Viswa Vanapalli
A 911 call regarding a break-in led the authorities to rush to Brad and Shaunna Dodd’s home days after Christmas in 2012. While the latter was unharmed, her husband was found murdered in their bedroom. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Diabolical: When All Else Fails’ thus chronicles how the police methodically ruled out a burglary through witness statements and physical evidence, leaving them with just one suspect.
Brad Dodd Was Found Brutally Shot to Death
Brad Allen Dodd was born in California in November 1975. He moved to Nevada at age 15 alongside his family and eventually started working as a painter there. He met Shaunna when she was in high school, and the two soon began dating. By the time she turned 23, she was a full-time mother. The couple lived in Washoe Valley, Nevada, with their two kids in addition to Alison, who was Brad’s cousin; they were her guardians.
However, everything turned upside down for them in 2012. At around 12:35 am on December 29, a distraught Shaunna called 911 to report that someone had broken into their home. During the call, she mentioned Brad was the only one who didn’t make it out of their residence. Then, once the police arrived, they found the 37-year-old dead in a pool of blood in his bed. He had a gunshot wound to the back of his neck and another in the right rear of his skull.
Brad Dodd Was Killed By Someone He Knew, Not by Intruders
According to the aforementioned show, Shaunna initially told investigators that had gone to bed at around 10:30 pm, only to hear something a couple of hours later. While Brad was still sleeping, she went to check what was going on. As she walked to pick up the pistol they kept at home for safety reasons, she claimed someone actually pointed a gun at her head and took her weapon before asking her about their house safe. Per her, there were two intruders and they took a black jewelry box as well as a few bags of weed before leaving.
Shaunna then claimed to have rushed to Alison’s room, and they both left the residence before she dialed 911. Her two kids weren’t at home at the time of the incident. However, the evidence at the scene ultimately didn’t line up with her story. There were no signs of forced entry at the house or footprints in the snow outside, indicating there weren’t any intruders. As per the show, the authorities then learned of rumors regarding Shaunna having an affair with one of the patrons at the bar where she worked as a bartender.
The veneer of her perfect marriage with Brad soon began to crack. Other witnesses talked about the couple constantly arguing and Shaunna spending more and more time at the bar. Then, LaVeta Dudley, Shaunna’s boss, came forward with important information. According to the show, Shaunna had called her after Brad’s murder and told her about leaving a bag in her driveway. LaVeta didn’t open it or ask what was in it, but Shaunna asked her to dispose of it.
When LaVeta asked what happened, Shaunna just said that she “snapped.” Then, Alison also talked to the police and shared Shaunna’s plans. In the episode, it was mentioned that Alison told the police about the Dodds’ crumbling marriage. She talked about Brad threatening to take the kids away if Shaunna thought of a divorce. Furthermore, Alison stated that Shaunna wanted to get rid of her husband. Alison admitted that, at one point, she crushed some pills into Brad’s drink, which was Shaunna’s idea. But Brad didn’t have that drink because someone visited that night.
Shaunna Dodd is Behind Bars Today
Eventually, the authorities found that Shaunna had been planning to get rid of Brad for months and had even tried to hire someone to kill him. The police also located the bag LaVeta mentioned, which contained a treasure trove of evidence. Apart from bags of marijuana, there were rubber gloves inside and a gun that turned out to be the murder weapon. Furthermore, testing revealed that Shaunna’s DNA was present on the gloves.
In October 2013, Shaunna, then 32, was found guilty of first-degree murder. The following month, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 20 years on a weapon enhancement. Prison records indicate that Shaunna, now at the age of 42, remains incarcerated at the minimum to maximum security Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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