Speaker 1: since that day, Teresa and her children have never talked
15:12
Speaker 1: to him or the rest of his family again. Detectives
15:16
Speaker 1: got a search warrant. They searched Shannon's family home, but
15:19
Speaker 1: there's been no report of what they found.
15:22
Speaker 2: I do know that they took some electronic devices, which
15:26
Speaker 2: I believe they were able to glean a lot of
15:27
Speaker 2: additional evidence from. But I don't know outside of some
15:31
Speaker 2: electronic devices, I don't know when all the they did.
15:35
Speaker 2: I know that they did some searches in the property,
15:38
Speaker 2: the out backyard that the properties about an acre. The
15:42
Speaker 2: backyard was pretty close to being an acre, and I
15:45
Speaker 2: know that they had some cadaverdogs and did some searches
15:48
Speaker 2: in the backyard. I don't know all the details. What
15:52
Speaker 2: I do know is that there were good averdogs that
15:55
Speaker 2: did have a hit on something in the backyard that
15:59
Speaker 2: I don't know any specifics, but I know that, and
16:02
Speaker 2: I know that could averdogs were also hitting on and
16:06
Speaker 2: I won't say the type, but I know it a
16:09
Speaker 2: vehicle at their property outside of town the twenty eighth
16:13
Speaker 2: for property, there was a vehicle at that property that
16:16
Speaker 2: canaverdogs hit on as well. So I'm no expert when
16:20
Speaker 2: it comes to canaverdogs, but it sure is telling that
16:23
Speaker 2: those dogs hit on two different sins in two different places.
16:30
Speaker 1: I have reached out to the Pope County Sheriff's Department.
16:33
Speaker 1: We've done a freedom of information request in addition to that.
16:37
Speaker 1: Police have publicly confirmed some details of this case, but
16:41
Speaker 1: they have not yet replied to requests for comment on
16:44
Speaker 1: the search, so I'm still working to confirm these details.
16:48
Speaker 1: Around June or July of twenty twenty one, Teresa said
16:53
Speaker 1: that Shannon was texting from this new phone number, and
16:56
Speaker 1: according to Blake, the story continued to kind of morph
16:59
Speaker 1: because she allegedly said at first that Shannon was calling
17:03
Speaker 1: and texting. Then she's said Shannon was only communicating with
17:07
Speaker 1: her via text. Blake said he did not believe that because,
17:12
Speaker 1: as we said before, his brother was a talker. He
17:16
Speaker 1: just did not have a habit of communicating like that
17:19
Speaker 1: only by text. And Blake also believed if Shannon did
17:23
Speaker 1: have a new phone number, why would he not call
17:25
Speaker 1: the rest of his family and let them know that.
17:27
Speaker 1: If he was able to call Teresa, why couldn't he
17:30
Speaker 1: call them? None of it seemed to make any sense.
17:34
Speaker 1: And then there was another twist. Because Shannon is a veteran,
17:38
Speaker 1: he was eligible for disability payments, so he got about
17:41
Speaker 1: four thousand dollars a month. These funds were being paid
17:44
Speaker 1: into a bank account until Blake reported Shannon missing in November.
17:49
Speaker 1: That money kept dropping into that bank account. Now would
17:53
Speaker 1: a veteran who has a history of needing medical care
17:57
Speaker 1: voluntarily leave thousands of dollars per month untouched?
18:01
Speaker 2: Two weeks after reboarded Missing in the River twenty twenty one,
18:04
Speaker 2: bus payments were cut off. He's never had those famous
18:07
Speaker 2: turnback on. All he had to do is walking in
18:09
Speaker 2: ANYVA facility in the country, show an ID and those
18:12
Speaker 2: payments will immediately he turned back on. At this point
18:16
Speaker 2: it would be about one hundred thousand dollars in arrears
18:18
Speaker 2: that he would receive, not to mention the paint going forward,
18:21
Speaker 2: and he's never wants done that. And unfortunately, I think
18:24
Speaker 2: we know my ad done that.
18:26
Speaker 1: Shannon had medical prescriptions and regularly saw a doctor. He
18:30
Speaker 1: had insurance through the VA. And yet since Shannon disappeared,
18:35
Speaker 1: his bank account has not been touched. He hasn't used
18:38
Speaker 1: any credit cards, he hasn't used his old cell phone,
18:41
Speaker 1: and he has not kept his medical appointments.
18:43
Speaker 2: He did have prescriptions, I don't know what they were.
18:46
Speaker 2: I know that he had had surgeries in the past.
18:49
Speaker 2: He had a scheduled surgery that was coming up after
18:53
Speaker 2: he disappeared. He never shows up for the surgery. He
18:55
Speaker 2: never rebuilt any prescriptions, never goes to a doctor at all.
19:00
Speaker 2: But again, what's interesting about that. One of the text
19:03
Speaker 2: messages that my brother's wife said ends state something to
19:07
Speaker 2: the effect that he has checked himself into a mental
19:10
Speaker 2: hospital and he's needing help and he's trying to get
19:13
Speaker 2: his mind right, and he will let him know when
19:17
Speaker 2: he's okay. Well, of course we know. The police have
19:20
Speaker 2: checked every VA facility. My brother had helped her through
19:24
Speaker 2: the VA. Never has been checked into a hospital, never
19:27
Speaker 2: been to a doctor, no prescriptions, no surgeries, nothing. So again,
19:31
Speaker 2: yet another lie from his life from this cell phone
19:35
Speaker 2: that she purchased with the text message trying to pose
19:39
Speaker 2: as my brother.
19:49
Speaker 1: Blake never met Shannon's girlfriend. He says he doesn't even
19:53
Speaker 1: know who she is, but police have confirmed that she
19:57
Speaker 1: lives in Tennessee. Blake says she has cooperated with police
20:01
Speaker 1: as far as he knows. Blake said he is extremely
20:05
Speaker 1: grateful for the public support he's received and for everyone
20:08
Speaker 1: sharing his story, but he said that since he went
20:12
Speaker 1: public and created the Facebook page Share Shannon's Story, some
20:16
Speaker 1: of the comments have been hard for him to read,
20:20
Speaker 1: and he takes issue with people who have made online
20:23
Speaker 1: comments about his brother. People who were saying things like hell,
20:27
Speaker 1: hath no fury like a woman scorned, or when you
20:30
Speaker 1: play with fire, you get burned, that kind of thing.
20:33
Speaker 1: Some people seem to be implying that because Shannon had
20:35
Speaker 1: had another relationship, that he somehow deserved what happened to him.
20:40
Speaker 2: There have been people that have made comments about my
20:44
Speaker 2: brother and infidelities and the I guess trying to portray
20:50
Speaker 2: him as a bad guy. And I want to be
20:52
Speaker 2: completely transparent. My brother was not perfect, just like any
20:56
Speaker 2: of us, and he had his flags. But when you
20:59
Speaker 2: hear the relationship and where he was headed in full context,
21:04
Speaker 2: it's a completely different story than just he was a
21:08
Speaker 2: cheating husband on his wife, because that's not the case.
21:10
Speaker 2: I mean, he had made this decision, They had had
21:13
Speaker 2: their ups and downs. I guess I don't know all
21:15
Speaker 2: the ins and out in the relationship, but it was
21:17
Speaker 2: quite obvious that he felt like or it was time
21:20
Speaker 2: to move on. So this idea that he was doing
21:23
Speaker 2: something that she wasn't aware of is completely false. And
21:26
Speaker 2: again I'm not trying to make excuses for my brother.
21:29
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that what he did was okay. I'm
21:31
Speaker 2: just saying there's a vast difference between what my brother
21:34
Speaker 2: was doing and how ed informed his wife that he
21:37
Speaker 2: wanted to leave versus other scenarios.
21:40
Speaker 1: But even if he did tell her whatever he was doing,
21:42
Speaker 1: nobody deserves to be nobody to be killed.
21:46
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't matter.
21:46
Speaker 1: What Blake has said. He would love to talk to
21:51
Speaker 1: Shannon's girlfriend. He wants to compare notes. He would love
21:55
Speaker 1: to know if she has any useful information. Again, I
21:58
Speaker 1: want to say this woman has cooperated law enforcement and
22:02
Speaker 1: there is absolutely no suggestion she knew anything about what
22:04
Speaker 1: happened to Shane. In fact, according to Blake, he believes
22:08
Speaker 1: that Shannon's girlfriend was shocked when he didn't get in
22:11
Speaker 1: touch with her. They had just been a week together.
22:14
Speaker 1: They were serious about each other from all accounts, but
22:16
Speaker 1: when Shannon stopped talking to this woman, there may have
22:20
Speaker 1: been some part of her that thought maybe she got ghosted,
22:22
Speaker 1: or that maybe Shannon changed his mind. By the way,
22:25
Speaker 1: that must be a very hard position to be in.
22:28
Speaker 1: I'm sure she asked herself should I call the police?
22:31
Speaker 1: And that must have been a hard call because technically
22:34
Speaker 1: Shannon was married to someone else. I don't know her story,
22:38
Speaker 1: but I will say that must have been a very
22:40
Speaker 1: difficult situation to be in.
22:43
Speaker 2: I don't know how long the relationship and was going
22:47
Speaker 2: on when he disappeared. I know that she lived out
22:50
Speaker 2: of state. I know that the last time he comes
22:54
Speaker 2: home he has been visiting her. I know all this
22:56
Speaker 2: from the police, but I know that she lived out
22:59
Speaker 2: of state he traveled from seeing her. At one point
23:04
Speaker 2: he was doing something in regard to a delivery of
23:07
Speaker 2: some type of job. I'm not sure I believe he
23:10
Speaker 2: goes and does that job, because he's gone most of
23:13
Speaker 2: the week that he disappears. He comes home on Thursday,
23:16
Speaker 2: March eleventh. He disappears Friday in March twelfth. He's gone
23:20
Speaker 2: most of that week. I think he had done something
23:22
Speaker 2: for this, some type of delivery. And then he flies
23:26
Speaker 2: into the state where she lives and visits her, and
23:29
Speaker 2: then he leaves from there and flies into Little Rock, Arkansas,
23:33
Speaker 2: and then drives home from the airport to last night
23:36
Speaker 2: that he's ever seen when he comes home to his
23:40
Speaker 2: home in Posituble, Arkansas. So I don't know much about her.
23:43
Speaker 2: I don't know how long they were together. What I
23:46
Speaker 2: do know, and it makes me sad to say this,
23:49
Speaker 2: But the last picture that's ever been known take had
23:52
Speaker 2: taken with Shannon is the picture that the Pope County
23:55
Speaker 2: Sheriff's Office posted when they made a recent update on
23:59
Speaker 2: Facebook saying that this was now a missing persons with
24:03
Speaker 2: suspected foul play.
24:06
Speaker 1: Just to clarify, you can't see the girlfriend in the
24:08
Speaker 1: picture but it's a picture that looks like it was
24:11
Speaker 1: taken while Shannon was standing next to someone else. You're
24:14
Speaker 1: only seeing half of it. So, even though he can't
24:17
Speaker 1: be sure, Blake believes this picture was taken in the
24:21
Speaker 1: last few weeks of Shannon's life, during that time that
24:24
Speaker 1: Shannon visited his girlfriend. According to Blake, during that last
24:28
Speaker 1: road trip, what he didn't know was that Teresa was
24:31
Speaker 1: tracking his movements.
24:33
Speaker 2: He wasn't trying to hide this relationship from his wife.
24:36
Speaker 2: I think he was the type of person not to
24:39
Speaker 2: throw it in her face. But he also wasn't trying
24:43
Speaker 2: to deny it his way. He wasn't trying to be
24:45
Speaker 2: disrespectful about it. From the police's evidence, she one hundred
24:50
Speaker 2: percent was aware of this woman and knew that he
24:54
Speaker 2: was seeing her because she's tracking his movements, his credit
24:57
Speaker 2: card to minuderstanding there, or text messages between my brother's
25:00
Speaker 2: wife and the stepdaughter talking about this woman and this
25:05
Speaker 2: relatelationship that Shannon is involved in, so they were well
25:08
Speaker 2: aware of it.
25:09
Speaker 1: When Shannon arrived home on March eleventh, twenty twenty one,
25:13
Speaker 1: Blake said Shannon was talking on the phone to his girlfriend,
25:17
Speaker 1: and after that that she got one last message from
25:21
Speaker 1: him saying I'm okay, but Blake said he does not
25:25
Speaker 1: believe that that message came from his brother. We're going
25:28
Speaker 1: to get more into why Blake believes that someone may
25:32
Speaker 1: have been sending text allegedly that we're coming from Shannon
25:35
Speaker 1: in next week's episode. Blake said he believes his brother
25:39
Speaker 1: was truly happy in this new relationship. He said he's
25:42
Speaker 1: glad that he had a happy memory. Blake said, strange
25:46
Speaker 1: as it sounds, he can tell just by looking at
25:48
Speaker 1: the picture posted of Shannon, the picture that's used in
25:51
Speaker 1: those missing posters, that Shannon seemed to be in a
25:54
Speaker 1: happy place in what may have been his last days
25:56
Speaker 1: on earth.
25:58
Speaker 2: I'm almost positive that picture is of my brother and
26:02
Speaker 2: this woman. And the reason I say that is I
26:05
Speaker 2: can see in his eyes how happy he is when
26:09
Speaker 2: I look at that picture. So it hurts me because
26:12
Speaker 2: I know he was happy. What I do know is
26:15
Speaker 2: he was obviously very happy with her. She was happy
26:18
Speaker 2: with him, because she has told police, to my understanding
26:23
Speaker 2: that she was absolutely shocked that she never received another
26:26
Speaker 2: call from it. So she does not know anything about
26:30
Speaker 2: his disappearance until the police call her and interview her.
26:35
Speaker 2: And that's when they inform her of what's happened.
26:39
Speaker 1: Blake said, to protect the integrity of the investigation, and
26:42
Speaker 1: because he did not want to interfere with the police,
26:45
Speaker 1: he waited to go public, but he said police told
26:49
Speaker 1: him at some point they hit a wall. They encouraged
26:52
Speaker 1: him and his family to do whatever they needed to
26:54
Speaker 1: do to get Shannon's story out there. So eventually Blake
26:58
Speaker 1: went on social media. He launched the Share Shannon's Story
27:01
Speaker 1: Facebook page, which has attracted almost four thousand followers.
27:05
Speaker 2: So the reason I did what I did is and
27:09
Speaker 2: the timing of it is because I wanted to create
27:12
Speaker 2: the Share Shannon's Story Facebook page and write this story.
27:15
Speaker 2: I wanted to do that for quite some time. And
27:18
Speaker 2: the only reason I didn't is because I didn't want
27:21
Speaker 2: to hinder any of the investigation that was happening with
27:25
Speaker 2: the Polk County Sheriff. I didn't want to hinder at
27:27
Speaker 2: the federal investigation that is pending due to the fraud charges.
27:31
Speaker 2: So I didn't want to hurt anything, and so I
27:34
Speaker 2: waited and was patient and didn't make any moves, didn't
27:37
Speaker 2: want to cause any trouble, and finally, just again being
27:43
Speaker 2: as transparent as I can. The police, the lead investigator
27:46
Speaker 2: tells us that they essentially hit a wall.
27:54
Speaker 1: Blake wants anyone in the public who may have information
27:57
Speaker 1: about Shannon's last movements to contact the Pope County Sheriff's Department,
28:00
Speaker 1: and more than anything else, he wants people to spread
28:03
Speaker 1: the word about his brother being missing. He hopes that
28:07
Speaker 1: his brother may be out there somewhere, but he said,
28:11
Speaker 1: no matter what, his family wants to know what happened
28:13
Speaker 1: to Shannon. They'd want to be able to bring their
28:16
Speaker 1: brother home, one way or another. Lieutenant Yarborough with the
28:21
Speaker 1: Pope County Sheriff's Department has spoken to reporters, he told
28:25
Speaker 1: Dailymail dot Com. The FBI was working on the investigation.
28:29
Speaker 1: He told the paper, quote, we are still looking at
28:32
Speaker 1: any angle we can get to help us further than
28:34
Speaker 1: what we have already. Will take any help that we
28:37
Speaker 1: can get end quote. They said in a statement posted
28:41
Speaker 1: on the department's Facebook page that Shannon's wife and son
28:44
Speaker 1: told officers he had walked away from the home on
28:47
Speaker 1: March twelfth. A post on the department's Facebook page reads, quote,
28:52
Speaker 1: during the initial and only interview the wife participated in,
28:56
Speaker 1: she gave false and misleading statements to investigators. Investigators attempted
29:00
Speaker 1: to obtain follow up information from Shannon's wife and children,
29:03
Speaker 1: but we're advised that they had obtained council and wished
29:06
Speaker 1: to speak to investigators no further. They have provided no
29:10
Speaker 1: information since to help further the investigation. To this date,
29:14
Speaker 1: there have been no leads from the public, nor family
29:16
Speaker 1: or friends that would suggest to investigators that Shannon is
29:20
Speaker 1: living elsewhere or even left the Pottsville area end quote.
29:24
Speaker 1: In the next episode next week, we're going to go
29:26
Speaker 1: a lot more in depth on this. We're going to
29:29
Speaker 1: talk about the family's meeting with the Pope County Prosecutor,
29:31
Speaker 1: Jeff Phillips, and the state of the investigation right now.
29:35
Speaker 1: And there's another mystery that involves missing money in a
29:38
Speaker 1: church safe. This is a complicated case with a lot
29:42
Speaker 1: of moving parts. From what we know, Teresa has not
29:46
Speaker 1: been arrested or charged with anything, nor has anyone else
29:49
Speaker 1: in Shannon's family. No one has been arrested or charged
29:53
Speaker 1: in connection with Shann's disappearance. Teresa told the police in
29:57
Speaker 1: her interview that when she and Shannon went to bed
30:00
Speaker 1: that night, everything was normal. She said at some point
30:03
Speaker 1: he left the home and did not come back. But
30:06
Speaker 1: Blake believes, bottom line, that his brother did not leave
30:09
Speaker 1: that house voluntarily. He said he would never have walked
30:12
Speaker 1: away from his entire life with nothing. He believes that
30:15
Speaker 1: Shannon did not make it out of that house alive.
30:20
Speaker 1: We're gonna do everything that we can to help him
30:22
Speaker 1: get answers. I'm Katherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line.
30:33
Speaker 1: Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of
30:35
Speaker 1: Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me
30:39
Speaker 1: Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts and Miranda Hawkins.
30:43
Speaker 1: Music contributed by Ben Sale. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs
30:46
Speaker 1: for her research assistance. This episode was sound designed and
30:50
Speaker 1: mixed by Noah Kammer. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr,
30:55
Speaker 1: and Elsie Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by
30:58
Speaker 1: subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts.
31:02
Speaker 1: You can follow the show on Instagram at Hell and
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Speaker 1: Gone pod. If you have a case you'd like me
31:10
Speaker 1: and my team to look into, you can reach out
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