John Ferak - Dixies Last Stand

Dixies Last Stand published by:

WILDBLUE PRESS

P.O. Box 102440

Denver, Colorado 80250

Copyright 2015 by John Ferak

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

WILDBLUE PRESS is registered at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-942266-07-5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lots of people were instrumental in helping me recreate and comprise the factual events involved with the Dixie Shanahan murder case.

First, special praise goes out to WildBlue Press co-founders Steve Jackson and Michael Cordova, for launching a true-crime book publishing company that is like no other publishing firm. Special recognition also goes to book designer Elijah Toten and copy editor Jenni Grubbs for their outstanding hard work and careful attention to detail during the final stages of production for DIXIES LAST STAND.

Along those lines, I would like to extend a special thanks to those of you who are devoted and faithful readers of true-crime. I know I speak for the other authors at WildBlue Press in offering my sincerest gratitude and deepest appreciation for those of you who take the time to read our books. Without you, there simply would be no reason to research and produce our books.

In addition, I would like to single out true-crime author RJ Parker for truly going above the call of duty to help promote DIXIES LAST STAND amongst RJs army of true-crime followers across the world. If you are not reading a true-crime book published by WildBlue Press, please consider reading one of the many fine true-crime books authored by RJ Parker, including one of his latest, Serial Killer Groupies.

Others who were instrumental in the production and presentation of DIXIES LAST STAND:

Terry OGrady, a courts reporter in Iowa, was responsible for transcribing the entire court proceedings regarding the case involving Dixie Shanahan. Many of the direct quotations that were used in this true-crime book were contained within the official court transcripts taken during State v. Dixie Lynn Shanahan as transcribed by OGrady. These quotations took place during Dixie Shanahans pretrial motion hearings, during her jury trial or at her sentencing hearing. Other direct quotations contained within the book were derived from a number of interviews that I conducted with key persons. There were a few occasions where I included direct quotations from past newspaper articles that I had written for the Omaha World-Herald; others are duly noted within the book as coming from various news media outlets.

Carol Hunter, executive news editor at the Des Moines Register, graciously took the time to furnish me with access to several high-quality photos contained within the Des Moines Registers archives. Carol actually hired me and my future wife, Andrea back in 2000 when she was the executive editor of the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Wisconsin. Carol also attended our wedding two years later. I left the Green Bay paper in late 2003 to become a journalist in Omaha, and within a few years Carol moved over to the Des Moines Register to become an editor there. These days, our family is back in Wisconsin. I work out of the Post-Crescent in Appleton as the investigative team editor for Gannett Wisconsin Media.

Bob Bjoin, managing editor of the Harlan Iowa Newspapers, provided access to several of his newspapers high-quality archived photographs to republish for DIXIES LAST STAND. Just like the Register, the Harlan Newspapers also provided excellent news coverage for its readers in covering the murder case involving Dixie Shanahan.

Fred Scaletta, assistant director of Iowa Department of Corrections, was diligent and extremely helpful in facilitating my requests for public information related to Dixie Shanahan.

Also, a special thank-you to: retired Shelby County Sheriff Gene Cavenaugh and his successor, Sheriff Mark Hervey; Joe Jordan, managing editor of Nebraska Watchdog; Charles Thoman, retired assistant attorney general for the State of Iowa; and now-retired Iowa District Judge Charles Smith III for taking the time to allow me to interview them. Their first-hand insight was invaluable.

My wonderful wife, Andrea, who has developed quite a knack for coming up with the clever true-crime book titles. Andrea suggested the title of DIXIES LAST STAND for this true-crime feature. When her proposed title was crowd-sourced by WildBlue Press with four other possible book titles, readers chose her title by overwhelming fashion. (She also came up with the title for my first book, which came out in June 2014, BLOODY LIES: A CSI SCANDAL IN THE HEARTLAND.)

DIXIES LAST STAND: WAS IT MURDER OR SELF-DEFENSE? Is dedicated to those small-town law enforcement investigators who vigorously pursue the truth and justice even when constrained by circumstances and very limited resources.

Preface That Window

It was a cold, blustery afternoon in the middle of December in western Iowa. It was time for Robert McConnell to make his rounds reading the towns water meters. Normally, McConnell worked as a painter. He had lived in Defiance, Iowa, since the mid-1970s. He had read the little towns water meters for three years. He liked the routine and was highly efficient.

Just like clockwork, McConnell walked the town every fifteenth day of the month. And it barely took him three hours to complete the task. Nobody would confuse Defiance with Iowas largest metropolitan city of Des Moines.

Defiance was a cozy, sleepy bedroom community about sixty miles northeast of downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Defiance had three hundred forty-six residents during the 2000 census.

Besides the post office and city hall, there werent a lot of buildings in the heart of town to lure in daytime visitors. During weekdays, it was rare to find more than a few vehicles parked along Defiances main drag. Most residents flocked to the neighboring cities of Denison or Harlan to work or to shop. On weekends in Defiance, the hot spot where locals came to unwind was a tavern called Tobes Place. People drank tap beer, ate grilled burgers, and swapped the latest small-town gossip around rural Shelby County, Iowa.

One of the homes on McConnells meter-reading route was a well-kept ranch with a large yard that encompassed two acres. Several large evergreens and shade trees gave the property a secluded feel. Built around 1980, the gray-colored ranch once belonged to the late Al and Beverly Feser. After Bev died in 1994, her only child, Scott Shanahan, inherited her home. By 2002, he lived there with his wife, Dixie, and their two young children.

But back during the winter of 2002, McConnell noticed something odd and peculiar when he wandered onto the Shanahans property to read their water meter tucked in the corner of their backyard. It was one of the back windows, in the northeast corner of the home.

The window was totally open, McConnell said.

If this were Orlando, Atlanta, or Phoenix, having an open window in the middle of December would be no big deal. But Defiance, Iowa, was in the midst of a typical Midwestern winter. This meant plenty of snow and frigid temperatures over the course of several months.

Actually, McConnell first noticed the wide open back bedroom window when he made his regular meter-reading rounds around November 15, 2002.

But then the next month in December, it was still open. January, it was still open. February, it was still open, McConnell remembered.

Sometime early in the spring of 2003, someone closed that window shut. And the window stayed shut during the rest of the year.