FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The wife of a former Weld County investigator is on trial in the ambush slaying of the wife of a Greeley police officer. Prosecutors say it was because of a love triangle. Shawna Nelson was having an affair with the victim's husband.

7NEWS Reporter Lance Hernandez is blogging from the trial.

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Posted at 4:48 p.m.

Shawna explains why she wasn't wearing shoes when she was stopped.

She said she had a headache that night so she offered Dillon, her son, $5 to watch his siblings. He wanted to do it the basement because there were games down there, she said.

She went to the bathroom and started drawing water for a bath when she decided to go to the liquor store to buy some wine, she said. She said she didn't have any pants on because she had had an accident.

"I was taking diet pills and it kind of gives you diarrhea and I had an accident," she explained.

So she said she grabbed dirty clothes in the hamper and dressed in those clothes. She had intended to put on shoes. She had a cell phone, grabbed keys to the truck and went to get shoes from the mudroom when she realized she had left the shoes in the closet. She remembered she had already locked the bedroom door and was in a hurry so she just left, she said. She didn't take her purse. She forgot it.

Once she was in front of the liquor store, she said she was in a daze. She had no specific memory of leaving the house.

She got a phone call from Ken, realized she didn't have her purse and then headed back home. That's when she was stopped by Ken and Kell.

"Ken jumped in front of the truck and he looked very angry," Shawna said. "I rolled down the passenger side window and said, 'What's going on?' He said, 'What have you done?' I said, 'What are you talking about?'"

"He was yelling at me, asking me, 'Where are the kids?' I said, 'At home,' and he took off," Shawna said.

She said after Ken left, Det. Tharp and Det. Prill arrived.

"They said there had been a shooting and they wanted to talk to me," she said.

They handcuffed Shawna and she said she told them they were making a scene, and that she didn't understand.

The public defender asked, "Did you have anything to do with the death of Heather Garraus?" Shawna responded, "No. I didn't."

The public defender then asked, "Did you shoot her?"

Shawna responded, "No."

Defense said no further questions. The prosecution will cross-examine her on Friday. The judge tells attorneys to be prepared to give closing statements on Friday.

Posted at 2:28 p.m.

Murder suspect Shawna Nelson takes the stand.

Nelson said she has lived her entire life in Greeley. Began work as a dispatcher in 1992. She was previously married to Chris McKay and divorced him in 1995.

She knew Michelle Bush because they started the same day as dispatchers. She said she socialized with her at work, but not outside work. She said a rift developed between her and Bush. She believed Bush was having an affair with her first husband.

"Chris' actions toward me were like those of someone who was cheating with her," Shawna said.

She admits there was animosity there.

Shawna later married Ken Nelson in Aug. 1996. She started to cry when asked about children. She said Dillon will turn 10 in May. Jordan will be 8 in April.

She said she met Ignacio Garraus almost immediately after a dispatch communications merger between Greeley and Weld County. She said in spring of 2004, they started flirting. He was in his car, she was in dispatch.

"He gave me more attention. I gave it to him back," she said.

Their relationship became intimate in July of 2004.

She also developed a friendship with Michelle Moore in August 2004. Michelle was a Weld County deputy. It became more than friendship.

"Did it become intimate?" Defense asked.

"Yes," Shawna said.

Why did she keep the relationship secret, she was asked.

"None of this is stuff I'm very proud of. It's kind embarassing. Both of us decided we weren't going to tell anybody," Shawna said.

"Did you keep this relationship from your husband?" defense asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Did you keep it from Ignacio Garraus?"

"Yes," she said.

Was Michelle Moore involved in another relationship?

"No, her boyfriend died in a plane crash," Shawna said.

She was between boyfriends, Shawna said. Did she have another male partner?

"She'd had several," Shawna said.

Shawna talked about going to a retirement party for another officer. She broke down as she recalled learning that she was pregnant the first time. She wanted to talk to Ignacio about it, but he completely disregarded her. She was angry. She decided to confront Michelle Bush at the party.

"My intentions weren't to kick her ass," Shawna said.

"Did you say that?" defense asked.

"I was very drunk that night. Everybody says I said that," Shawna said. "After that night I never had physical or verbal contact with Michelle Bush again."

She said she was still angry at Ignacio. She saw him at a party, told him she was upset with his behavior, said she thought they had plans to talk and didn't appreciate being disrespected. She told him about her pregnancy.

"Almost the first thing out of Ig's mouth was, 'We need to take care of this,'" she said.

"Did you discuss an abortion?"

"Yes, we did," she said.

"Did you wish to have one?

"No," she said. "I kind of always told myself that it would never be an option for me. Ig talked me into having an abortion."

Her abortion was performed at Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins.

She said she felt humiliated.

"It still haunts me," she said.

She said her affair still continued after that.

"He (Ig) told me that the wife of another officer had come into the credit union and told Heather about what happened at the Old Chicago. I called Heather at work. I told her that Ig and I were just friends and that I would never let something like that happen. I never told her about my relationship with Ignacio," she said.

Ken Nelson became aware of the affair. She said her journal was left, not intentionally, in a place where Ken read it.

"Ken told me to make a choice. I told him I wanted our relationship to work. I did not cease my relationship with Ignacio," Shawna said. "I never told Ken. He learned when I moved out at the end of January."

When Ignacio Garraus had gone to Disney World with his family, she sent Ig "a quick text saying, 'If you're up later, call me... signed Omar."

Omar was a name Ignacio had programmed into his cell phone for Heather's number.

When the Garraus' came home after Christmas, "I drove by their house and saw their car, so I called, but he wouldn't answer," she said.

She said she kept trying to get a hold of Ig. He had changed his phone number. One day, he answered at work and gave me his new cell phone number.

"Did you begin your relationship again (with Ig)?"

"I didn't know what was going to happen. When I took the kids to Ken's house, Ig texted me, 'Do you want me to call you?' I said, 'No, come pick me up.'"

On July 4, she found out she was pregnant and that Ig wanted her to have another abortion.

"I wouldn't do it. I didn't expect anything of Ken, but I wanted to give Ken a heads-up because it was embarassing. I told him I wouldn't have an abortion," Shawna said. "Ken and I actually got back together that night."

But she still maintained her affair with Garraus. She agreed to meet Ig outside of Greeley.

"Ig said he had to sell his father's property. He asked me to come stay near the airport before he flew out," she said.

Christian was born March 2006.

"I felt if he wanted contact with Christian he should have it," she said.

She said she was adopted and felt that "no child should be denied contact with their birth parent." She said Ken would be listed as the father, but Ignacio would be allowed contact.

She said that when the baby was born, Ken respectfully left the hospital briefly so Ig could come visit.

She said she and Ken enjoyed shooting at the range but that she had never imagined Heather's face on a target. She said the last time she went to a range, it was an archery range two years ago. Because money was tight, she said she pawned a gun so she'd have cash to take to Grand Lake, to meet with Ignacio.

She said she admitted sending a text message to Heather's phone which said, "If you're reading this U r a psycho bi***."

"Why?" the defense asked.

"Because I thought if she knew I knew her cell phone number she would leave me alone," Shawna said.

She said Heather called her and said, 'So you think I'm a psycho bi***? I'd like to see you say that to my face." She said Heather then hung up.

She said she and Ignacio had both discussed being unhappy in their marriages. She said she actually encouraged Ignacio to work things out with Heather.

She said she went to the credit union Dec. 18 and closed her account because "I knew what was going on at the Garraus' house and I didn't want to have a confrontation with her."

"The phone call lasted about a minute and a half, but the silence went on forever," Nelson said. What was your reaction? She said I'd been thinking our relationship would end.

She said she got a call from Ignacio on Dec. 16, saying he wanted to break things off.

She said she wanted to give him an opportunity to change his mind, so she texted him and tried to call him.

"I was trying to reiterate the fact that Ig didn't want to have anything to do with Christian. In my mind I couldn't see that somebody wouldn't want to have anyting to do with their son. I think I was trying to give him another chance to change his mind on that," she said.

The public defender asked Shawna if she'd met Julian Garraus before. That's Ignacio's dad. She said Julian was aware of Shawna and Ig's relationship and was aware of Christian. He loved Christian and still wanted to have something to do with Christian.

"I specifically called Julian and told him what Ig's message had said. He said, 'Ig does not speak for me. I want you to freely call me whenever you want. I want to know how Christian is doing. I want to see pictures of him,'" Nelson said.

Shawna said she told Ken she wanted to get away so he gave her a rifle and pistol and told her to pawn it so she could buy a plane ticket. She said Ken inherited money (more than $7,000) from his grandmother, but that he didn't have it when she pawned the guns.

She said she pawned the weapons at King Pawn in Greeley because she didn't work in dispatch anymore and it didn't matter if anyone recognized her.

Shawna said portions of the Walkers' (Paige & Sonja) testimony is incorrect. She said she never told Paige about any kind of sexual relationship with Ignacio. She said she talked about it with Sonja (Paige's mother) while Paige was there. She also said Paige did help print pictures of Christian to send to Julian.

Shawna was asked about the mask. She said she's had it since Halloween 2006, that Michelle saw it, and that she intended to use it to scare the kids, but thought maybe it was too scary.

Contrary to what husband Ken testified, Shawna said the mask was out in his pickup in the entire time. She said they fought over the kids' toys and trash that had been piling up in Ken's truck and that Ken had picked it up and asked her what she wanted to do with it. She told him to just leave it there.

Shawna admits to having a nun robe the year she was pregnant with Christian, but that she never kept stuff like that.

After that, the public defender opened the sealed bag containing the sweater Shawna was wearing the night she was arrested. She tried it on then stood up and showed it to jurors.

She was then asked about driving Ken's truck. She said she drove it more than a few times, but didn't like to because it rode rough. She said she used it to take Jordan to girl scouts, then teared up as she relayed being asked by a girl scout leader to do a presentation about fire safety. She said she also taught the girls how to do the Heimlich.

She admits to driving by the credit union on Jan. 22 and glancing over to see if Heather's car was there. She said it wasn't. She said she called the credit union to inquire about something on her statement after she'd already closed her account. She said she intentionally called every extension except Heather's because "I didn't want to talk to her." She kept getting voice mails, so she became frustrated and figured she would call later.

"Did you ever call anyone to see if she was at the bank?" the public defender asked.

Shawna responded, "No, I already knew she wasn't there."

Shawna said she did not talk about Heather to Michelle Moore at Jackson's Hole.

"I was driving Michelle home and told her that I could not longer have a sexual relationship with her, that I'd been thinking through our drinks, and that since I was actually trying to finally be loyal to Ken, that I was going to go home and fess up and that I was going to go home and tell Ken about my relationship with Michelle Moore, that I still loved her and wanted to be friends, but that I couldn't keep lying to Ken," Nelso said.

"On Jan. 23rd (the day of the shooting) did you do anything?" the defense asked.

Nelson said she took the kids to school, called Ken to see if he wanted a Starbuck's, then went home. She said she had a headache from bumping her head on a pantry door. She said she called Michelle and left a message that she was sorry, that she would be home all night, had a headache and "was going to take a bath."

Posted at 2:05 p.m.

Prosecution rests at 2:04 p.m. Thursday.

Jurors are sent out. Shawna is told she has a right to testify but doesn't have to. Judge also said Shawna also has the right not to testify. He said if she chooses not to testify it should not prejudice her in the eyes of the jury.

She said she is going to testify.

Posted at 1:50p.m.

Dr. John Carver is called to the stand.

Dr. Carver is an expert in forensic pathology. He performed the autopsy on Heather Garraus in the morgue at McKee Medical Center in Loveland Colo.

He said he saw two gunshot wounds -- one a grazing wound through the victim's right upper back and up to her skull. The second is a gunshot wound to her left temple.

He said those wounds were the cause of Heather's death.

Instead of putting pictures on the overhead projector, the prosecutor handed still pictures to jurors. so they could look at each one and pass it on to the next juror.

The gunshot wound to left temple is a contact wound. When a gun is fired powder, flame gas and soot come out of the tip of the barrel. In a contact wound that gas and soot go into the wound ballooning the skin outward and tearing it. There was abrasion around the defect. The flame from the gun heated or cooked the skin immediately around the wound.

The other is an intermediate range wound. Examination of Heather's sweater appears to show a sparse scattering of unburned gun powder. Because those particles were so sparse and so spread out, it's an indication that the end of the gun was a few feet away from her back when that bullet entered.

He said Heather's death was within seconds. Manner: Homicide.

Posted at 1:15 p.m.

Yvonne Woods with CBI is still on the stand.

She was asked about the shoes in evidence. She said the DNA profiles indicated the presence of mixtures. It showed two people, with the major component being female and matching the DNA profile developed from Shawna Nelson.

"To a reasonable degree of scientific certainty Shawna Nelson is the source of the major component of the DNA profile developed from these shoes," Woods said.

She said they could exclude Heather Garraus and Michelle Moore's DNA.

Under cross examination, Woods said she couldn't tell if it was a skin cell, saliva or sweat that was tested off the shoes. Also, she said they didn't find blood on the door or steering wheel of the pickup Shawna was driving. She said the gun was examined for hair and blood, but they did not find any.

The found no hair on floor or floor mats of pickup truck.

She talked briefly about gum wrapper found in Heather Garraus' vehicle.

Posted at 11:21 a.m.

Yvonne Woods of CBI is now testifying.

Woods is a lab agent and forensics expert in serology and DNA analysis. She said they have the ability to detect blood, semen and saliva, and traces of urine or feces.

If they think it's blood, they use certain chemicals. She said if there is blood present, the chemical will change to a specific color.

She said her job is to collect and preserve evidence. They look for gunshot residue, bodily fluids, hairs and fiber. She said she tested the defendant's sweatpants, sweater jacket, tank top, baseball cap, briefs, hood or mask, and left and right shoes.

She talked about amplification that allows DNA to make copies of itself quickly. Then the CBI analyzes it.

She said they tested the mask for blood, none was found. Then tested the mask for DNA.

**Judge says let's break for lunch. Says be back at 1:10 p.m.

Posted at 10:43 a.m.

Alex Rugh of Colorado Bureau of Investigation is called to testify.

He's explaining how they conduct GSR (gun shot residue) tests. He said the common technique used to collect gun shot residue is with a metal disk with sticky carbon tape. He said sampling devices are combined in kits.

To process, they use a scanning electron microscope, with a detector which is capable of identifying chemical elements. He said particles cannot be age-dated.

He said the test stub on Shawna's sweatpants was positive for presence of gun shot residue.

"In other words," Rugh said, "Lead antimony was found in at least one particle."

He said the result of Shawna's sweater was also positive and so was the tank top, cap, men's underwear and glove.

He says the mask did NOT test positive for gunshot residue.

He also said the right shoe was positive, but the left shoe was not.

As for the pickup truck that Shawna was driving, the interior of driver's side door also tested positive for gun shot residue.

Rugh said the results of the kits were positive for gunshot residue and those were specific samples taken from Shawna's right hand and face. He said the particles are small and are about one-tenth the width of a human hair.

He said there was nothing in the process to make him believe the results were inaccurate.

Under cross examination, Rugh said there are three possibilities that would allow a particle to be present:
1) the person fired the gun
2) the person was near a gun that was fired by someone else
3) the person came into contact with something that had gunshot residue on it.

He was asked by the Public Defender if he could he say which of those three caused the gunshot residue in these tests? He said, "We cannot."

He said he can't tell on what date a particle is created.

He was asked if a police officer is armed with a weapon is it possible for him to have GSR particles on his hands, clothing or handcuffs. He said yes.

He was also asked if a person was placed inside a police vehicle that had GSR on the seat or inside the car, was it possible for that residue to be transferred to that individual. He said, "Yes."

Posted at 9:22 a.m.

Det. Prill is still on the stand.

Prill said that on Feb. 18, 2007 Shawna stopped saying she couldn't remember anything and started saying she couldn't have done it (committed murder) because she wasn't raised that way.

Then she started accusing many other people. After accusing Ignacio for several months, she then started to accuse Ken.

During a phone conversation with her sister, the sister asked if Michelle Moore could be a suspect. Shawna was adamant that Moore wasn't. Her sister said, "Yeah, but you don't know that, you can't be certain."

Prill said that while Shawna was still crying, she sighed and said, "Well, yeah I do."

When asked about a relationship with Michelle Moore, Prill said Shawna adamantly denied having sexual contact with Moore. She said they kissed, and even slept in the same bed, but never had sexual contact.

Prill showed jurors a timeline of phone calls made back and forth between Shawna Nelson and Ignacio or Heather Garraus.

Numerous calls were made between Dec. 9 and Jan. 16.

Posted at 8:38 a.m.

Det. Mike Prill/Greeley Police Dept. is sworn in.

Prill said he was with Det. Tharp when they heard the call about the shooting. They started heading toward the scene and came upon the suspect's vehicle, which had been stopped in the middle of the street.

He said he saw Shawna Nelson wearing a calf-length sweater coat, lavender tank top, black sweat pants and no shoes. The prosecutor asked, "No shoes?" Prill repeated, "No shoes. She had socks on, but no shoes."

The prosecutor asked what the weather was like. He said it was cold; there was ice and snow on the ground.

Prill said the passenger-side window of the pickup truck was down. The other windows were up. He said he conducted a gun residue test on the hands and face of the defendant.

Prill is then shown several pieces of evidence and identifies them as the clothing the defendant was wearing at the time of her arrest.

He is asked about a search warrant. He said the first was executed at the suspect's house early in the morning, Jan. 24. He said they attempted to enter the master bedroom, but it was locked. He found a key chuck on the frame above the door and used it to open the door. He found the bedroom clean, with few clothing items on the floor. Otherwise, the room and house was pristine.

He said the bathroom was pristine, with bath half filled with room temperature temperature. There was no soap.

He searched the basement and found a gun box. The label on the gun box was for Glock 22, .40-caliber handgun, serial number KDN-907.

Five or six months later he started asking questions about that gun, after learning about scientific evidence linking it to shell casings found at the crime scene.

Prill explained the phone system at the detention center. He said the defendant can't get phone call, can only make them.

Prosecutors played a recording of one call Shawna Nelson made to her husband, Ken, on Jan. 29, 2007.

On the call, Ken Nelson asked if she'd talked to her attorney that day. She said no, she hadn't talked to anybody. She said she'd talked to him Friday.

Shawna described the bare bones surrounding of her isolation cell and complained that they weren't going to move her because she was the wife of a deputy. She said there was no TV. She only got an hour out of her cell every day.

"It's just a bunch of concrete there," she said.

He said he'd try to get her moved to Washington County. She said it wouldn't matter because she couldn't have any visitors. She started to cry, and he told her to hang in there.

She said, "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from this."

Then they talk about their kids. Shawna asked if Jordan had been getting her homework done. She asked Ken what he told them. He said he told the kids "that sometimes Mom makes some bad decisions. She did it again."

He said Dillon heard her Shawna say, "That hag Heather, how come she couldn't just let me be friends?"

She talked about getting ready to take a bath. He told her he went home and thought she was in the tub, but couldn't get an answer. He said he saw her purse on the counter. She said she couldn't remember if she had gotten in the tub. She remembered going to the liquor store, but then realizing she didn't have her purse.

She said the Prozac is helping, it makes her feels better.

She said, "I don't know Ken, I don't remember anything."

She said the attorney asked her about the mask in the truck and Shawna said it's been in there since Halloween. She put it in there to scare the kids.

Ken said, "I don't remember seeing that mask in there."

She said she was asked about Ken's duty weapon. He said he'd figure something out.

"I have to know that you're going to be there for me," Shawna said.

Ken responded, "I'm not going to kick you when you're down."

She said, "I love you Ken."

Det. Prill said Shawna had talked to Ken on Feb. 5 and talked about blackouts.

Posted at 8:36 a.m.

Juror 9 is dismissed because of a migraine headache.

That juror is replaced by an alternate.

Read Lance's Blogs:

• February 27, 2008: Nelson Trial Blog Day 5: Forensic Experts Link Casings To Gun
• February 26, 2008: Blog Day 4: Husband, Best Friend Testify
• February 25, 2008: Blog Day 3: Nelson’s Interrogation Tape Shown
• February 22, 2008: Blog Day 2: Suspect’s Lover Testifies
• February 21, 2008: Blog Day 1: 911 Tapes Played