Vengeance in Vegas | Full Episode

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Las Vegas is the adult Disneyland of the

world people come here to play adults

come here to play the other side of that

is there is a community

here that services that Glitz and

glamour that go to work 9 to5 run the

banks run the police department run the

fire department and have just steady

jobs that's George you know an

all-around great guy to hang out with he

and help you get the job done just a

very very kind generous and giving

person and that's the George T I

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know well Sean was so young at heart and

she was so fun and she always made me

laugh she looks like Barbie you know

blunt

beautiful always had the long hair you

know just looked perfect like a little

china

doll while George and Shauna met in the

casino environment he saw this blonde

person whizzing past him all the time

she was such a hard worker that he

really admired that she was his world

that was his his life and then when

their daughter came around they're just

the the cutest Trio ever at the beach

okay's first time at the beach turning

everybody around turning us around

Maddie was just the light of her life it

was really her number one

priority she was just all in you know

100% there and then a baby they were

like a little cocoon George was so

protective he waited on them hand and

foot he really

did

in the early morning hours on September

29th 2012 Shauna TF would have gotten

off work from being a cocktail waitress

at a local casino she went

home parked her car in the garage

entered her

house a killer snuck up behind her and

beat her to death with a

hammer inside her own living

room were you worried that someone was

targeting

Casino women

yes we were all so scared that you know

this person was still out there was

somebody stalking her was somebody

obsessed with

her maybe they're going to you know come

after one of

us I'm Peter vanand tonight on 48 Hours

Vengeance in

Vegas

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Shauna Tia loved to laugh and sing with

her

daughter when she was with Maddie it was

like nothing else was going on around

her so dedicated and so

concerned Shauna's murder has been a

devastating loss for her sister Paula

Stokes Richards and her husband John she

just laughed at life you know she had

this innocence it's sad because I just

miss her and for something like this to

happen to her is just it's

unimaginable

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Shauna TFA a Mormon born in Salt Lake

City was 28 when she moved here to Las

Vegas but to Shauna Vegas was more than

one big glitzy party it was a city of

opportunity and it wasn't long before

she got a glamorous job as a cocktail

waitress at one of the hottest casinos

in

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town

she loved the Palms I think she really

felt like the Palms was a a family

environment which might sound contrary

to what you would think but I think the

the people that worked there were really

like family and they looked after each

other I never hardly saw like shaa with

a frown or anything she's just so bubbly

and laughing at everything Cindy Randy

and Sienna all worked alongside shaa for

about 10 years she love her job though

mhm she loved cocktailing and customers

love Shauna she made close to $100,000 a

year in salary and tips often paid in

casino chips which in Vegas is the same

as money in 2002 Shauna hit the jackpot

when she met George Tif at the Palms

George was a star athlete and homecoming

King at his California high school just

to look at him he's very handsome very

charismatic what more could you ask for

in fact George is a West Point graduate

who served in the Army Corps of

Engineers Maria and bernardet are

George's sisters he likes to serve

people that's what attracted him to

being a

fireman and George is so handsome he was

even featured in this firefighter pinup

calendar the old American Boy sounds

like yes he was he looked like it he

acted like it he was that guy his

sisters also say George is a devoted

family man who sent money home to help

their mom care for their disabled

younger sister if you need a helping

hand there he is George and shaa started

dating George was in love oh yeah Head

Over Heels yeah yeah she was his world

that was his life and life only got

better for George and

Shauna just one year into their

relationship Maddie was born hey there's

daddy there's Daddy and Mama and little

baby that's all of

us 3 years later they were married in

Hawaii Mama and Dad just got married

there's shaa

Castleton now she's TF look at that

dress on Mama woo what a smoking body

they really suited each other it was

really nice they're both hardworking

people they're both good-look people

they made a lovely couple but looks as

they say can be deceiving after two

happy years of marriage things started

to change when George lost money in the

housing market crash Shauna told friends

he had become jealous controlling and

critical of her he would tell her that

she dressed like a when she would

get dressed for work in front of Maddie

which of course would tear Shauna apart

you know for her little girl to hear

these things shaa also complained when

George brought a homeless man into their

lives who he paid to do odd jobs around

the house her friend Stephanie Vargas

she would call him creepy God he's so

creepy why is he around my house but

George's friend from West Point Rock

riter says he was as kind-hearted as he

was handsome and befriending the

Homeless was something he had done for

years every Thanksgiving he he'd be

serving soup to the homeless people just

a very very kind generous and giving

person but even though he had a gracious

heart the strains continued in the

marriage and after nearly 10 years of

being together she had enough and moved

into this townhouse they shared custody

of Maddie but Shauna was reluctant to

file for a divorce she was

sad her family was breaking up and this

isn't something that she wanted she

wanted the picket fence and the husband

and the

daughter she wanted the fairy tale and

the fairy tale was falling

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apart determined to save their marriage

shaa and George both agreed to start

seeing a marriage counselor I think

Shauna was an eternal optimist you know

she just kept hoping that things were

going to get

better then weeks before her murder

Shauna's townhouse was

burglarized her wedding ring was

missing strangely a pair of her bathing

suit bottoms were taken and strangest of

all the robber left something

behind a pair of boxer shorts size small

this Burg did it shake her up it did but

I just don't think that in her mind she

ever thought that any harm would come to

her but in an ominous twist of fate just

3 weeks later someone was back in her

house this time waiting for

her it is now the early morning hours of

September 29th

2012 this is Shauna seen on Casino

surveillance video clocking out at 3:01

a.m. these are the last images of her

life after a 30-minute Drive shaa

arrives home letting herself in through

the garage she enters in the a hallway

it's dark there's no light Dan long and

Terry Miller are investigators with the

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

she moves towards the stairway to go

upstairs to her bedroom when

suddenly shaa was attacked by someone

wielding a hammer her hands were up at

some point uh to protect her head in her

face her fingers were broken and she was

savagely beaten with this metal head of

that hammer until she was

dead at approximately 9:00 a.m. George

and Maddie arrived to pick something up

when they walked in and he discovered

Shauna's badly bludgeon

body George immediately called 911 911

emergency I think I need to report a

Breakin and a murder my

wife my wife is uh on the floor

bloody stiff not moving naturally George

is going to be our number one suspect a

woman that he's separated from he finds

dead inside of an apartment detective

Miller interviewed George in a police

car at the scene she was lying on the

floor she was covered in blood I just

want to die and she was surprised with

what he told her what shift did you work

yesterday a 24-hour shift he said he was

on call at the firehouse before he

picked mty up Maddie had spent the night

at her grandmother's house while Shauna

went to work he had an alibi and what

did that tell you he's not our

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killer

it's not just Dan and I you want a full

mag in the weapon yeah we had our entire

team with

this muzzle Down lead detectives Terry

Miller and Dan Long of the Las Vegas

Metro Police had their work cut out for

them the obvious initial suspect in a

case like this is the husband but George

TFA had that airtight

Alibi they learned right away that he

was at work at the fire station and was

not the man that killed

Shauna Shauna's murder was brutal and

chilling I remember thinking do we have

a sexual predator and you got to be

wondering to yourselves do we have some

sort of monster out there on the streets

yes uh we're like who who are we looking

for are we looking for a male are we

looking for a

female but 48 hours into the

investigation detectives get a crucial

tip from an unlikely Source William penx

known as Big will I've been trying to

live a straight life under the hands of

the

Lord big will had lived in Las Vegas for

years working as a maintenance man at an

apartment

complex he got an urgent call from

friend he said uh big will I need to

talk to

you the friend came to see him and

dropped a

bombshell he just murdered a

woman when he told you that he had

killed this woman what was the

expression on his face he was happy

happy like he just completed a mission a

mission to where he's going to get paid

a lot of money he's going to leave town

and live a happy life like that did he

tell you how he killed this woman yeah

yeah he told me that he was laughing

when he said it he said

uh I hit this woman with a hammer over

and over and over and over until a

hammer broke the man who called Big will

was nicknamed Greyhound because he was

lean and fast and lived in a tent in the

Foothills far from the glittering lights

of downtown Greyhound was an excon and

big will was helping him straighten his

life out but after the two men spoke big

Will's Mission became bringing Greyhound

to Justice this is a damn

tragedy I said so if I hear this on the

news tomorrow morning the best thing I

can do is follow his tracks try to hunt

him

down so that I can try to bring some

kind of closure to This Woman's family a

gorgeous cocktail waitress a mother

brutally murdered in her own home that

was it a woman murdered and big will

knew exactly what he had to do he called

police at first detectives long and

Miller were skeptical initially I was

thinking to myself you've got to be

kidding me he is giving the story about

this man who lives up in the mountains

in a tent who is homeless and it's kind

of a crazy

story crazy but cops felt they had to

check it out big will told them

Greyhound often walks miles from his

desert tent to this Albertson's grocery

store where he'd been spotted before

stealing food so right away they went

with big will to look for him I got out

of the vehicle and went into to talk to

the Albertson's employees in hopes that

they would know who somebody named

Greyhound that matches this description

is Big will knew Greyhound sometimes

sold drugs at the Chevron station right

next door then a stroke of luck I see

Greyhound he says Hey Big will what you

doing over here so I said wait one

minute I'll be right back big will then

Whispers into my ear and goes that's

Grayhound we got lucky to the grace of

God he was there I'm like this can't be

happening I walk outside I want to get

as close as I can to him before he

identifies me as a police officer cops

identified themselves and immediately

find drugs in Greyhound's possession so

they take him to Police Headquarters and

he's volunteered to come to our office

and help us with their investigation

Greyhound's real name is n Stevens he

denies he has anything to do with Shauna

tfa's murder I have nothing to do with

it's not me you have the wrong guy he

tells us that he does live in the desert

he has a tent all right meet you there

all right while Greyhound is held on

drug charges a massive police searches

launched to find his

campsite Terry and I walked it that

fence we had to climb through that fence

that was

tough this case came down to shoe

leather we ran it all down right on top

of that little Hill was where his tent

was it was out here in these Rocky

Desert Foothills about 8 miles from the

Vegas Strip which is behind me the

detectives making their way through this

treacherous landscape discovered some

important evidence we brought a

helicopter with us and a bunch of people

to search and we searched every one of

these Hills remote remote yes I walked

past a small shrub and rolled up

underneath the shrub was a pair of pants

and looked out of place detective Sam

Smith had found a crucial piece of

evidence near the campsite a pair of

Stevens pants they were bloody police

tested them on the spot and what did you

learn later about the blood on those

jeans whose blood was it uh that was uh

Shauna tfa's

blood back at headquarters police

confronted no Stevens with what they had

found then they used an old trick to pry

more information out of him a lot of

people don't know this investigators are

allowed I'll use this word to mislead a

suspect no we're allowed to lie they

bluffed Greyhound saying someone

fingered him for the

murder Steven stuns the detectives by

admitting he killed Shauna TFA but why

more clues were found when police

examined nol Stevens's cell phone what

kind of numbers do you find on that

phone we find a guy by the name of

George in his cell phone and when we ask

him who's George he says that's my

friend the

firefighter George was George Tia

Shauna's husband and nol Stevens was

that Homeless handyman who had caused

friction in the TFA

marriage we looked at each other and

bing bing bing bing bing you hit this is

Vegas you just hit the all sevens right

yes exactly

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we

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there's mama she looking hot with the

shades on as soon as she heard about the

tragic murder of her beautiful sister

Paula Richards and her husband John

immediately had one suspect in mind look

at

everybody we all thought that George was

involved but we couldn't figure out

how he did it so they decided to call

George who was still standing outside

Shauna's townhouse with

police so I thought we need to record

this hello George yes' this this is

Paula can you tell me what's going

on son passed away and what did they do

to

her I don't no she's laying on the floor

with blood on her

head how is she still is Shauna's body

still

there yes I think

so there's Daddy and Mama George then

hands his cell phone to a grief

counselor no one else can hear what I'm

saying correct correct Paula then makes

a startling

accusation I have my suspicions that her

husband may be involved in this based

on you know many many conversations I've

had with my sister um I I highly suspect

that he may be

involved the day after the murder the

couple caught the first flight to Las

Vegas from Nashville when we landed on

the flight out to Las Vegas we had both

shifted into this investigator mode

while John and Paula were conducting

their amateur

investigation detectives Miller and long

were continuing their professional one

you see the telephone poles right along

there armed with a good luck charm a

casino chip that belonged to Shauna and

I said I want you to hold on to this

because this has allowed me to feel like

Shauna is near us and uh you can give it

back to me when you get an arrest soon

into their investig ation detectives had

discovered dozens of phone calls between

no and George before the

murder you said 87 calls that's that's

correct 87 phone calls in one month

that's more than IAL to my

husband TFA and Stevens met years

earlier when both were living on this

middle class Street NL at his sister's

house this house right here is the

sister's house which where NL was living

and the tifas down the block right down

here yes n got to know George asked him

if he could do yard work for George cops

soon learned from NL Stevens their

relationship was complicated NL idolized

George he genuinely thought that he and

George were very very close and would

never turn on one another but detectives

believed George was manipulating his

friend who may have suffered from mental

illness he he has a pawn he has an

Implement a tool in in the in N Stevens

and he's going to use that tool big will

told detectives that George gave nol

Stevens $600 in cash to kill Shauna with

the promise of thousands more to

come he said well uh he gave me a

key to get in this lady's house and I

murdered

her and my heart dropped and I said what

I said you just signed yourself a death

warrant you don't know if this man is

going to try to kill you or what when

cops were scouring nol Stevens's desert

campsite another intriguing clue they

found was a barcode tag they scanned it

it matched the style of hammer used to

kill Shauna we figure out that low sells

those hammers that launched

investigators on a tedious Mission

reviewing hundreds of hours of video

surveillance

tape finally they hit Pay Dirt when they

spotted George and nol Stevens shopping

together for

hammers we have our definite connection

between null and George Stevens was

singing to Cops like a canary so he gave

you a road map and you're following it

and you're finding exactly what he said

you'd find absolutely

even leading them to where he had buried

the murder

weapon this Hammer which broke in two

during the brutal attack and um there

was blood on it they also discover a

possible motive for murder

money new floors new carpet new bathtub

new sink new dish Bo Mama's happy about

that

huh Shauna liked to spend it and George

liked to save it there's some Financial

transactions that appear like he's

trying to hide money uh through his mom

with the news tightening on George TFA

detectives meet with his family 9 days

after Shauna's murder so at the end of

the interview I tell mom and sister that

George is involved in killing Shauna how

do they react to that it's traumatic to

them no no no they're crying they're

telling us that we are absolutely 100%

wrong minutes after that conversation

police who had George under surveillance

and were monitoring his phone calls

overhear his sister calling them

suddenly George jumped back into his

truck and took off quote unquote like a

bat out of

heal George weaves erratically through

City traffic and onto the Summerland

Parkway he accelerates to 90 mph and

smashes his head on into a

barrier cops believe it was a suicide

attempt he's trying to end his life

right now because he can't face the fact

of what's going to come amazingly George

survived the crash because cops say he

was wearing a seat belt he was rushed to

a local hospital where detectives later

arrested him and I said George you're

under arrest for the murder of your wife

Shauna TFA and his reaction was simply

to look up from his hospital bed and say

okay that's when police also charged NL

Stevens with Shauna's

murder oh look at this there's shaa

Castleton B now she's

TF wow she it was um a feeling of relief

um all we wanted was Justice for

Shauna are we ready to arrain Mr

TF detectives believe George Tif was

just one step away from getting away

with it all commit the murder and then

do away with null if he can get that

done in the right way he's going to

commit the perfect crime but George is

steadfastly maintaining his innocence n

Stevens and prosecutors are worried

about their key Witness n

Stevens he's at the heart of the murder

conspiracy right he is a very important

factor in the case he he's mentally ill

right he has a violent criminal history

and he's your star

witness you know the defense wants him

to be our star

Witness

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George tfa's defense attorney Robert

Langford knows how to take command

whether is an actor in front of a live

theater

audience

man or before a jury in a Sin City

courtroom there's circumstantial

evidence and there's direct evidence and

now Langford is front and center in a

case that even a playright would find

difficult to imagine it's a good story

it's real interesting but it's not

evidence yet in the case who is

responsible for the murder of Shauna

Tia n

Stevens n stev says he is n

Stevens beat her to death with a hammer

was he hired by George TFA to do that

there's no evidence of that it's been

three years since the murder and

Shauna's family and friends like Lacy

Green are apprehensive I'm not confident

it's very scary not knowing what's going

to happen I fear that he will be found

innocent at no point during the

communication with the police does

George TFA ever mention n Stevens in his

opening statement prosecutor Mark dejo

knows he has to make NL Stevens and

George TF partners in crime he calls n

Stevens 87 times in the month of

September the prosecutor's biggest

challenge will be getting a jury to

believe George TFA is capable of murder

you're going up against an All-American

boy that's a tough challenge it is as a

prosecutor it's highly unusual to have

the resume of George TFA and then him be

a murder suspect I think George TFA is

someone who had numerous successes in

his life Pam weckerly assistant Clark

County DA has scrutinized what she

thinks makes TFA tick and what may have

driven him to murder when his marriage

is crumbling I think that's something

that he just can't cope with the idea

that he wouldn't have complete control

over his daughter and shaa ultimately

unraveling the complicated tale of

George tfa's intertwined relationship

with n Stevens is left to prosecution

witnesses big will panx remembers

exactly what Stevens told him the day

Shauna was killed he said I got

something to tell you and I said well

what is it he said uh I just uh murdered

a woman and right then and there I said

you got to be a damn fool did you

believe everything that no Stevens

Greyhound told you uh it depends on the

the day yet pennx admits under defense