Death Without Mercy

A Seemingly Perfect Marriage Goes Up In Smoke

(CBS)  Morgantown, according to Geri Ferrara of the local Dominion Post, is a place where nothing much happens. "Morgantown still maintains a small hometown flavor. Everyone knows everyone," Ferrara explains.

So imagine the shock in town when police discovered the charred body of a popular businessman and Pee Wee football coach in his burned-out home, and that he had been murdered in his bed. "A premeditated murder of that nature with all the bells and whistles doesn't happen. Not in Morgantown," Ferrara explains.

But Det. Mezzanotte says investigators suspected murder from the minute they saw Jimmy's body. "The body looked as if he was asleep. It was like no fire damage I'd ever seen on a body," he says.

Mezzanotte says it struck him as "very bizarre."

Bizarre, because intense heat normally causes muscles to contract. Not only was Jimmy laying flat on the bed, the healthy 33-year-old man apparently made no effort to escape. "The house was pretty much salvageable, other than just some water and smoke damage. And I thought that was kind of weird," Mezzanotte says.

When the medical examiner found no soot in Jimmy’s breathing passages, police knew this was murder. The fire was set by someone to destroy evidence.

Rumors began that the "someone" was Shelly Michael; one anonymous caller even named a drug she might have used.

Toxicology results would take weeks. In the meantime, investigators interviewed family and friends. When they checked out the Michaels "perfect marriage," they hit pay dirt. "We were able to confirm that there was an affair. And then that kind of started driving the investigation," Mezzanotte explains.

Shelly's lover was a man named Bobby Teets, who worked for her husband. When questioned, Teets admitted the affair.

The affair started at a Chicago hotel, when the two supposedly were on a business trip. And the affair was on-going: Teets said they'd had sex just three days before the fire, in the very bed where Jimmy was found.

Asked if Teets had an alibi, Mezzanotte says, "He had an alibi for the day of the fire. He was making deliveries and he was at the warehouse and we have people that are putting him there."

Investigators also briefly looked at Jimmy's ex-wife Stephanie, but although she and Jimmy had gone through an ugly divorce, Mezzanotte couldn't see her killing her children's father.

Every lead led Mezzanotte to the same place: Shelly Michael.

But Shelly had an alibi: she’d been at work when the fire was discovered. Apparently sure that would clear her, she actually asked to come in and chat with detectives a second time and came without a lawyer.

During the interview, which Mezzanotte says took about nine hours, Shelly told detectives she kissed Jimmy on the forehead before she left, and that she got to the hospital around 6:10 or 6:15 a.m.

The only time she left, she said, was to retrieve a forgotten pager from her truck. But hospital security video showed Shelly leaving for 17 minutes - leaving the hospital at 8:11 and returning at 8:28 a.m.

"Surveillance cameras don’t lie," Mezzanotte told Shelly during their taped interview. "We have your car leaving the hospital grounds."

"I didn't leave the hospital grounds," Shelly replied.

Complicating her denials was that a neighbor actually saw her pull out of her own driveway at 8:20 a.m., when she insisted she was at work.

In the end, Shelly finally admitted that she did leave briefly for an errand around 8:00 a.m. But that was a full two hours before the fire was discovered.

And she doggedly stuck to her denial of the affair, not knowing that Bobby Teets already had confessed.

The detectives were flabbergasted at her denials, and completely unpersuaded. "She brought the investigation to herself. We didn't center it around her. Y’know, everything that she did was a lie," Mezzanotte says.

Then in February 2006, toxicology results finally came back. Just as that anonymous caller had suggested, Jimmy did indeed die of a lethal dose of a drug called rocuronium. The drug is used in hospital procedures when doctors need to temporarily paralyze muscles; but the patient always is put on a ventilator to help him breathe, because without a ventilator an injection of rocuronium causes slow suffocation.

For police it was the last piece of the puzzle. On March 10, 2006, Shelly was charged with first degree murder and arson.

Yet there were questions: could Shelly really leave work, kill Jimmy, ignite a fire, and return to the hospital in just 17 minutes? And why was it two hours before any sign of fire?

The whole story, says her attorney Tom Dyer, is preposterous: "The defense is able to contend that the murderer and the arsonist are one and the same person. And we know, absolutely, this young lady is not the arsonist. So, it's going to be our position, she's not the murderer."

[mygoshtheseidiots]

gawd you people are utterly stupid (kaelinda, mjjclark1, glaswolf, rushlimpdrug). I bet you also think OJ was framed. Use your brains and open your eyes.

[skicky]

question how could his ashes be told when he died !
there is a think called shock dumb dumb!
that how I would act , there smart ass investor can make anyone look
guity, she should said her address and ss# and told him !!
I do have answer that ! then they would feed her 3 or days until said something
IT SHOULD LAW, THAT LAWER BE THERE DURING QUESTIONING!!!!!!!!!

[OneEllee]

I've been watching 48 hours mystery for years and years and this is the first time I've ever seen an episode where the editors came to the conclusion of guilt, but I still have what I would consider reasonable doubts.

My primary reason for being skeptical is that it took the prosecution's fire experts six tries to the get fire to smoulder for two hours. Obviously if Shelly did commit the crime, the fire smouldering for two hours is the best thing in the world for her. I find it hard to believe that she achieved the first time what took fire experts six times to replicate.

The fact that the drug injected into the husband would have taken a bit to take effect, and the husband is assumed to have slept through getting stuck with that big needle doesn't make much sense either. Now, if the husband had been full of heavy sleeping drugs, that WOULD have made sense. Surely Shelly has access to heavy sleeping drugs. Yet none were used.

Nobody could prove that the drug was taken from Shelly's hospital, which is also weird. Hospitals are usually extremely careful with their records of their drugs. Did they check the ex-wife's hospital? What about Jimmy the medical supply guy? Did they check if he had ordered any?

But what gets me the most is that in the beginning the detective said what made him suspect foul play was that while people were crying all around Shelly while she showed no emotion.

What happens when the verdict is read? People all around Shelly are crying, and she shows no emotion. Being reserved about your feelings and telling a lot of lies doesn't make you a killer.

Is it possible she did it? Sure.

But there are a lot of things that don't add up and I would need some of those loose ends tied to vote to send a woman to jail for life.

[cepe10-2009]

what a weak case. The drug takes a while to take effect and this guy slept though being stabbed with a needle. Everything about the case makes it look like a frame job and unethical and incompetent prosecutors.

[csi-lover]

What do Shelly Michaels, Ann Miller, and Melanie Maguire all have in common? Their last name ends in "M". And they are all in jail.

One last comment about that psychopath Melanie Maguire. Don't wear makeup when you are crying telling us your innocence about dismembering your husband and stuffing him in to your suitcase and throwing him in the river like trash. It makes you look bad. Also, you blew it when the tv commentator asked you about your final words to your husband. You said "F*** you". This not only justifies your guilt and your life sentence, but it showed your extreme anger towards him.

Remember folks, beware of women like these scumbags. They can be just as vicious and vile than any man on this planet. The best punishment would have been to put all 3 of these psychopaths in the same jail cell and without any makeup.

CSI Lover

[csi-lover]

Wow!!!

Another Ann Miller. Said she didn't do it. Leason learned: Watch out guys, you think men are ruthless? Holy smokes folks, women can be quite EVIl too. BEWARE.

When someone lies, it certainly doesn't help. But this case was based on facts, not on fiction. It all added up. And she lied. Guilty. Slam dunk.

I will admit, however, I am suprised her appear was denied. Reasonable doubt did exist, but I think if you weigh the overall case, you will see it did point more towards her guilt. Jurors are human too, and often they can see the truth beyond the lies. She should have never taken the stand. Never. She may have walked...

I had a hard time looking at this gal. Not sure why. Perhaps a little spooky and uncomforatble to see someone try and save themself from defeat. But defendants in this country are entitled to a fair trial rather than pleading guilty.

Seeing her sit right before the verdict made me quite sad.

I often wonder what it's like to be cuffed by the bailiif after being found guilty of 1st degree murder and arson. No more makeup. No more lies. No more dead bodies or broken lives to ruin. End of game. Match point over. No pun intended! Sorry bic!

I truly feel sorry for her. I couldn't handle that feeling of watching her going to the police van in an orange prison suit and shackles. Imagine how she must feel?

Did her husband feel the pain when the flames engulfed his body? And was she smiling, because we know she wasn't crying...

CSI-Lover

[capegal67]

This case was previously on and I watched it, then I thought she was guilty and now I also do. I cannot believe anybody could lie like she does. She lied 100 times. Well, she said she lied because she was scared she would get fired for leaving work, well is that worse then being charged with killing someone. I think that I would take the firing rather then the charge of murder. She sure didn't plan this much, when she knows the hospital is loaded with security cameras. She was anxious to be in the arms of another man, so anxious that he wasn't even buried when she was with the other man. She was with him on the day of the funeral and he had spent the night with her, boy, she sure is numb in the skull or what, I don't know. She is right where she should be and she should have got the death penalty. This man had a horrible death, with the drug that was injected in him. God bless his mother and father and their loss of their son.

[bdeffley]

Unless I missed something in your report it seems an obvious point was not considered. Being a dibetic and having some experience with being injected I am quite certain that if someone was stuck with the needle the prosecutor showed to the jury they would just lie in bed. This was a rather large needel and would cause considerable pain. You would move quickly.
Also, one of the reasons the detective gave for suspecting Shelly in the first place was that she did not cry at the scene of the fire. I noticed she also did not cry when she was scentanced to life in prison. Not showing emotions in these situations may be unusual but it's not a crime.

[admrilbubba]

Oh, No not another one?! Let me first state I do have a great deal of respect of our law enforcement personnel. However, I unlike too many people recognize they are humans trained to do a task; task that many times go without being thanked. Due to the fact that they are human means they make mistakes. It is unfair for a Judge or anyone else to take the word of a law enforcement officer over mine just because they are law enforcement. Just like blind faith that people have with a Priest, Minister or counselor believing they would neglect truth for their own benefits.
Everyone was quick to point to Shelly?s lies, that they missed the lie told by the investigator. He stated he didn?t think of Shelly as the perpetrator until she came to him. If you listen to the tape, they had that thought in their heads before the fire was out! They never looked at anyone other than Shelly. Anyone who knows research or investigation procedure knows you start with; How was this done? Who would do this? This list in a crime investigation should be drawn up based on evidence at the crime seen, fingerprints, DNA, and any other matter that points to someone. They went on the assumption that Shelly did it and dismissed other possibilities. This is because in their mind Shelly did it!
I could say much more on that matter but let me fast forward to the trial. Shelly?s lawyer said it well with this comment; (paraphrased) Jury must look at the evidence and if there is a doubt that she did it they must find her NOT Guilty! Doubt was raised with the possibility 1) Jimmy did it himself 2) someone else could have committed the crime. a) his ex-wife b) his business partner c) a unknown person that may have a grudge against him or he and his wife. Their was a lot of conjecture about Shelly, the lack of sadness, crying, and the ability to move on so soon, and giving the thumbs up. People deal with tragedy in many ways; if it is not textbook it doesn?t mean she is hiding something! The investigators made a leap deciding Shelly?s guilt because her response to her husbands death was not textbook!
All of this brings doubt to any logical thinker, doubt express failure to prove guilt based on evidence presented. The jury failed this test; it was obvious they found Shelly guilty based on theory of assumptions made by investigators and the DA! I was surprised that the Judge didn?t point this out and declared a mistrial or set aside the jury?s verdict for a not guilty verdict. Too bad the Judge couldn?t sentence her outside of the guidelines and sentence her to time served! I truly had hoped justice would be done. There is much more I could comment on for an example; Jimmy?s mom and dad?s attitude, the conjecture of the DAs office and much more. The bottom line is the jury failed to follow instructions, you must decide quilt or innocence on the evidence given, if their is any doubt the verdict must be not guilty! On that Shelly is not guilty!

[xmanborg]

Another Black Widow. Call Batman to the rescue.

[tubicha]

I wonder how Jimmy din''t awoke and say .-what the hell?? when he felt that needle ,-figth or crowl of the bed and die on the floor. I believe it was suicide when he found about the affair with Teets, he just couldn''t take it.

[madamedylan]

also, for everyone saying how could such a sweet nurse do it. get over it, being a nurse does not make you a saint. if anything, that career makes you much colder and clinical about death. for all of you saying, how could she be so cold, i don''t want to believe she did it....well that is just it. No one of course wants to believe it, which makes the crime so horrible. But honestly what is more likely...the nurse with access to the drug who also happens to be at the house the morning of the crime did it...or else EVERYONE ELSE is lying, and this compulsive liar is telling the truth?

[madamedylan]

makes me think of melanie mcguire?

michelle michael?

two nurses who were bored in their marriages and decided to kill their hubbies. Spooky!

[travi16]

A-JI%u2014you''re an idiot. She wouldn''t have wanted James anymore. She has moven on wiith her life. GET OVER IT!!!!

[travi16]

Whether you''re scared or not, you should never lie to investigators. First, lying is the wrong thing to do.
Secondly, it makes you look like an idiot and guilty in the end.

[drdavedmd]

Sorry folks.... this is a no-brainer.... she is guiltier than sin itself. This doesn''t even need a minute to deliberate. The murderer had to have access to the Rancuronium, which she did, and be able toget to the house within the required time frame. The ex was way out and could not have done it. Sorry. Everything fits like a puzzle. I''m surprised that the defense made the comment that this allegation was like fittng a square peg into a round hole. This was clearly a round peg fitting nicely into a round hole. She got off easy..... this was such a heinous crime, I would have judged it to be the maximum sentence without mercy. This is because if murdering in these circumstances do not get the worst possible sentence, then what does? Exactly. Justice is served, albeit she got off easy....

[roscoezzz]

I''m on the fence on this one. It is a mystery even though a jury found her guilty with circumstantial evidence.
Shelley should never have took the witness stand because she is a compulsive liar. I just didn''t believe her on that witness stand.
She''s a sad character. I mean come on, re-living her college cheerleader days over and over and over again. Along with the men who want that cheerleader. Grow up woman!
She''ll have to think about everything while in that prison cell.

[vpcordova]

I believe she killed her husband. Isn''t it strange that none of the children were home (with the exes). She probably wouldn''t have started the fire if the children were home.

[loraminer1]

IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO LOOK- SHELLY HAS A WEBSITE GO TO JUSTICE4MICHELLE AND READ INFO ON CASE. THERE IS MORE THAN YOU WERE SHOWN ON TV. A LOT A STUFF DOES NOT ADD UP. THIS WEBSITE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ON THE 48 HOURS SHOW FOR THE VIEWERS TO BE ABLE VIEW. PLEASE LOOK!!!!!!

[jtaylorj-2009]

To answer those questions pertaining to tracking or tracing the use by medical staff of controlled drugs including Rocuronium, many automated dispensing systems such as Pyxis can be circumvented, EASILY.