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Shawna Nelson
GREELEY SHOOTING
SHAWNA NELSON TESTIFIES
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Nelson Trial Blog Day 2: Suspect's Lover Testifies

Friday, Feb. 22: Ignacio Garraus, Kell Hulsey Testify

UPDATED: 12:17 am MST February 27, 2008

Posted at 3:43 p.m.

Hulsey says Ken was determined to go home and check on his kids. The sgt. said, "Don't let him in the house. Stay away from it."

Hulsey responded,"You're going to have to send me some help because I'm going to have to fight him."

He says when they pulled next to Shawna Nelson, he saw Shawna slide across the seat and get out of the passenger side door. He says it was a heated exchange between Shawna and Ken.

She said, "What's wrong? Why are you so mad?"

Hulsey was concerned that Ken might hit her so he got between them.

He says he didn't see a gun on her and didn't see one in the truck.

He says he remembers seeing her in a big black shawl-type sweater.

Posted at 3:10 p.m.

Kell Hulsey is next up. He works at Greeley P.D. and is assigned to Weld County Drug Task Force.

When he heard radio calls about the shooting he thought it was a robbery that ended with someone getting shot.

When he heard Shawna Nelson's name, he couldn't believe it. He says Ken Nelson wanted to go right away. Kell told him "Hold on" and stalled for time to call the sgt. then went outside and got into passenger seat of Ken's undercover car.

Did Ken have a gun with him? Yes, Hulsey said.

He says Ken gave him his gun and said, "Take this."

He says Ken tried to call someone on the phone, but slammed it shut and said, "She's not home."

They stopped Shawna Nelson at 18th Street and 65th Avenue.

As they were crossing 65th Avenue, Ken yelled, "Give me my f****** gun." But Kell says he didn't give it to him. He kept it under the seat where he was sitting.

He says Ken slammed on the brakes and got out of the Cherokee. The black truck (pickup) was right next to them and Shawna Nelson was sitting inside.

Hulsey says Ken was yelling, "What did you do? What did you do? Where are my kids? Where are my kids?"

Ken jumped out of the truck and got back into his Cherokee and drove home to check up on his kids.

When asked if the defendant told him what she was doing, she said she'd gone to the liquor store.

"She was upset about being handcuffed and we told her that Heather Garraus had been shot and that she was a suspect," Hulsey said.

Under cross, Hulsey said there were some problems with Ken's performance on the task force. Prior to any discussion with Ken's supervisors at the sheriff's department, Ken voluntarily left the task force. He says he didn't see any other weapons other than the one Ken gave him when they first got into the Cherokee.

Posted at 2:10 p.m.

When asked if he wanted Shawna to have the abortion so Heather wouldn't find out about the affair, he said he participated in the decision. They came to Fort Collins for the procedure.

On Dec. 19, Shawna was waiting by Ignacio's truck when he came out of a Dept. of Revenue hearing. He said there was no physical confrontation, just verbal. He says he was in fear that Shawna would divulge their affair to Heather.

He said, "That was her leverage on me."

During the breakup, he says Shawna never told Heather about the affair or pregnancy. After a several month breakup, they resumed the affair and Shawna became pregnant with Christian.

Ken Nelson, Shawna's husband, was not living with Shawna the first time she was pregnant from the affair.

Ignacio says they discussed whether to have an abortion. Public defender asked if it was more than a discussion, if it was an argument.

Ignacio said Shawna was angry because he brought it up. When she became angry, he agreed to drop the idea.

Ken Nelson moved back in and wanted to raise the child even though he knew the child wasn't his, Ignacio says.

Says Ken Nelson served Shawna with divorce papers, but then changed his mind. She did not go through with her divorce.

Under redirect, Ignacio said he did not know his wife had a life insurance policy on herself. He said she had told him he was heavily insured.

He says Heather made good money and that went to paying for bills. With his wife dead, the big money was not coming in.

Prosecutor asked, "So this $168,000, that's not going to last you long?"

He responded, "No."

He says Shawna told him during the affair that she was on birth control.

"She got pregnant twice on birth control."

When asked if he knew his wife to have any enemies, Ignacio said, 'No, Heather was a good gal."

When asked if he or his wife had ever received any other threatening e-mails, he said, "No, just from Shawna."

Any voice mails?

He said all threats just came from Shawna.

Posted at 1:48 p.m.

Ignacio said he told an officer he was worried that something might happen to his property while he was in Florida. Said he was concerned about e-mails and text messages and was advised to save them. He and his family went to Florida.

When he came back, he discovered no damage to any property. He says Shawna at no time ever threatened to harm him or Heather.

He says he programmed his cell phone so that whenever Shawna called, the number would show up as belonging to someone named Omar.

He says a gum wrapper was found in his wife's car with the words "you will die" written on it. He says he doesn't know who wrote it, or how it got in the car.

He says he knew that if Heather divorced him, she would want custody of Victoria and would want possession of the house.

He says he knew he might be displaced from the residence. He says he would have made it work. Heather had received some inheritence money.

Ignacio has been unemployed since resigning from the Greeley Police Dept. He says he's concentrating on taking care of Victoria. When initially asked about a $200,000 life insurance policy, Ignacio said he has not received that settlement. Later, he said it came out to be $168,000.

He says he retained a Denver law firm for the possibility of a lawsuit against the city of Greeley and state of Colorado. He has not sued, but the letter preserves his right to do so.

Posted at 1:29 p.m.

Cross examination continues.

Public defender asks Ignacio if his father knew about Christian (the infant son) before Heather did. Ignacio said yes.

The attorney asked if Ignacio was aware that Heather told his father she would keep him updated about Christian. The prosecutor objected and the judge sustained the objection. So that question was not answered.

Ignacio says he told investigators that he'd had conversations with Shawna indicating that he did not want to have sex with her but felt she would not leave him alone until he had sex with her.

The two went up into the mountains, including Keystone. Spent several nights. Never told investigator about that.

He met her at a hotel in Denver before he and his family went on vacation in Florida. Never told investigator about that.

During third interview, Ignacio told investigators about sneaking out of the house to go to Cactus Canyon. He told them about the confrontation and about the officer driving him home. He said he admitted the affair to Heather because he was caught.

Posted at 12:01 p.m.

Ignacio says he would frequently go to Jackson's Hole or Starbucks to be with Shawna. He said he did not openly express affection for her. That he tried not to do that in public.

Posted at 11:50 a.m.

Ignacio admitted sneaking out of the house through the back door and going with Shawna Nelson and Michelle Moore to Cactus Canyon. He said he received a number of phone calls while at the bar and recognized them as Heather's number, so he didn't answer them.

He said he didn't ask Shawna to take him home, instead he called a police buddy (who was on duty) to come pick him up. He admitted that it was against department policy for an officer to pick up a drunk civilian and take them home.

Posted at 11:45 a.m.

Under cross examination, Ignacio said Shawna became pregnant twice during their affair. The first pregnancy was terminated by an abortion. He says he never told his wife about that pregnancy or the affair.

He said Shawna became pregnant a second time in 2005. The baby, Christian, was born in 2006. He never told Heather about that birth.

He says Heather had heard rumors about the baby and confronted him. He says he didn't tell her the truth and that the affair with Nelson continued until December 2006.

Posted at 11:21 a.m.

Ignacio also read some e-mail messages that he had exchanged with Shawna Nelson. In one, he told Shawna to drop off paperwork regarding the termination of his parental rights to their son at his attorney's office. He said he told her not to contact him or his family again, and that all communication was to be through their attorneys.

He said he asked her to take his name off her e-mail group.

He read her response to that e-mail.

In her response, she told him she was dead inside from all that has happened. She said she "was living every day in hell." And closed by saying, "I will always love you, bye."

Posted at 11:09 a.m.

Prosecutors projected a picture of a cellphone containing a text message on the white screen behind the witness and asked Ignacio about it.

He said the message stated: "My loyalty is gone. I loved and trusted u and u f***ed me. Be prepared." It came from phone number 970-397-9623. He said he recognized the number as the defendant's.

He said he also read the text below a picture of a baby that was forwarded to Heather's cellphone. The text said "Ig's flesh and blood."

Posted at 10:45 a.m.

Ignacio Garraus is now on the stand. He says he got some ice cream with his daughter then went to King Soopers, got some groceries, then went home. He says he got Victoria to do her homework, packed some food for an ice fishing trip then started making dinner.

At some point the phone rang. Daughter answered. Sara Staley was on the other end, asked for Ignacio.

She was hysterical saying that Heather was shot.

Prosecutor: Did she ask you to go anywhere?
Response: No.

He says he went down to the credit union to see what happened to Heather.

He ended up at the hospital, and tried to enter the trauma area, but someone prevented him and told him Heather was dead.

He says he went back out to the car and told his daughter, "Mommy is dead."

Posted at 10:35 a.m.

The victim's daughter takes the stand. She says her mom took her to work that day and her dad picked her up. She says after school, they went to King Soopers, got some ice cream then went home. She says she was doing homework and her dad was making burgers when Sara Staley called.

When asked about the shooting, she started crying and said they didn't learn what happened until after they got down to the credit union.

Posted at 9:40 a.m.

Sara Staley is called to the stand. She is an employee at the credit union. Heather Garraus was her supervisor.

She said she helped Heather during a phone call with a customer on Jan. 23, 2007. The customer was upset that she didn't get a phone call back on her loan application. Heather asked Sara Staley for help talking to the woman who had been turned down because she didn't qualify.

Late in the day she went home, and then got a phone call saying Heather had been shot.

She shed tears on the stand as she recounted the call.

She said she then called the Garraus' house to talk to Ignacio, but their daughter answered. She said she asked if the girl's dad was home.

When Ignacio picked up the phone, Staley said, "Ig, you have to come down to the credit union. He said, 'Why?' I said, 'It's Heather.' He said, 'What happened?' I said, 'I can't tell you, you just need to get down here.'"

Posted at 9:18 a.m.

Next witness is Matthew Youngs. He was the first officer on the scene. He said he saw a body on the ground.

Confirmed that photos of victim on the ground with a significant amount of blood coming out of her head were fair and accurate depictions of the scene.

Said he talked to Julie Villa and Mindy Maeder and they told him what happened.

When asked if Maeder gave him a name, Youngs said, "Yes." When asked what name, he responded, "Shawna Nelson."

Public Defender asked him how Villa described the suspect and the pickup. He said she told him it was a female in a hooded outfit with a green Ford F-150 with blue license plates.

He said Villa told him she saw hair protruding from under the mask.

Youngs said he retired honorably from the Greeley Police Dept. and is now pursuing a career in aviation.

Posted at 9:09 a.m. Friday, Feb. 22

Testimony has resumed. First witness called is Julie Villa. She was a patron at a bar near the shooting scene. She told the court she saw someone dressed in dark clothing walking in the alley behind the bar. When asked if she saw the red trim on the mask she responded, "I did not see any red, I just saw something covering her face."

She also told the court she saw a pickup leave the scene. She said it was a Ford F-150.

Under questioning by the public defender she said she told the officers the pickup was dark green.

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