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1:14

catch up on the latest

1:17

episodes without the ads. Terror

1:22

rings out at the headquarters

1:24

of the country's most popular

1:26

cartoonist, sending shockwaves through the

1:28

country. There was

1:30

a shooting and it was at the Charles Shultz

1:33

offices. This is the last

1:35

thing you would expect to happen. This

1:37

was the case that was getting the media

1:39

coverage. This was the case that people were

1:42

paying attention to. When

1:44

the dust settles, Charles Shultz's

1:46

second in command is desperately

1:48

clinging to life. He

1:51

had gunshot wounds in his back. Was

1:53

this an active type shooter or a targeted

1:55

thing? Was there a suspect at large?

1:58

The search for the shooter will... expose a

2:00

crack in the picture-perfect lives

2:03

of a local power couple.

2:05

He fell for a woman much younger

2:07

than him. She wanted to spend

2:09

the rest of her life with him. Charles

2:12

Shultz had threatened both of them to

2:14

stop this. She had

2:16

this feeling of, I think, ultimate betrayal. She said,

2:18

if I can't have him in this life, I'm

2:21

sure as hell is going to happen in the

2:23

next one because we're both going to hell together.

2:26

Was this a crime of passion

2:29

or something much more calculated?

2:32

I never had any doubt about

2:34

her mental capacity. She planned it,

2:37

premeditated it. They saw

2:39

her as this person who had

2:41

lost everything. She talked about

2:43

why she did it and how he had

2:45

made her life miserable. I

2:47

don't think anyone would say what she

2:49

did was okay, but they can understand why

2:51

she did it. July

2:56

5, 1995. It's

3:09

a quiet morning in the sunny

3:12

town of Santa Rosa, California. Nestled

3:15

in the heart of wine country,

3:17

this upscale family-friendly town is known

3:19

for its most famous resident, cartoonist,

3:22

and creator of the Peanuts

3:24

comic strip, Charles Shultz. I've

3:27

lived in this county for almost 50

3:30

years now, and Sonoma County's all-time leading

3:32

citizen without question is Charles Shultz. Everything

3:35

he brought to this community, both

3:37

in terms of Peanuts and his

3:39

wife's philanthropy, Jean, she's a

3:42

great philanthropist. Santa

3:44

Rosa is a larger town, but it still

3:46

has a rural feel to it.

3:49

I'm going to cruise around, I'm going to get to know

3:51

my beat, get to know the people in my beat. But

3:55

just before 11am, the

3:57

serenity is shattered in the most...

6:02

She's conscious enough to identify

6:05

herself as Shirley Nelson, Ron

6:08

Nelson's wife. It

6:10

was not something that we ever responded

6:13

to there. Why

6:15

is this happening? What's

6:22

going on? Born in Pennsylvania on January 18,

6:24

1930, Shirley DeLong was always taking care of

6:26

others. She

6:31

was always very caring. She

6:33

loved animals, she loved sports,

6:36

she loved people. She

6:38

didn't really talk about her childhood or siblings

6:43

or parents or anything like that. She

6:46

never really delved a

6:48

lot into the past. Like

6:53

many young girls, Shirley dreamed of

6:55

falling in love and starting a

6:57

family. Her

6:59

first marriage was very, very young.

7:03

And he was Catholic. And

7:07

their family expected an abundance

7:09

of children. And

7:11

that was very difficult for her because

7:13

I know she had tried for so

7:16

very long to get pregnant. And

7:18

every month it was such a disappointment

7:20

to her. She

7:23

very much wanted children, but

7:25

she was never able to. The

7:28

family was kind of cruel to her because

7:31

of their religion. They

7:33

somehow ended up getting

7:36

an annulment. They were married

7:38

for a very short time, but I do

7:40

not know for how long. Long

7:44

after her first marriage ended, Shirley remarried

7:46

in 1954 and she cheerfully gained two

7:51

stepchildren. After

7:54

her first marriage, she had

7:56

met my grandfather and she...

8:00

was in our life from the day that I was born.

8:02

She was always there. My

8:05

impression was that her pattern was to

8:08

build her world around a man. Shirley

8:14

gave her all for her new

8:16

family, but that marriage also ended.

8:19

I don't know anything about their marriage,

8:21

just that they were married for about

8:24

12 years. The

8:26

split left a significant hole in

8:29

Shirley's life. She

8:31

had no professional training, no skills outside

8:33

of the home. Shirley

8:35

struggled to find her own identity

8:37

as a new divorcee, but

8:40

that all changed when she met

8:43

handsome 24-year-old graduate Ron Nelson in

8:45

1966. Her

8:48

and Ron met in a bar

8:50

in Minneapolis. He had just graduated

8:53

and got his CPA. She

8:56

was out with a bunch of girlfriends. She

8:58

was about 11 or 12 years older than Ron. She

9:02

was older than Ron, but she never, I

9:04

don't ever feel like she felt that was

9:07

holding their relationship back. She

9:10

never, ever looked her age.

9:13

She looked very young. She

9:15

loved that. No one could guess her age.

9:18

And Ron liked that too. She

9:21

was always very well-dressed,

9:24

and he liked to show

9:26

her off. In Ron,

9:29

Shirley finally found someone who made

9:31

her feel fulfilled. Ron

9:33

knew that Shirley couldn't have children, and

9:36

he was okay with that. After

9:40

less than a year of dating, the two

9:42

tied the knot in 1967. And

9:45

shortly after, Ron landed a

9:47

coveted job within the Charles

9:50

Shultz Empire. Mr.

9:53

Nelson was the business manager for

9:55

Charles Shultz. Ron did

9:57

a lot of the licensing agreements around the

9:59

world. It was a

10:01

vast, vast empire of stuff everywhere. Ron's

10:07

prestigious position came with an

10:09

equally elite paycheck. They

10:12

got swept up into the world that

10:14

they lived in for so long in

10:16

the Schultz universe. And it's

10:19

a pretty dynamic place to be. Her

10:21

marriage to him gave her

10:23

access to the Charles Schultz

10:25

Community Society. They

10:27

lived in a country club in Santa

10:30

Rosa. They did live on the golf

10:32

course. They had a

10:34

pretty strong practice of getting out of their

10:36

golf cart, bringing their little dog and playing

10:38

a few holes at the end of each

10:40

day. Shirley

10:42

and Ron did dinner parties. They

10:45

traveled, they did golf tournaments and

10:48

fundraisers and so forth. They were

10:50

just caught up in a whirlwind,

10:52

a grand life, really.

10:56

She had a bit of an arrogance

10:58

about her from being in that position

11:00

of, you know, wealth and

11:02

her husband being well known. In

11:06

May of 1995, the Nelsons

11:09

celebrated their 28th wedding

11:11

anniversary. On the

11:13

surface, it seems like Shirley and Ron

11:15

are living the dream. But

11:21

on July 5th, 1995,

11:24

the two are clinging to

11:26

life after suffering gunshot wounds.

11:29

They found Mr. Nelson out in front

11:31

of the office of Charles Schultz. He

11:34

was almost dead. Inside,

11:37

officers radio for paramedics to

11:39

help Shirley. My

11:41

job is to make sure that the scene

11:43

is safe. So my priority was locating

11:46

a weapon. Where was the

11:48

gun? A

11:54

high stakes love triangle is

11:56

revealed. He was aware

11:58

that there was some marital. problems. Everybody

12:01

was shocked at what had happened.

12:03

I can't have him.

12:05

You're not gonna

12:09

have him either. July

12:20

5th 1995 Santa Rosa detectives

12:22

are called to the scene of

12:24

a shooting at the offices of

12:26

Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. First

12:30

responders attend to the injured

12:32

couple Ron and Shirley Nelson

12:35

as officers search for the murder

12:37

weapon. He had multiple

12:39

gunshot wounds in his back and at least

12:41

one of them penetrated up through his pancreas,

12:44

his liver, all the way up through

12:46

his abdomen area. Paramedics

12:48

rush Ron to the hospital.

12:51

He had lost his pulse, dropped his

12:53

blood pressure and I

12:56

think he was also kind of DOA. Meanwhile

13:01

after a thorough search of

13:03

the Schultz offices investigators locate

13:05

a crucial piece of evidence. There

13:09

was this 357 Magnum gun,

13:11

pretty big gun. The

13:14

sergeant came in and told me that the

13:16

weapon had been located. The concern now was

13:18

to make sure that both

13:21

of these people received medical care. Paramedics

13:26

hurry Shirley to the hospital.

13:29

From the very beginning an officer

13:31

is assigned to Shirley. They actually

13:33

write in the ambulance with her to the

13:35

hospital. And what

13:38

Shirley reveals to first

13:40

responders is downright shocking.

13:42

They said what happened and she

13:44

replied I shot him. I

13:47

shot my husband. Is

13:49

the son of a bitch dead? And

13:52

she said I shot my son. She

13:54

was very agitated, very angry

13:58

and kept repeating. Did I

14:00

kill him? I hope he's dead. It

14:03

became apparent pretty quickly that

14:05

it was a domestic situation

14:07

and that Shirley had done the shooting. When

14:14

she arrived, I'm not sure she had much of a pulse.

14:17

She was eventually resuscitated and

14:19

had surgery to repair her

14:21

injuries. There was a lot of

14:23

damage and it was a very

14:25

serious surgery and they weren't sure she was

14:27

going to make it. Ron

14:29

was in the same situation. They

14:32

were struggling to revive him,

14:34

bring him back. As

14:38

doctors work to save Ron and

14:40

Shirley's lives, detectives at Schultz Enterprises

14:42

try to make sense of the

14:45

crime scene. We have

14:47

all the people at the scene who had

14:49

information about what had occurred and we just

14:51

start delegating. You interview this person, you interview

14:53

this person. According

14:57

to Ron's coworkers, just before 11

14:59

that morning, Shirley

15:01

drove up to the office in a

15:04

car no one recognized. She

15:06

just wanted to be able to get access to the

15:08

office without being detected. I think that

15:11

if her car had pulled in, there

15:13

was a chance that someone else would let

15:15

her husband know that she was arriving. She

15:19

parked right in the front, got

15:21

out of the car, walked in. She had these

15:23

great big sunglasses on. But

15:27

investigators say Shirley's efforts to

15:29

go undetected were misguided. It

15:32

was just bizarre. Anybody

15:34

who saw her said, oh, they're Shirley, dressed

15:36

weird. I mean, she's

15:38

very distinctive and they would have known who

15:41

she was. They were very familiar with her.

15:45

Shirley Nelson had come in there and

15:47

said to the receptionist, is he

15:50

in there? And then she went into his office. He

15:53

stood up and she shot him twice in the back. And

15:58

apparently, farted. at least

16:00

two other rounds and missed him. There

16:03

was no doubt that he was the one who shot him.

16:09

Detectives are eager to talk to a

16:11

key witness. Ron's closest

16:13

colleague, his boss, Charles

16:15

Shultz. He actually said

16:17

he didn't even hear the gunshots because his

16:20

office was at the other end of the building. Mr.

16:23

Shultz says though he didn't see

16:25

the shooting, he thinks he knows

16:28

what caused it. He

16:31

was aware that there was some marital problems

16:33

because I think Shirley and Ron and Jean

16:36

Shultz and Charlie, I think they had a

16:38

social relationship, you know, outside of work also.

16:42

And he was aware that the relationship was

16:44

not going well. He

16:46

said Ron had an affair with his

16:48

secretary and it

16:51

was something that he kept hidden for

16:53

a while. Ron, he

16:55

was 50-something at the time. She was,

16:57

I believe she was 41. He

17:02

fell for a woman who much younger

17:04

than him in

17:07

his work situation. Mr.

17:09

Shultz says he'd hoped Ron and

17:12

his secretary, Eileen Christensen, would break

17:14

it off. Shultz

17:17

disapproved and said that they should find a

17:19

way to end it. His

17:21

concern was that it could lead to

17:23

some kind of sexual harassment lawsuit. He

17:26

was very adamant he had been very vocal

17:29

and had threatened both of them to

17:31

stop this or that they were both

17:33

risking termination. He warned him not

17:35

to do it and he did it anyway.

17:41

Family members say just a month

17:43

before the shooting, Ron finally came

17:45

clean with Shirley and

17:47

she took the news pretty hard. She

17:51

was physically upset,

17:54

tearful, hysterical would probably

17:56

be a better word. The

17:58

fact that it was his secretary and they

18:00

were working together. What is a big blow?

18:05

Shirley, historically, she builds her life

18:07

around her man. She

18:09

viewed, you know, I need to keep a perfect home. My

18:11

man comes home. He has to have his drink ready for

18:14

him, dinner ready, on

18:16

the table. That's who she was.

18:22

Though blindsided by the affair, Shirley's

18:24

closest friends say the relationship

18:27

had started deteriorating much earlier.

18:31

Shirley had a stroke in 1991,

18:36

and I think that was the

18:38

point where Ron just realized she

18:40

is much older and that

18:42

he saw then that age gap. And

18:46

I think slowly but surely that chipped

18:48

away at him. That

18:51

changed her quite a bit. She

18:53

didn't have any physical signs

18:55

of the stroke, but

18:58

that was an eye-opener of where her

19:00

age possibly was and her health.

19:03

Obviously, it exposed her fragility. I

19:06

think that impacted him and his view

19:08

of her being with a significantly older

19:10

woman, and I think that changed the

19:12

relationship. Friends

19:16

tell detectives after her stroke,

19:18

Shirley was determined to get

19:20

the relationship back on track. She

19:24

tried dressing nicer,

19:27

which she was very well-dressed and very

19:29

put together. She tried to

19:31

lose weight, to tone her muscles. Her

19:35

goal was just to win him back.

19:41

After speaking to witnesses at the

19:43

scene, authorities shift their focus to

19:45

the car Shirley drove to the

19:47

office and identify it as a

19:49

rental vehicle. We

19:51

found out it was registered at whatever rental fleet,

19:53

and we just start backtracking it. And then that

19:55

leads us to, hey, did you guys rent this

19:57

car? Would you rent it too? how

20:00

that starts. To detectives,

20:02

the rental car suggests Shirley

20:04

was attempting to enter the office

20:07

unnoticed. I think

20:09

that if her car had pulled in, there

20:12

was a chance that someone else would let

20:14

her husband know that she was arriving. He

20:17

could have gotten out of there before she got to

20:19

his office. With

20:23

little evidence left behind in the

20:25

car, detectives head to the rental

20:27

agency. That's where Shirley's

20:29

car was, so we searched more on that

20:31

to get inside the car. Inside

20:34

Shirley's personal vehicle, detectives find

20:37

.357 caliber

20:39

bullets and a receipt for a Smith

20:41

& Wesson revolver. She

20:44

had purchased this gun at Montana Hawk. Please

20:47

interview the owner of the gun shop about how

20:49

she had bought the gun. The

20:52

timing of Shirley's visit to the gun

20:54

store falls eerily in line with the

20:56

demise of the Nelson marriage. By

21:00

June 8th, I believe, Ron had

21:02

already left the house and

21:04

had moved out. And

21:06

she went to this gun shop

21:08

around June 15th. She

21:12

had gone down to the store to buy the

21:14

gun and filled out the paperwork. But

21:17

state law says there's got to be this two-week

21:19

waiting period, so a background check can be done.

21:24

The gun store owner says in

21:26

the interim Shirley took lessons. She

21:30

met a man named Mack Scott, who was

21:32

an ex-sheriffs officer in the county, and

21:34

Mack had an indoor gun range. He

21:38

gave her lessons and

21:40

started teaching her how to shoot this .357. She

21:44

was going down there on

21:46

a fairly regular basis practicing and shooting

21:48

the gun. Coming

21:51

up against all odds,

21:54

Shirley and Ron survive, each

21:56

with their own crazy story

21:58

to tell. She said

22:00

to him, you destroyed my life, you're going to

22:03

hell with me. And

22:05

investigators wonder, was there

22:08

another intended target? Shirley

22:10

expressed a lot more disdain for

22:12

Eileen than she did for Ron.

22:16

She commented that she wished she had taken

22:18

her too. The

22:26

holidays usually include hours on planes,

22:28

cars, trains. Hi baby, next to

22:30

you, put on those noise canceling

22:32

headphones. Mom and dad arguing about

22:34

directions in the car, AirPods in.

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in the Wondery app or on Apple

24:24

Podcast. It's

24:28

been nine hours since police

24:30

found Ron Nelson and his

24:32

wife Shirley gunned down at

24:34

the offices of America's most

24:36

beloved cartoons. Because

24:39

it happened at the Charles Schultz property,

24:41

a very famous Santa Rosa landmark, there

24:43

was a lot of talk about what

24:45

happened obviously because it was such a

24:48

violent crime. So it

24:50

was an extreme amount of media attention from

24:52

all over. As

24:57

the hospital staff continues life-saving

24:59

efforts on Ron, authorities get

25:02

word that against all odds

25:04

Shirley has survived the shooting.

25:06

She had a point blank 357 Magnum

25:09

gunshot wound straight to her chest. So how she

25:11

survived it I don't know and they didn't either

25:13

because they thought for sure she wasn't gonna make

25:15

it but she did. When

25:17

we were notified that she was stable

25:19

and out of surgery that's when we

25:21

went over to interview her. Obviously

25:26

there's a lot of laws about interviewing people that

25:28

are suspected of crimes so I needed to make

25:31

sure she understood I was with the police department

25:33

that I wanted to ask her questions. At

25:35

approximately 6 30 p.m.

25:37

on July 5th detectives meet with

25:39

their shooter and make sure she

25:42

is capable of answering questions. I

25:45

wanted to be sure that she understood who I

25:47

was and why I was there. I was trying

25:49

to establish if she was able

25:51

to comprehend what was really going on you

25:54

know she was coherent enough And

25:56

she seemed pretty clear about the events of what

25:58

happened. I started asking

26:01

her what happened. In. Any know said she shot

26:03

herself in the chest. She

26:06

was pretty clear that she wanted

26:08

to kill her husband and kill

26:10

herself. Sincerely

26:14

has no previous criminal

26:16

record. Investigators must determine

26:18

if she fully understands.

26:21

Her actions during her statements

26:23

to please see very freely

26:25

admitted that she went there

26:27

to shoot her husband. She

26:32

made a comment about all

26:34

of this over of the

26:36

motel room. Something to that

26:38

effect has has seems sorry

26:40

that Ron wasn't dead. She

26:44

talked about why she did it and

26:46

how he and made her life miserable

26:48

and she couldn't see any other way

26:50

out like a for. Identity was so

26:53

closely tied to Ron when he

26:55

is telling her this relationship is

26:57

ending the her mind it what

26:59

it says that their marriage was

27:01

and dang it was. In some

27:04

respects her life as and then. She

27:06

just kept saying that there was no life

27:09

for her without him and that she felt

27:11

that she couldn't go on without him And

27:13

that is, she couldn't go on. He wasn't

27:15

gonna go on either. She

27:17

did say several times he's not going

27:19

to leave me like garbage. Though

27:24

surely is clearly distraught over

27:26

runs a fair and aspect

27:28

of her story catches investigators

27:31

off guard. In the

27:33

hospital bed when she was talking to

27:35

police it said very glowing things about

27:37

him and and talked about him and

27:39

sweet man her identity wrapped up in

27:41

been Mrs Run Nelson. Think

27:43

surly saw her marriage as really

27:45

close to perfect. Initial she thought

27:47

maybe this is have been life

27:49

crisis. This is a temporary kind

27:52

of thing. And send see initially

27:54

starts i think trying to

27:56

win him back or. To convince

27:58

him that this is nothing Syria. and

28:00

things deteriorate from there. She

28:03

felt that Eileen had seen

28:06

this opportunity and betrayed her,

28:08

betrayed him, betrayed Mr. Schultz

28:10

as well. I

28:13

think Shirley expressed a lot more disdain

28:15

for Eileen than she did

28:17

for Ron, as it all went down. I

28:19

know she was never willing to put

28:21

him in the same light that she

28:23

put Eileen. She did have hopes they

28:26

were going to get back together from

28:28

what friends were saying. She was working out

28:31

at the gym with a personal

28:33

instructor more often. As

28:38

investigators dig deeper, they

28:40

uncover some disturbing information.

28:43

Shirley is trying to win Ron back,

28:46

and at the same time I think

28:48

she's becoming increasingly disturbed and distraught. She's

28:50

talking to her friends, and she

28:52

tells them, hey, this

28:54

person is destroying my life.

28:58

All the anger and rage I think that she felt

29:00

initially toward Ron is now

29:02

directed toward Eileen. Shirley

29:04

had talked about giving

29:06

money to Eileen or even buying her a

29:08

house if she would cease

29:12

the affair with her husband. When

29:15

that didn't work, Shirley developed a

29:18

new strategy. Shirley

29:21

says she was prepared to put her firearms

29:23

training to the test, but

29:26

things didn't go exactly as planned.

29:29

He stood up and she shot him twice in

29:32

the back and apparently

29:34

fired at least two other rounds

29:37

and missed him. When I

29:39

asked her about the actual shooting, she

29:41

talked about how she was moving around

29:43

while she was firing, and

29:46

that's why she didn't successfully kill Ron, that

29:50

something had gone wrong. And

29:55

according to Shirley, there was one

29:57

more mark she missed that day.

30:00

She had apparently missed being able

30:02

to shoot Eileen Christensen. She

30:06

also commented that she wished she had taken

30:08

her too. While

30:13

Shirley spills her innermost thoughts

30:15

to investigators, they learn

30:17

Ron has miraculously survived his

30:19

injuries. He

30:22

was shot in the kidney, in

30:24

the lung, in the intestines,

30:28

and also it nicked his

30:30

artery as well. He

30:33

had lost a lot of blood, but they

30:35

were able to obviously revive him and

30:37

save him. Investigators

30:42

are anxious to interview Ron

30:44

and rush to his hospital

30:47

bedside. I did interview

30:49

him. He was conscious. He was aware we had

30:51

a conversation. He gave me a little

30:53

bit of a history, but we didn't get too much given

30:55

his condition. Ron confirms

30:57

to police that while the couple had

30:59

been separated for about a month, they

31:02

were still in touch. On

31:05

some occasions, Shirley and Ron had sexual

31:07

encounters, and

31:09

he would say things to her in

31:12

her mind that were giving her an impression. He

31:14

was thinking about coming back. He

31:17

still wanted to hang on to

31:19

Shirley, still maintained that friendship, that

31:21

camaraderie, that relationship, and yet

31:23

he's clearly not willing to give

31:26

this other person up. You

31:28

have somebody who in some respects may be getting

31:31

the best of both worlds for a little bit. Coming

31:35

up, shocking allegations

31:37

were exposed. The

31:40

day before the shooting, they were out on

31:42

the golf course, and

31:44

many people witnessed their arguments.

31:47

That to her was like the

31:49

dagger. That was like him

31:51

saying to her, I want

31:53

something you can't give me. And

31:56

all eyes are on Santa Rosa

31:58

as an unexpected... person wishes

32:01

to Shirley Nelson's defense. He

32:04

loved Shirley. He said that he was never going to

32:06

let her spend a day in jail. Was it going

32:08

to happen? Investigators

32:17

are interviewing Ron Nelson after

32:19

he has survived an alleged

32:21

murder-suicide attempt by his wife,

32:24

Shirley Nelson. Ron

32:26

has just admitted that during

32:29

his affair with Eileen, he

32:31

was still sleeping with Shirley.

32:33

Shirley is a very fragile, broken

32:35

person. You're showing up and

32:38

having sex. I mean, that's pretty

32:40

mixed signals. Ron

32:45

says on July 4th, he met

32:47

Shirley to tell her their marriage

32:49

was over for good. The

32:52

day before the shooting, they

32:55

were out on the golf course

32:57

and many people witnessed their argument.

33:01

He kept at her and was telling

33:03

her she wasn't good enough. And

33:06

that's when investigators say Ron

33:08

dropped the final bombshell. Ron

33:12

said, you're old. I found

33:14

someone younger. We're having children and we're

33:16

going to build a life. When

33:24

Shirley and Ron first got together, they talked about it,

33:26

made the decision they weren't going to have kids. However,

33:30

as we all know, those things

33:32

can change. I didn't want

33:34

to have kids, and now I

33:36

did. And in Shirley's case, I

33:39

can't. This is impossible for me.

33:47

I think that to her was

33:49

like the dagger. That

33:51

was like him saying to her, I want

33:54

something you can't give me and I have

33:56

somebody else who can maybe give it to

33:58

me. And I

34:00

think it really is the first

34:02

time that Shirley realizes I

34:05

have permanently lost him. Ron

34:11

believes that conversation is likely

34:13

what led to the next

34:15

morning's horrific events. When

34:18

she walked in she said some things to him. She

34:22

said to him, you destroyed my life, you're going

34:24

to hell with me. Words

34:26

to that effect. I

34:29

think he instantly realized what she was trying to

34:31

do and he was trying to escape. He

34:34

sort of tried to crouch down to

34:36

get away from it and he was hit twice by

34:38

the bullets. There were

34:41

five bullets in the gun and she

34:43

fired all five of them. The

34:45

final bullet was the one she shot herself with. It

34:51

happened so quickly there wasn't a lot of

34:53

in-depth, what did you do next? What did you

34:55

do next? The

34:59

detectives leave Ron to rest and

35:02

secure a warrant to search the

35:04

home he once shared with Shirley.

35:07

We believe there'd be evidence of the crime at the

35:09

house. We got in

35:11

there and on the table you had a variety of

35:13

different letters to different people. She

35:16

had left some of their wedding photographs out

35:18

along with 10 letters

35:20

that she had written both to friends and

35:23

also to Charles Schultz. When

35:27

you read the letters it was

35:29

mainly about the depth of love she had for

35:31

Ron. Despite all the things that he

35:34

was doing to her, she wanted to

35:36

be with this man. She

35:38

said, if I can't have him in this life, I'm

35:41

sure as hell going to have him in the next one because we're both

35:43

going to hell together. And

35:45

she then started this process of getting

35:48

her financial business in order. She

35:51

wrote letters to all of her friends saying goodbye and

35:54

explaining what she was doing. On

36:00

July 6th, less than 24 hours

36:02

after she attempted to kill

36:05

her husband, detectives arrest Shirley

36:07

Nelson. I

36:09

went to the hospital where Shirley was, walked

36:12

in, identified myself, Tom

36:14

Schwethom, Santa Rosa Police Department,

36:17

and I'm going to be, I'm placing an

36:19

arrest for the attempted murder of your husband,

36:21

Ron Nelson. I

36:23

think she was anticipating it, Candy. In

36:28

the following days, she remained

36:30

at the hospital because of her injuries and

36:32

because of her mental state. It

36:36

was the treating psychiatrist who said things

36:38

like she was delusional. She

36:40

felt like she was going to join

36:42

with him and in the afterlife and

36:44

those kinds of things. This is somebody

36:46

who needs ongoing care. That if she

36:48

doesn't have some ongoing care and more

36:50

intensive care, then we can provide here.

36:53

She may do it again. She may hurt

36:55

herself. So we need

36:57

for her to get some more

36:59

treatment before we can release her. She

37:03

was at the mental health facility for a period

37:05

of time. And then when they released her, she

37:07

went to the county jail. The

37:10

judge didn't want to give bail to her. But

37:13

I was able to convince the

37:15

judge that as a matter of

37:17

law, she was entitled to bail.

37:19

And he reluctantly said, okay, two

37:21

million. Well,

37:25

at that time, $2 million

37:27

bail was unheard of around here.

37:30

The price tag seems outrageous.

37:33

But soon, an unlikely and

37:35

powerful ally steps in to help.

37:38

He said that he was never going to let her

37:41

spend a day in jail. What's going to happen? He

37:43

loved Shirley. He respected Shirley. Coming

37:50

up, Shirley's mysterious

37:52

benefactor is revealed.

37:55

I find out that he's ready to put

37:57

up $2 million cashier's check to bail her

37:59

out. out. And Will

38:01

Shirley's story resonate with a jury.

38:04

The media was pretty

38:06

hard on her. One of

38:08

the quotes that I recall was

38:10

money talks and privileged walks. September

38:21

1995. It's been

38:24

two months since Shirley Nelson attempted

38:26

to kill her husband in Iran

38:28

before turning a gun on herself

38:30

at the offices of Charles Schultz.

38:34

This was the case that was getting the

38:36

media coverage. This was the case that people

38:38

were paying attention to. With

38:41

bail set at two million

38:43

dollars, it appears Shirley Nelson

38:45

will remain in jail. But

38:48

the community is stunned once again

38:50

when Santa Rosa's favorite citizen

38:53

offers to help her. The

38:56

next day I find out that Mr.

38:58

Schultz is ready to put

39:00

up two million dollar cashiers check to bail

39:02

her out. He

39:06

also recognized knowing Shirley

39:08

and who she was that this was

39:10

completely out of character for her and

39:13

that she needed help. She

39:16

didn't need to be locked away in a prison. He

39:20

called me up and said, got the money, let's go get

39:22

her. After

39:28

she was released from custody on bail,

39:30

she rented a place in Oakmont, clear

39:32

on the opposite side of town from

39:35

where Mr. Nelson was still living in the

39:37

family home. There

39:40

was controversy over her not being

39:42

in jail because people felt

39:44

that there was a double standard for people who had

39:46

money and also people

39:48

who had notoriety or celebrity status.

39:52

The media was pretty hard on her. She was

39:55

wrong. She was. Despite

39:58

his death, he was a very good citizen. close relationship

40:01

with Ron, popular cartoonist Charles

40:03

Schultz remains steadfast in his

40:06

support of Shirley. Charles

40:09

Schultz, he made a very strong statement at

40:11

that point to Eileen and to Ron. I

40:13

don't like what you did and I'm willing

40:15

to support her. On

40:20

April 23rd, 1996, nearly a year after the shooting, Shirley's

40:25

attorneys hope the jury will be

40:27

as understanding of their client's plight.

40:31

Shirley was charged with attempt and murder.

40:35

The whole crux of the case was what

40:37

her mental state was at the time

40:39

and whether she was capable of premeditating

40:42

and having the

40:45

rational ability to do this.

40:48

Shirley pled not guilty by

40:51

reason of insanity. Prosecutors

40:54

allege Shirley knew exactly what

40:56

she was doing. I

40:59

never had any doubt about her mental capacity.

41:01

She knew it was against the law, she

41:03

knew it was criminal behavior, she

41:05

intended to kill her husband and that

41:07

she planned it, premeditated it, and went through a

41:10

series of steps to carry it out. Going

41:13

and buying a weapon and learning how to shoot

41:15

a weapon, those are not

41:17

things you do in the

41:20

heat of the moment or a passion, those are things

41:22

that take time. The

41:28

defense counters by arguing that

41:30

Shirley was in an emotional

41:32

freefall following the separation from

41:34

her husband. She

41:36

fell apart pretty hard. He

41:40

was her everything. Her

41:43

identity was him,

41:46

being his wife and his partner.

41:49

And so it was pretty devastating for her. Shirley

41:52

is trying to win-run back and at

41:54

the same time I think she's becoming

41:56

increasingly disturbed and distraught. These

41:59

are all... things that are kind

42:01

of building up each day and

42:03

then culminate with the argument on

42:05

July 4th. An

42:08

argument the defense says finally

42:10

broke her. She always

42:12

wanted children. So that had this

42:14

feeling of, I think, ultimate betrayal.

42:17

You know, certainly was kind of

42:19

like the straw that brought the

42:21

cameras back. We had lost everything

42:23

that she was compromised mentally by

42:25

her situation. I

42:28

think many members in the community, not just those

42:30

12 think, hey, before you start, you know, cheating

42:32

on your wife and your marriage, there's a

42:34

right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. I

42:37

don't think anyone would say what she

42:39

did was okay, but they can understand

42:41

why she did it. Rather

42:48

than opting for a retrial that

42:50

might elicit the same outcome, prosecutors

42:52

offer Shirley a deal. Her

42:55

plea agreement was that she pled

42:57

guilty to attempted murder, which made

42:59

her technically eligible for probation. On

43:06

April 16th, 1997, Shirley

43:10

accepts a plea bargain of one

43:12

year in jail, five years probation,

43:14

and 3,000 hours of community

43:17

service. I

43:19

do think the sentence was extremely lenient

43:21

for attempting to kill somebody.

43:25

This case did generate a fair amount of

43:27

controversy. One of the quotes that I recall

43:29

was that

43:32

money talks and privilege walks.

43:39

In the end, Shirley serves

43:41

about six months behind bars.

43:44

The other time she was basically in

43:46

a mental facility. I think

43:49

that being in custody and doing

43:52

all the hours of community service at

43:54

the Santa Rosa food bank were transformative

43:56

for her. It gave

43:58

her a chance and a a very weird

44:00

and strange way to find a purpose in

44:03

life again. When she

44:05

went to jail, she talked a

44:07

lot about the girls that she'd

44:09

met there. I

44:11

really believe that those women

44:14

helped Grandma to

44:16

understand she could rebuild

44:18

her life. I

44:21

believe that she was

44:23

a different person, and

44:25

the retrospect that she

44:27

saw things in other people that

44:30

maybe she hadn't seen before or

44:32

just had her eyes close to.

44:39

27 years later, Shirley's story continues

44:41

to be shared in hopes that

44:44

it inspires others battling with their

44:46

mental health to seek help. We

44:50

need to re-educate ourselves so

44:52

that there are avenues and ways

44:55

for people and places for them to

44:57

deal with these things so they don't

44:59

get to the desperate position of either

45:01

wanting to kill themselves or somebody else.

45:05

It's so important to get help

45:08

in those situations because there is

45:11

always life on the other side

45:13

of that. I

45:16

feel like Grandma went

45:18

full circle. She

45:20

regretted it. She said

45:23

time and time again, I'm glad he

45:25

didn't die. She forgave

45:27

herself. And I think that was

45:29

a big part of healing. She

45:32

did a lot of volunteering. That was her

45:34

life. I think she did a lot of

45:36

good. She did a lot

45:38

more good than she would have if she would

45:40

have gone to jail for the

45:42

rest of her life. Ron

45:50

and Shirley Nelson divorced in early 1997, shortly

45:54

after Ron married Eileen Christensen. After Shirley

45:56

was released from jail on September 22,

45:58

1997. she

46:00

moved back to her country club home. She

46:02

died in 2008 at the age of 78. Being

46:11

an actual royal is never about finding your

46:13

happy ending, but the worst part is, if

46:15

they step out of line or fall in love with

46:17

the wrong person, it changes the

46:19

course of history. I'm

46:22

Arisha Stidmore-Williams and I'm Brooke

46:24

Sifrin. We've been telling the stories of the

46:27

rich and famous on the hit wondery show,

46:29

Even the Rich, and talking about the latest

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celebrity news on Rich and Daily. We're going

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Even the Royals. We'll be

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diving headfirst into the lives of the

46:39

world's kings, queens, and all the wannabes

46:41

in their orbit throughout history. Think succession

46:43

meets the crown meets real life. We're

46:46

going to pull back the gilded curtain

46:48

and show how royal status might be

46:50

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the expense of, well, everything else. Like

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46:57

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