0:00

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp

0:02

Therapy Online. If you want to live

0:04

a more empowered life, therapy can get you

0:06

there. Visit betterhelp.com

0:08

slash Stephenville today to get 10%

0:10

off your first month. A note

0:12

before we get started. This episode

0:15

contains some intense descriptions

0:17

of sexual assault.

0:25

Texas, monthly.

0:33

I met up with Don Miller one day this spring at

0:38

a barbecue place on the edge of Stephenville. He

0:41

pulled up in an enormous truck. I

0:44

climbed in and we headed south out of town.

0:48

Shannon and I together have never

0:50

been to the park. Yeah. Just so you

0:52

know that, but I mean, I'm familiar with

0:54

it and can walk you through

0:56

it anyway. I thought

0:58

I knew which park it was and then

1:01

when I was driving up this morning, I looked at it and I said, there's

1:03

no way, it's too public. Well,

1:06

the, so

1:08

the park has changed over the years back

1:12

when the assault happened. About a year

1:14

after Susan Woods was killed, investigators

1:16

learned of another brutal

1:18

crime. A 16-year-old

1:20

girl from Stephenville, beaten and bloody,

1:22

told them she'd been raped in this park. Does

1:25

the park have a name? No,

1:27

it's just a typical

1:28

roadside

1:31

park. The park

1:33

wasn't much bigger than a football field. We

1:35

crept through it and parked at the far end.

1:38

All right, well, this is the one I thought. Yeah.

1:41

I mean, there's a reason, right by the road.

1:44

Right by the road, but if

1:46

somebody's gonna come in, he's gonna see them. There's

1:49

nobody gonna come up behind him. That's true,

1:51

and the traffic's going fast enough. Yeah. And

1:54

it was dark. There's no

1:56

lights out here. Zeke and I were at nighttime,

1:58

this place is pitch black.

1:59

The

2:02

victim told investigators who'd done it.

2:04

She'd given them the name, Joseph

2:07

Scott Hatley. Don first

2:09

heard of this years later when a database

2:11

matched the fingerprints at Susan's house to

2:14

Hatley, a man Don hadn't heard

2:16

of and someone no one had

2:18

suspected. And you

2:20

got the file from the DA and you start going

2:22

through it and it's a you know it's a it's

2:24

an awful rape case but there's

2:27

nothing that really links it to Susan's. What

2:30

then did for you? What happened? Well

2:33

the the striking thing

2:36

in her original statement to the original

2:38

investigators was this.

2:41

He told Shannon I will

2:43

probably make you a star like

2:45

a star in the heaven and he told her I have

2:48

killed before.

2:49

I have killed before. By

2:52

the time I'd gotten to that point I

2:54

knew that Hatley was

2:56

the man who had killed Susan Woods.

3:01

The

3:01

murder investigation had been cold

3:03

for almost 20 years but Don realized

3:06

this clue had been there all along. This

3:08

other case could have been the key that the Stephenville

3:11

police had been looking for. But

3:13

instead what happened here and what came

3:16

next shows that the mistakes,

3:18

the injustice really, were more

3:21

widespread than anyone realized.

3:24

From Texas Monthly this is Stephenville.

3:27

I'm your host Brian Burra. This

3:30

is episode 4 Shannon.

3:37

At Stephenville High School in 1988 about

3:40

a decade after Susan Woods graduated

3:43

one of the new faces in the crowd was Shannon

3:45

Myers.

3:47

Shannon was 15 years old that year

3:49

petite with close-cropped strawberry

3:51

blonde hair and if you saw her

3:53

in that crowd there was a good chance you would

3:56

hear her first. I was not very

3:58

quiet at all I was very I stayed

4:00

in my opinion. I would

4:04

just tell it how it is. If I didn't like something,

4:06

I changed it.

4:08

And I went

4:10

to school, hated it,

4:13

because I did not feel accepted.

4:15

Shannon had come to town a few years earlier

4:18

with her mom, an older sister, from Arkansas.

4:21

In Stephenville, where most folks pretty much knew

4:23

everyone else's story, Shannon

4:25

was not only a newcomer, but a bit of a

4:27

misfit. I

4:28

was a partied

4:31

animal. It was a college town.

4:33

Stephenville was a college town. So

4:37

Monday through Saturday, I partied

4:39

the whole time.

4:41

She says she and her mom would fight. It

4:44

got so bad that every now and then her mom

4:46

would threaten to send Shannon back to live with

4:48

her dad. Shannon says she never

4:50

had a curfew.

4:52

She came and went pretty much as she pleased,

4:54

and she had her reasons for staying away. My

4:58

home life was very... I

5:03

was a very troubled child. I

5:06

would say that I was very troubled. I

5:08

had a

5:10

lot of molestation

5:13

going on at that time. And

5:16

so that's kind

5:18

of what set me

5:21

up to become Scott's victim, is what I

5:23

believe. Scott Hatley

5:25

was a local kid, stout and blind,

5:28

usually on the quiet side. He was a good

5:30

seven years older than Shannon. When she

5:32

was 15, he was already a young man

5:35

at 22, already going through a divorce and

5:38

working for his father, delivering ice

5:40

around town. As it happened,

5:42

Hatley's older sister Regina lived

5:45

next door to Shannon's family in a little development.

5:48

That summer, when Shannon got bored

5:50

during the long hot days, she

5:52

became friendly with Scott's cousin Melissa,

5:54

who'd come over to watch Regina's baby.

5:57

Melissa was about 19 or 20, and for Shannon's daughter,

5:59

and it was kind of cool to hang out with

6:02

a slightly older woman. I was like, you

6:04

know what, I always liked the way she

6:06

did her makeup and everything. And she was fun

6:08

to hang around with, Melissa. So I mean, we

6:11

hung out a lot of times over,

6:13

you know, Regina's house, watching

6:16

the baby. It was, you know,

6:18

it was just something to do.

6:20

This is how she met Scott Hadley. He

6:22

walked in and we

6:27

kind of made eye contact and everything. And

6:31

he just started paying attention to me. And

6:36

something,

6:37

no one ever took the time to sit down and really

6:40

talk to me. And

6:42

I was like, you know, this is

6:44

nice, you know, just having someone to

6:46

talk to.

6:48

He was nothing too deep, just everyday

6:50

joking and making conversation.

6:52

Scott Selim talked about his own life

6:54

or where he'd been or his divorce.

6:57

But to Shannon, this attention from an older

6:59

guy, it meant a lot. He

7:03

just seemed like a sweet guy

7:06

that I could talk to. He

7:08

cared about what I said.

7:10

And he

7:12

just showed interest in me. And

7:16

he encouraged me to make a little bit better

7:18

choices. And

7:22

I went over there, started going over there at nighttime

7:25

when he was there.

7:26

How long from one minute

7:29

to two months did it take you to

7:31

realize what he was primarily interested

7:34

in?

7:34

Oh, it took two days to

7:39

see what he was interested in. I mean, immediately

7:41

we started having sex

7:44

and we immediately started, you know, having

7:47

a relationship.

7:48

It happened on Regina's couch. We

7:50

were just, he turned over and he kissed me. And I was,

7:53

I mean, you know, turned around and kissed me. I was like, oh,

7:55

okay.

7:57

After that, they started meeting up at Regina's

7:59

house. house, and they'd have sex there, often

8:02

in the bathroom. Regina Hadley

8:04

passed away in 2010, but

8:06

Shannon's confident this wasn't some big

8:08

secret.

8:09

Scott's sister and her husband knew she

8:11

was a high schooler. Shannon

8:14

and Scott settled into a kind of routine.

8:16

I was still going out with my friends, and

8:19

I would come home, and either he and

8:22

I would meet up, or we'd

8:25

meet up to talk, or we'd meet up

8:27

for sex. It just, you know, it's just

8:29

varied. Mind you, back then

8:31

we didn't have cell phones, you know. It was

8:34

the good old landline. And

8:37

so he

8:39

was always, like when I'd pull up,

8:42

immediately he was in the backyard waiting

8:44

for me because I would let

8:46

my dog Dee Dee out. And

8:51

then, you know, I would see him, the smoke,

8:53

or I would smell the smoke

8:56

of his cigarette. He would drink,

8:59

I mean, he'd always have a drink in his hand

9:01

every time I saw him.

9:02

It didn't matter what time of the day

9:05

he would drink. It was

9:07

just like water to him. And so you knew he

9:09

was out in the backyard waiting for you? I knew he was out in the backyard.

9:12

Eventually, though, Shannon's mother

9:14

grew suspicious. I spent a little bit too

9:16

much time over at the Regina's, and

9:20

then she saw us together a few

9:22

times, and she didn't

9:24

like the age difference. That's

9:27

her whole thing. And she goes, you're

9:30

15, you're not supposed to be doing this. And

9:32

I remember yelling at her, well, be a mom, show

9:34

me what I'm supposed to do. And

9:37

that didn't go too well.

9:39

Shannon says her mom actually did confront

9:42

Hadley about the relationship. Apparently,

9:44

there was an argument in the Kmart parking lot.

9:46

But between Shannon and her mom, it

9:49

all kind of blew over and just went away. One

9:51

more fight, like all the others they'd had before.

9:54

We still saw each other, so it didn't,

9:57

you know, my mom telling us not to,

9:59

didn't stop. I think it kind of feared the fire a

10:02

little bit because I was, you know, I was

10:04

something that he could, it's not supposed to have.

10:07

Shannon says she still liked the attention

10:09

she got from Scott, but she saw it as

10:11

a casual thing. To her,

10:14

this didn't have the makings of a serious relationship.

10:17

In hindsight, though, there were warning

10:19

signs.

10:20

Looking back now,

10:22

you know, 15, 16, naive

10:25

me, did not see it at all.

10:27

He was very controlling.

10:29

He wanted to know exactly where I was at

10:31

at all times, you know, with like, he'd

10:34

be there, you know, when I leave, hey, where

10:36

are you going? And I would tell him, and

10:38

what time are you going to be home?

10:40

He just, he kept telling me,

10:42

you know, that I'm special, I'm the special

10:44

one. And

10:48

that, that still today, since,

10:50

you know, shivers through my spine because,

10:53

you know, it

10:55

just does.

10:58

By the end of that summer of 1987, something

11:01

else had changed, though it'd be years before

11:03

Shannon understood why. But

11:05

she saw it when Scott was with his friends, especially

11:08

when every now and then, the conversation

11:10

turned to the murder of Susan Woods.

11:13

And I do remember a little

11:15

bit of small talk about Susan.

11:18

When I was over there, they didn't really talk talk

11:21

that much. You know, it was more jokingly

11:24

and more laughing and cutting up. So

11:27

I do remember the

11:30

demeanor around there being like

11:32

shifted. And

11:35

Scott's attitude was a

11:37

little bit different, meaning

11:39

he

11:40

just, he was, he

11:42

was a little bit on edge. Scott

11:46

had just gotten an apartment of his own, and

11:48

Shannon had met up with him there a couple of times,

11:51

further out of the sight of her mom.

11:53

One night in September, she went to see him

11:55

there, and she brought along her little white poodle,

11:57

Dee Dee. I

12:00

couldn't really tell you what made

12:02

me go over there on that night. At

12:05

first it was kind of like all the other times

12:07

they'd gotten together, but she says what

12:09

happened next came out of the blue.

12:12

When they began to have sex, he seemed

12:14

more forceful, more aggressive. It

12:16

was different. I mean, it was just the way

12:19

that he and I were having sex, it was very

12:21

different. It was very, and I

12:24

kind of backed away. I was like, hey, stop,

12:27

you know. Well, as soon as I said stop,

12:29

all hell broke loose.

12:31

And his

12:33

eyes just was just like coldness

12:36

in it. She says that transformation,

12:40

that turn to violence, it happened

12:42

just that fast. I just told him

12:44

that, you know, you're hurting me and to

12:47

stop. And, you know,

12:49

me telling him no made him mad.

12:52

And he took

12:54

a knife out and held it to

12:57

my throat, and

12:59

he was raping me. And then I finally

13:02

pushed him off me, and I

13:04

grabbed my dog, and I ran out. I got my clothes,

13:06

and I ran out.

13:09

Dee Dee had started growling at Scott,

13:11

and Shannon was afraid he might turn on the dog

13:13

next. You told me before,

13:16

when we talked about this briefly, that the

13:19

main reason you didn't object more forcefully

13:21

was you were worried about your dog? Yes,

13:23

I was worried about my dog. I did

13:25

not want my dog to get harmed.

13:29

Me, you know, 15-year-old

13:31

me, I was worried about my dog. And

13:35

then there she was, racing down

13:37

the sidewalk with Dee Dee in the dark. I

13:39

ran out, and I was, you know, crying

13:43

and upset. And he

13:46

gets in his truck. And

13:48

he goes, Get in. And I'm like, No, you

13:50

hurt me. How could you? He

13:53

goes, I'm sorry. Get in. He goes, Let

13:55

me take you home. I was like,

13:57

and you know, No, no, you know. And

14:00

he goes well get in I told

14:02

you to get in I'm going to take you home. I'm

14:04

sorry I didn't mean to hurt you. I love

14:06

you and

14:08

I looked at him,

14:10

and I didn't see that anger in

14:12

his face anymore I could

14:14

see that you know he truly meant that

14:17

he was sorry that he hurt me and Stupid 15

14:20

year old me got in the vehicle

14:23

and he did take me home What

14:26

happened when you got there? He

14:28

looked at me and you know and and put

14:31

his hand on my face and said I'm sorry. I love

14:33

you and You know 15

14:36

year old little me. Love you back. You

14:38

know and I Had

14:41

to tell my mom and I think that was the hardest part

14:44

was telling my mom Basically

14:47

she goes I told you not to do this you're

14:49

gonna get see this is what what you

14:51

get for you being with him you're in trouble

14:53

and

14:54

you know being

14:58

You know molested and raped and everything

15:00

I was like okay. It's my fault. It's me. It's

15:02

me It's not you know I was

15:05

always in the wrong. It's the way I felt

15:08

But

15:08

her mom did insist she had to go tell

15:10

the police

15:11

She went to the station and sat down for

15:14

an interview. She explained what had happened

15:16

at Scott's apartment But

15:17

once Shannon said she and Scott had

15:19

been in an ongoing sexual relationship She

15:22

could sense the officer growing skeptical

15:25

But

15:26

Shannon says she didn't hear from the officer

15:28

again She told me she understands

15:30

now that they saw this as a he said

15:32

she said situation She was

15:34

still new to many in town and she had a reputation

15:37

for being as she's the first to point out

15:39

a little wild Of course she

15:41

was also a minor seven years

15:44

younger than Scott by law in Texas

15:46

Sex between someone 18 or older and

15:49

someone 16 or younger is statutory

15:52

rape

15:53

But state law was different back in 1988

15:56

and it gave Scott an out he could simply

15:58

claim the sex was consensual At

16:01

the same time that Donnie Hensley was

16:03

trying to figure out who'd sexually assaulted

16:05

and killed Susan Woods, interviewing

16:08

her friends and staking out her ex-husband,

16:10

the Stephenville police were sitting on another

16:12

complaint of a violent sexual assault, Shannon's,

16:16

against the man whose fingerprints were all over

16:18

Susan's bathroom.

16:20

And this might have been a very different story

16:23

if the Stephenville police had arrested and fingerprinted

16:25

Scott right then. But

16:27

that didn't happen.

16:29

Nothing happened.

16:31

In the meantime, Shannon tried to move

16:33

on. She started dating a boy from school.

16:36

It was nice, not too complicated.

16:39

We would drive the drag. That

16:41

was through Sonic, through McDonald's. It

16:43

was just a small town. We

16:46

would just have fun. Fishing in the lake or some

16:48

good

16:48

old fun. He

16:53

would protect me from Scott because Scott

16:55

would show up at a few places and I was like,

16:57

Scott's here. And he goes, okay.

17:01

She says she pretty well managed to avoid

17:03

Scott for a while. Because I was scared.

17:06

I was scared of what he would do. And

17:10

I felt the

17:12

need to call him and ask him why. Here's

17:15

the rebellist 15, 16 year

17:18

old, me wanting answers. And

17:21

why did you do what you did to me?

17:37

I

17:45

was hesitant to start therapy at first, but after a

17:47

few meetings, I started to understand some of the things

17:49

I wanted to do.

17:59

of the patterns that drove my anxious behavior

18:02

and learned coping mechanisms. Not

18:04

only was therapy beneficial for my own well-being,

18:07

but the well-being of my relationships too. I'm

18:09

learning to be better to myself and those around me,

18:12

refusing to let anxiety lead my life. At

18:14

BetterHelp, you can get matched with a licensed therapist

18:17

through one short questionnaire, with the freedom

18:19

to switch therapists at any time, with no extra

18:21

charge.

18:22

BetterHelp was designed to be as easy and convenient

18:24

as possible. It's completely online

18:26

and suited to your schedule. So start

18:29

your therapy journey today with BetterHelp.

18:31

Let therapy be your map with BetterHelp. Visit

18:34

betterhelp.com slash Stephenville today to

18:36

get 10% off your first month.

18:39

That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P

18:41

dot com slash S-T-E-P-H-E-N-V-I-L-L-E.

18:48

A reminder, this episode contains

18:50

intense descriptions of sexual assault

18:53

and suicidal thoughts.

18:57

Shannon and her boyfriend eventually split up.

19:00

Then one night, she went over to Regina's house

19:02

while Scott was there. Walt, we threw

19:04

what happened? He just

19:07

told me, he goes, hey, I miss you. This

19:09

was July 1988, nine

19:12

months after the rape and a

19:14

year after Susan's death.

19:16

He goes, hey, he goes, can I talk

19:18

to you? And I'm like, yeah. He goes, I miss

19:20

you. And I'm like, oh, I miss you too.

19:24

And we just immediately started

19:26

having a conversation, started talking again.

19:29

After that, she started noticing

19:31

him around town. You know, it was just say

19:34

hi to each other in passing. I

19:36

still kind of felt a little uneasy. You

19:39

know, I feared him a little bit. But

19:43

I just, you know, just kept him at

19:45

a distance.

19:46

But then Scott started asking to

19:48

see her again, alone.

19:51

He kept calling. He would put Regina

19:54

up to calling me. And

19:56

he said, Shannon, I really want to see

19:59

you tonight.

19:59

And I asked him, I said, why

20:02

tonight? And he goes, I just need to see you. And

20:05

he goes, I need to explain why I did

20:07

what I did to you. And

20:11

the 16-year-old me always

20:13

wanted answers. She agreed

20:15

to meet him at a laundromat a few

20:17

blocks from her house. And

20:19

I got into the vehicle, and

20:22

I immediately knew I

20:24

made a mistake

20:26

immediately. And

20:28

he goes, come over and sit beside me before

20:31

we drove off. And I was like,

20:33

OK. And just the way he

20:35

was

20:36

telling me and talking to me was totally

20:39

different. He had aggression

20:42

behind his voice. And

20:45

I was doing exactly what he

20:47

wanted me to do, because I was afraid.

20:49

I was afraid that, OK, what is he

20:51

going to do?

20:55

As Shannon struggled to keep her composure,

20:57

she realized Scott was driving them out of town.

21:00

After a few minutes, he coasted to a stop

21:03

in a roadside park on the side of a two-lane

21:05

state highway,

21:06

the same park where I spoke with Don. It

21:09

was pitch dark. And

21:11

I was a little taken

21:13

back. Why that roadside

21:15

park? And that roadside park,

21:17

to kind of paint the picture, you

21:20

couldn't see. It was like a hill down

21:22

to that roadside park. So I mean, if cars

21:25

are going past, you couldn't hear. You couldn't

21:27

see. I mean, you

21:29

would not know a vehicle or anybody

21:31

was down there. So

21:34

I think it was all planned.

21:36

On the way there, Shannon says, he

21:39

began by speaking softly.

21:41

He told me that he loved me, that we were

21:44

destined to be together. And

21:47

I'm just wanting to be loved and accepted.

21:49

So I'm like, OK, I do kind

21:52

of love the guy. And this

21:55

is what I want to hear, of course,

21:57

like

21:59

as soon as we can. we got there,

22:01

everything changed. I mean, just

22:04

like the look in his eyes and

22:06

everything. And I knew I was in trouble. I

22:08

knew it immediately. And

22:10

immediately he wanted to have sex. And

22:13

I told him no, I couldn't.

22:15

And he wouldn't take no for

22:17

an answer. At some point,

22:19

they got out of the truck. And

22:22

he slapped me. And I've

22:25

never been hit before. So

22:29

by my boyfriend. And

22:31

so I, I was like, what,

22:34

you know,

22:36

what do I do? I just stood still,

22:39

like paralyzed him out, you know, in my

22:41

own feet. And

22:45

he, he immediately

22:47

started, you know, taking off my clothes and

22:49

and we

22:51

ended up having intercourse and everything.

22:54

And it was, it was brutal. And

22:58

he started hitting me and knocking

23:02

me unconscious the whole time.

23:04

This was by one of the covered picnic

23:07

tables. That's just one of the places

23:09

where Scott attacked her. There's a

23:11

muddy little drainage ditch further

23:13

down the hill. Shannon remembers the water

23:15

was running because it had rained a few

23:18

days earlier. Scott pushed her face

23:20

down in the water and attacked her there too.

23:23

There was no explanation of

23:25

why he was doing this to me. None.

23:27

He would just, he kept telling me, um,

23:32

do you see the stars up there? And

23:34

he goes, I can make you one of those stars.

23:37

You better, you better do what exactly

23:39

what I want you to do.

23:41

At one point, Shannon got

23:43

up and tried to run away. But Scott

23:45

chased her down, fell on top of her and

23:48

said the words that Shannon later recounted

23:50

to investigators, the ones that

23:52

caught Don Miller's ear all those

23:54

years later.

23:56

Scott said, quote, if you don't

23:58

mind me, I'll kill you.

24:00

And I've done it before.

24:02

I thought to myself, I'm like,

24:06

I'm not going to make it out here alive. I've

24:09

got to find a way where people

24:11

would know that I was here.

24:15

And so I had a hairpin

24:17

in my hair and I left it,

24:19

you know, at a certain spot. And

24:22

I had my bra,

24:25

I left that at a certain spot, my panties,

24:27

I left that at a certain spot. That

24:29

way, you know,

24:31

at least they knew that that was my white bra

24:34

in my 16-year-old little brain.

24:37

They knew out of thousands of women that wore

24:39

that bra, they knew it was mine.

24:42

Shannon says he would beat her and

24:44

rape her and she would pass out.

24:47

And then she'd wake up to find him smoking

24:49

a cigarette and sipping his drink.

24:52

And then it would start all over again.

24:55

I could feel my face swelling as

24:57

he, you know, hit me countless

25:00

times. With his fist and

25:03

he would pull my hair, I

25:05

could feel the blood

25:08

coming out of my ear. He

25:11

also would choke me to keep me quiet.

25:14

A

25:14

few times I had to have, you know, he would take my hands and

25:16

put it behind my back, or he

25:19

would hold my wrist

25:21

super tight. How

25:24

long did this last? Six

25:28

to eight hours. I

25:32

knew I had to turn the tables on

25:34

him. In order to survive, I knew

25:36

I had to manipulate

25:38

him and

25:40

convince him

25:42

that I loved him, convince

25:44

him that we were destined

25:46

to be together because he kept telling me

25:48

that a few times, ever and ever.

25:51

He kept saying, you

25:53

know, you don't know what love is. I'm like,

25:55

but you need to show me. It

25:58

wasn't right away.

25:59

But Shannon says she kept talking like this,

26:02

and finally he relented. This

26:05

was around four in the morning, and

26:07

they'd returned to the cab of the truck.

26:09

Scott knew Shannon's stepfather got

26:11

up at 5 a.m.

26:13

He knew when she would need to be home.

26:15

But as they prepared to leave, Shannon

26:18

realized she had a serious problem.

26:20

We were in the cabin of the truck, and

26:23

he turned to light-on. And

26:25

I remember thinking, I've got to hide

26:27

my face. So I looked down real fast,

26:30

and he couldn't see the bruises. He

26:34

couldn't see the swelling.

26:35

And he

26:37

was caressing the side of my face, and

26:40

he goes, Are you okay?

26:42

And I'm like, I'm okay. And

26:44

I said, I just want to start my life with you.

26:48

He goes, Don't you turn me in?

26:50

And I told him that I would not. I would

26:53

say that I didn't know who did this to

26:55

me. I said, I'm not going to say anything. And

27:00

he believed me.

27:03

They drove along the dark little highway

27:05

back into town. Shannon sat

27:08

close beside Scott, where he told her to.

27:11

The whole way, she was terrified he

27:13

would see the blood and the bruises and realize

27:15

the severity of what he'd done.

27:17

He'd have to know that this time the rape could

27:19

not be swept under a rug.

27:22

But Shannon's luck held.

27:23

He didn't notice.

27:25

He left her in the laundromat parking lot

27:27

just before the sun rose.

27:31

At the laundromat, I've never

27:33

ran so fast in my life. I

27:35

ran home, and my

27:38

stepfather was getting out, walking

27:41

out of the bedroom. It was just minutes.

27:46

And he goes, What happened to

27:48

you? And I fell into

27:50

his arms, and I said, Scott did this to

27:52

me. And he hollered

27:54

for my mom. And

27:57

he goes, We've got to take her in.

29:52

to

30:00

be his next victim. And

30:02

I, they didn't listen to me. By

30:06

next victim, Shannon meant he would

30:08

make good on his threat to kill her, just

30:10

like he said he'd done before. She'd

30:12

made sure investigators knew he said this,

30:15

but it seems not to have made much of an impression

30:17

on the deputies, all of whom have since

30:19

passed away.

30:21

Even though Donnie Hensley was looking

30:23

for a murderer, he was never told any

30:26

of this. He doesn't even remember hearing

30:28

about Shannon's case.

30:30

The investigations were happening in separate buildings

30:32

and separate jurisdictions. When

30:35

it came time for Shannon to go home, the

30:37

only thing that calmed her was the news that

30:39

Scott had disappeared and apparently

30:41

fled town.

30:43

It was a relief knowing she wouldn't drive up

30:45

and hear him in Regina's backyard.

30:47

Still, once back home, she struggled with

30:50

what had happened. I had

30:52

a stepfather that believed that

30:54

this happened. My friends believed it

30:56

happened, but my friends didn't know what

30:59

extent I went through because

31:01

they could see the physical

31:03

scars. But the

31:05

emotional scars,

31:07

the trauma that

31:10

I received, they didn't see that because

31:13

I kept it hidden from them.

31:15

And because I didn't want them to feel

31:18

the same pain I felt.

31:21

For now, Shannon tried to get on with her life.

31:23

She was heading into her junior year of high school.

31:26

She tried not to think about that long

31:28

night in the park.

31:29

She and her friends would cruise the drag or go

31:31

to parties at Tarleton State. And

31:34

when an investigator started making the rounds,

31:36

asking about Shannon,

31:38

she assumed this was part of the case against Scott.

31:41

Well, that I'm proud of an investigator said,

31:44

you know, I'm a proud of an investigator, but they he

31:46

didn't say he was working for Scott's

31:49

family. So of course, my

31:51

family just, you know, my Uncle Dawn

31:54

was, you know,

31:55

saying all that what he wanted to say.

31:58

And a few of my friends were saying. what

32:01

they thought that would help my case. And

32:05

instead, it hurt my case.

32:08

Eventually, Shannon learned the district

32:10

attorney had taken the rape investigation

32:12

to a grand jury. And she'd also

32:15

gotten word that Scott had gotten into trouble

32:17

and ended up in jail.

32:19

In Las Vegas, of all places, where

32:21

it was said he'd robbed a hotel clerk. It

32:23

was a relief to know Scott was so far away.

32:26

But then, suddenly,

32:28

everything changed. And

32:32

we were out one night at the

32:34

drag. And I was

32:36

going home for a long drive. And

32:40

I ran into Scott.

32:41

And he was going

32:45

into a grocery store, a

32:47

little convenience store. And

32:49

I couldn't believe my eyes. I

32:52

drove 85 miles an hour down

32:54

to the sheriff's office and

32:57

said, Scott is back. Scott is back. I was frantic.

33:00

And they were like, no, he's not. No, he's not.

33:03

Yes, he was. And they

33:05

didn't even know that he was back in town. He'd

33:08

been released from jail and had returned

33:11

to Stephenville. Now, even

33:13

more terrifying, Shannon says Scott

33:15

began to follow her around town.

33:18

I was at the skating rink. He was showing

33:20

up at the skating rink. I

33:22

would be at a teak party. He

33:24

would show up at the

33:26

teak party. She waited for word that he'd been arrested,

33:29

that he'd go away for what he'd done. And

33:32

finally, one day, a letter arrived for

33:34

her.

33:35

My mom was not home. My

33:39

stepfather was at work. And

33:42

I opened the mail up. And I was

33:44

reading it. And I'm like, what does this

33:46

mean, not indicting

33:49

them? Me, lack of evidence.

33:52

And it was just like

33:54

those words could have been in Spanish because

33:57

I couldn't even read it. And.

34:00

I was just, I was confused. I was hurt.

34:03

I felt like I was raped

34:06

ever again. Now

34:08

I don't know how much more evidence that they needed.

34:12

If the police, if they would have looked,

34:15

they would have saw a similarity

34:18

to my case and to Susan's case.

34:21

Why the grand jury chose not to indict

34:23

Scott with such clear physical evidence

34:25

of the violence he'd done is a mystery.

34:28

Those proceedings are still a secret.

34:31

I did put the question to Don Miller, who

34:33

was in town at the time, although he wasn't involved

34:35

in the case. What did you make

34:38

of the situation, the legal situation

34:41

surrounding Shannon's 1988 accusation of

34:43

rape? What

34:46

did you piece together that actually happened back in

34:48

the day?

34:49

We're going to come back to the

34:52

way Stephenville was. It

34:54

was a nice, quiet little community.

35:00

And Joseph Scott Hatley was a

35:02

fair-haired, blue-eyed boy.

35:04

Grew up with a nice family. As

35:06

far as anybody knew, he was nice. Now,

35:10

what the Hatley family had done was they did

35:12

hire a private investigator. And

35:15

the private investigator did a hatchet job

35:17

on Shannon.

35:19

Don says the way the law was written

35:21

back then gave Scott another out. Even

35:24

for such a violent crime and with an

35:26

underage victim, the law provided

35:29

a defense where an accuser was considered

35:31

promiscuous. And that's exactly

35:33

how it appears Shannon was being portrayed.

35:36

This loophole was only closed years

35:38

later after a vigorous public backlash.

35:41

And apparently the private

35:43

detective had enough people talking

35:47

bad about Shannon to where

35:50

the grand jury chose not to indict Hatley,

35:54

which didn't

35:56

make any sense to me. Now, mind you, I wasn't

35:59

the... I'm the investigating officer,

36:02

but I'm looking at photographs of this

36:04

little 16-year-old girl and she's been beaten.

36:07

She's been beaten bad.

36:09

They've got forensic evidence. I mean,

36:11

they went straight to the hospital. They did a rape

36:14

kit. They've got everything in the world. And

36:16

I'm sitting there, how ...

36:18

It didn't make any sense to me. It

36:20

did not make any sense to me.

36:23

I put the question to Shannon, too. Let

36:26

me ask you one other thing about

36:29

Stephenville and the justice system. There's

36:32

two ways of looking at what happened to you. One

36:35

is the justice system let

36:37

you down. Okay, that's fine,

36:39

except we're really not talking about justice. We're talking

36:41

about Stephenville justice. Do

36:44

you think the town,

36:46

the culture, those who

36:48

would not look

36:50

rationally at a young woman with a

36:52

story such as yours, do you think Stephenville

36:56

at the time bears any responsibility

36:59

for what you went through? Absolutely. 100%, I

37:02

believe, that they ... Stephenville

37:07

at that time, the

37:10

sheriff's department, they didn't

37:13

want to see past what

37:16

they wanted to see. They had Blonders' Zone.

37:18

They saw

37:20

this wild child, her

37:22

own mother is having issues

37:24

with her, and they

37:27

couldn't see past that. I

37:30

don't think they wanted to investigate it too

37:33

much, honestly, because

37:35

of who they were

37:38

investigating to.

37:40

Because of who they were investigating, Scott's

37:43

family were business owners in town and

37:45

had been for years. His sister

37:47

Regina's husband worked for the city.

37:50

Regina worked at the electric co-op with

37:52

Donnie Hensley's wife. Shannon

37:54

says even her mother doubted her story

37:56

about what Scott had done.

37:58

In the end, Shannon was pretty much on her

38:00

own. She realizes it even more deeply

38:03

now. And at the time she began

38:05

noticing Scott around town more and more.

38:08

It was almost like the grand jury's

38:10

decision had weirdly empowered him.

38:12

One night at the skating rink she saw him again.

38:15

When he left she asked her friend to take her

38:17

back home. She knew Scott would be

38:20

there over Regina's house like usual.

38:22

Sure enough his

38:24

truck was already in the driveway.

38:26

I had enough. I had enough of

38:29

always looking over my shoulder

38:32

and you know I went

38:35

outside to him and I called

38:37

him out. I'm like Scott you need to come out now.

38:40

I'm not coming out. I'm like quit being a chicken

38:42

shit and come out and

38:46

face me like a man. And

38:48

I stood up to him that night

38:51

and I told

38:53

him to stop. I was like you know you're

38:55

always at Regina's house. You

38:58

know what you did to me and you

39:00

can stop.

39:03

After that she says Scott

39:05

mostly stayed away but her

39:07

life was beginning to crumble. It happened

39:10

fast.

39:11

Her best friend was killed in a motorcycle

39:13

wreck. Her mother and stepfather

39:15

moved away and she stayed behind

39:18

with an uncle. Looking for some

39:20

sort of security she impulsively

39:22

got married to a local boy.

39:25

It lasted 90 days. Honestly

39:27

I was kind of running out of friends and

39:31

because I was going through the molestation

39:34

and sometimes it was you know it was

39:37

it was quite honestly you know a lot.

39:42

You're not gonna know this but I am gonna tell you.

39:49

I almost took my own life and because

39:53

I couldn't hold on for

39:55

much more. So

39:58

I was like you know

39:59

It's either me staying in this town

40:02

and, you know, not being here

40:04

or, you know, moving on.

40:11

She decided she'd had enough of Stephenville.

40:14

She moved back in with her mom near Houston. She

40:17

had a new last name now from her brief

40:19

marriage, which gave her some anonymity.

40:22

When I left Stephenville, I left

40:24

that part of Stephenville behind. I

40:28

didn't look back. I was undercover,

40:30

you know, I felt like, and I felt

40:33

like, okay, I've got to, you know,

40:36

I've got to find me.

40:39

Eventually Shannon started therapy,

40:41

slowly beginning to build a new life.

40:44

She got a job, one of several in fact.

40:48

Within a year Shannon was pregnant. She

40:50

became a mom.

40:53

Most importantly though, she'd made

40:55

it out of Stephenville alive.

41:06

Next time on Stephenville. Okay,

41:14

yeah, so we all have our baggage. We all

41:16

have things that we wish, you know, we didn't

41:18

have to go through as kids. I

41:21

feel like that little

41:24

boys who don't like their mommies are

41:26

not well-adjusted adults. He,

41:29

you know, he writes to

41:31

try to be normal, but he

41:34

knows that he's not a normal person. He knows

41:36

that.

41:42

Thanks to the Texas Advocacy Project

41:44

for research help with this episode. Stephenville

41:48

is a Texas monthly production. The

41:50

show is produced and edited by Patrick

41:52

Michaels and produced and engineered

41:54

by Brian Standifer who also wrote

41:56

the music. Additional production

41:59

is by Jackie Abbarr.

42:00

Story Editing by J.K. Nickel. Paul

42:03

Knight is our fact checker.

42:05

Artwork is by Emily Kimbrough and

42:07

Victoria Milner. I'm

42:09

your host and writer, Brian Burra.

42:12

See you all next week.