Snapped Season 4 Episode 13 Joan Shannon

Joan Shannon had it all. A wealthy and successful businesswoman, she lived a life of luxury and indulgence in Lexington, Kentucky. But behind closed doors, her marriage to husband David was crumbling, beset by infidelity and a growing divide between them. For Joan, divorce was not an option. Instead, she hatched a plan to rid herself of David and begin a new life, with his $750,000 life insurance payout as her ticket to freedom.

On the morning of May 9, 2003, David Shannon was found dead in the couple's bed, a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. Initially ruled a suicide, it was soon discovered that David's death was not so cut and dry. A ballistics test showed that the gun used in the shooting was not consistent with David's own weapon, and Joan became the prime suspect in his murder.

With the help of her 26-year-old lover, James G. Collier, Joan had plotted David's murder in meticulous detail. After orchestrating a fake "business trip" for David, she had Collier sneak into their home and shoot him in the head while he slept. But as detectives delved deeper into the case, they discovered a number of damning pieces of evidence pointing to Joan and Collier as the culprits.

Forensic analysis of a carpet stain in the bedroom showed that David had been shot twice, suggesting that Joan and Collier had attempted to stage his death as a suicide before changing their minds and shooting him again. Phone records showed that the pair had been in contact around the time of the murder, and surveillance footage captured Collier purchasing ammunition at a local Walmart just days prior. And perhaps most incriminatingly, Joan's internet search history was littered with queries about murder, suicide, and life insurance payouts in the weeks leading up to the crime.

Despite her adamant protests of innocence, Joan was ultimately found guilty of the first-degree murder of her husband and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Collier, who had pleaded guilty to the murder and testified against Joan, was also given a life sentence. In the end, Joan's greed and desperation for a new life had cost her everything, leaving behind a legacy of deceit and betrayal.