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good evening i'm anthony robart this is  crime beat tonight an aspiring actress finally  

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making headways in her career vanishes. She hadn't  spent any money she hadn't touched her facebook  

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she wasn't on her phone. Although there are no  indications of foul play it is out of character  

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for her to not be in touch with family and  friends and we are we are all concerned for her

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welfare

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and now here's Nancy Hixt with Shannon  Madill's last audition

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Tell you a little about me? just a general me um okay i am interning  uh for my radio and television program  

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shannon madill love to perform and truly  came alive on screen a couple of lines  

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does that work for you? a  couple of lines how exciting.

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i'm not sure if i can give you a couple of lines  sir i don't know how i'll be able to do that  

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okay yeah you got it? she spent years  trying to make it as an actress and at 25  

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it was looking like she might finally  land her big break this video was an  

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audition for a role in a tv series it was  recorded november 26 2014. okay thanks

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hours later she vanished

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days went by and there was no word from shannon  

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after more than a week her family  made a plea for shannon to call home  

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this is my sister she's a lovely outgoing girl  and shannon if you see this please you're not in  

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trouble we all love you and we miss you so much  we don't need to know where you are we just want  

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to know that you're safe it wasn't completely out  of character for shannon to be hard to track down  

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but it was unusual for her to disappear for so  many days police said there was no evidence to  

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suggest foul play would the young actress simply  take off could she have been in an accident  

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her family was desperate for answers you are  so loved and you are so missed and we just  

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just please let us know that you're okay wherever  you are shannon was the youngest of four medal  

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children and even as a child she loved performing  oh she loved the spotlight her favorite thing was  

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a microphone and a spotlight from the time she was  tiny shannon was very outgoing even from a small  

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age she loved doing like the plays at the church  and that and the plays at school and she was  

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a real performer she loved to be in front of an  audience performing and that never changed she was  

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just such a little ham she loved to she just loved  to play and be silly of course i'm probably going  

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to tell this story wrong but she met my uncle  when she was about two or three at the airport  

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for the first time and she ran up to him and said  kiss me kiss me like you've never kissed me before

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so yeah she's she's been a ham  since she was really really young  

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shannon played 15 instruments including  the trombone and the french horn

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has it all been worth it here i am the queen

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she was always a bit of a spitfire she like she  that red hair and fiery personality were always  

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very present um and i mean i think that probably  partly just came from being the baby of the family  

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where you can like there's everyone's been through  it so no one's really paying attention to you as  

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much anymore um you know nothing that she could do  could be as worse as anything that's come before  

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her so she kind of had the freedom  to to be a little bit more out there

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after high school shannon went to university  but left soon after to pursue acting  

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i was really really concerned about it at the time  i'm not going to lie as somebody who did used to  

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do a bunch of performing i know how hard it can  be and the scariest part of course is that it's  

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a lifelong rejection you're constantly it's you're  constantly on a job interview really when shannon  

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was 21 she fell in love so she met josh at a party  it was a mutual friends that they were all there  

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and that would have been 2010. i want to say it  was probably about december 2010. josh burgess was  

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the opposite of shannon personality wise so they  seemed to balance each other out for a perfect  

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fit they found a happy medium together because  they both very much enjoyed the quiet times  

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at home they both enjoyed watching tv together  playing video games together some d they had a  

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lot of nerdy interests that they shared and that  was where they were able to have that overlap of  

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interest shannon seemed to really like him so we  all started to really like him we enjoyed having  

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him around and he seemed to make her happy which  made us happy after dating for about four years  

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shannon and josh got married and all of a sudden  out of the blue i got a call on a wednesday to  

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find out they were getting married on the saturday  and that would have been may of 2014. so they were  

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in a car and they decided you know what let's just  get married and they're both super star wars nerds  

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so they decided may the fourth was coming up on  that saturday and they called it justice of the  

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peace and found out that they were available so  they decided they would do a quick wedding at the  

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jp's house in the months that followed shannon was  busier than ever trying to make it as an actress  

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and juggling auditions a lot of those took her to  edmonton a three-hour drive north of calgary so  

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she spent a lot of time on the road commuting  back and forth but she was making it work

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in late november of 2014 she planned  to meet up with her older brother  

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at a calgary dinner theater but shannon didn't  show up i mean the 30th was the day she was  

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supposed to be going to stage west with brett her  brother shannon was a marvelous person she had  

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many things but she was a little flighty at  times and she could you know sort of forget  

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things or that and not necessarily let people  know i mean i sent her a text right away  

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at that point saying where are you you're  supposed to be at dinner with brett and uh  

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and i didn't hear anything back that night which  didn't totally surprise me when i i tried again  

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in the morning and didn't hear anything back and  i thought well you know what she's probably she  

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knows i'm not happy and she probably just wants  to avoid hearing it from me personally so i phoned  

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aaron so on december 1st which was a Monday I was at work i got a phone call from my father saying  

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that shannon had missed dinner with my younger  brother and that nobody was she wasn't answering  

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her phone calls my dad had been calling her my  younger brother had been calling her and she just  

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wasn't picking up one of the things that happened  with shannon is if she get really overwhelmed or  

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depressed she would sometimes completely switch  up her sleep schedule so i thought it was possible  

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that maybe she had fallen asleep in the afternoon  because she'd been doing late nights recording  

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and she'd slept through the dinner and now she  was just too embarrassed to pick up the phone  

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because she didn't want to admit that she'd messed  up so i was i decided to call her hoping that she  

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wouldn't avoid my phone call since i wasn't mad  at her but she didn't answer my phone call so  

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i left her a message saying that you know just  let us know you're okay we're worried about you  

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we were actually out at dinner it was about seven  o'clock on the monday night and aaron says well  

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i've been over to her place i can't she's not  there josh doesn't know where she is and so on and  

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i said hey i think we should go to the police days  later police and family made a plea for help in  

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finding shannon although there are no indications  of foul play it is out of character for her to not  

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be in touch with family and friends and we are we  are all concerned for her welfare shannon's family  

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stood side by side appealing for information about  her disappearance this is josh this is shannon's  

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husband uh this is my mother lisa this is lindsey  our sister-in-law our brother brett this is my  

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other brother tyler and that's my father david  it was surreal i think is the word i would use  

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it almost disembodied you felt like you were  present but you were watching yourself being there

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coming up as police ramp up  their search for shannon madill

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some mysterious photos found posted in a city  park lead to a potential break in the case

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welcome back the family of an up-and-coming  actress who mysteriously vanished  

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search for answers as police investigate new clues  

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and now here's nancy hixt with  Shannon Madill's last audition

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the days that followed are a blur for shannon's  family as they tried to make sense of her sudden  

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disappearance as you're trying to piece together  the story you're you know you start asking  

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questions that people aren't answering like  where you know well where's your car where's  

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her phone where's her purse where like you know  is it still there how the dog is being left at  

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the house like that doesn't make any sense for  shannon the big theory was was oh she probably  

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went up to edmonton and she might just be  laying low with this guy there was no sign  

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of shannon where could she possibly be if she was  still alive why hadn't she contacted her family  

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she hadn't spent any money she hadn't  touched her facebook she wasn't on her phone  

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there was no contact that's when people start to  really get concerned because in this day and age  

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it's impossible to not leave a digital footprint  at least in some manner and to still be able to  

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function it wasn't like she had a whole bunch of  cash laying around she wouldn't be able to support  

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herself nearly two weeks later there was a major  development in the case photos of a woman whose  

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face was covered by her hair and flowers were  found attached to trees in a park in calgary it  

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looked like it could be shannon the resemblance  was enough to spur a massive search of fish  

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creek provincial park one of the largest urban  parks in canada police spent two days scouring  

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the area for clues they even brought in a cadaver  dog dogs specially trained to find human remains  

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i remember those two days while they were  doing those searches your stomach is just on  

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edge um you're so concerned about what they're  gonna find and every time my phone would ring  

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it was like your stomach just drops out because  you think every time the phone rings this is  

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when you find out this is when they found her  she's dead it's over that search came up empty  

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it turned out the photos in the park were  not related to shannon's disappearance  

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instead they were a part of a student art project  those involved came forward to police after seeing  

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the search on the news it was all just an eerie  coincidence shannon was still missing i withdrew  

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into myself i did not want to get out  of bed did not want to eat anything  

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it was it was dreadful it was really dreadful  there's just this oppressive feeling of  

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are you gonna are you going to survive it  let alone what's going to be the outcome  

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i was concerned that if we found her alive  what conditions she would be in what mental  

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condition she would be in police prepared  shannon's family for all possible outcomes  

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there had been an incident that none of  us heard about till after the fact where  

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shannon had called josh from the lrt you know  uh claiming that that she was considering  

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jumping and and that uh the police  had been called and involved in that  

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i became obsessed with the river

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it's almost like you pick the lesser of all  evils and somehow her having a quick drowning  

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became the least horrible answer to me so i  became obsessed with finding her in the river  

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i mean to this day i still can't drive by  the bow river without remembering that police  

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searched the rivers but again no luck it  seemed like the investigation hit a dead end  

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by may of 2015 nearly six months  passed with no sign of Shannon Madill

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that's when veteran calgary police detective  Christina Witt took over the case at the time  

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detective witt was working in the missing persons  unit but she'd worked in the homicide unit before  

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that she's well known for being a determined and  tenacious investigator whit went over every detail  

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of the case and took another look at the  people in shannon's life starting with her  

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husband he seemed like a nice genuine person  he was very cooperative with police they were  

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allowed into the residence with his consent on  at least two occasions and they looked around  

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and didn't see anything suspicious he was always  very cooperative when asked to come for interviews  

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you'll recall josh stood by shannon's family as  they made a plea for help just days after she  

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went missing you know the family was very close to  josh and never once did they suggest that he could  

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have harmed shannon which that also played into it  for us i think because a lot of times the family  

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would be like look you gotta look at her husband  or you gotta look at this and and then we will  

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trust the family's instincts to an extent  as well and look into those things and  

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the family did not think that at all they  he was not on their radar at all they loved  

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josh they trusted josh they didn't have any  reason for themselves to think that he could  

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have harmed shannon that's when police learned  josh wasn't the only man in shannon's life

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coming up would those new revelations  about Shannon Madill's romantic interest  

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help police solve her disappearance  that's coming up after the break

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welcome back police discover  Shannon Madill's husband  

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isn't the only man in her life and she's not  the only woman in his and now here's nancy hixt 

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her and josh we learned very early on  through josh that they had an open marriage  

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they had been married for seven months at  by this time and this according to josh was  

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shannon's idea to have an open marriage shannon  was open with her family about her relationship  

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shannon told me that they didn't have a  conventional marriage and that josh wanted to  

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have a girlfriend on the side and shannon wanted  to keep her options open because she enjoyed  

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having flings aaron said they were committed  to each other just not physically committed  

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in their relationship it wasn't considered  cheating and it was all openly discussed while  

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many might find shannon and josh's arrangement  unconventional aaron said it worked for them  

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i didn't actually have concerns  they had a lot of open communication  

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shannon would actually meet josh's girlfriends  so she was very well aware of who josh was dating  

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and spending his time with so it was very it  was a very open honest conversation that they  

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were both willing to have with each other and  it was respectful on both sides for police the  

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open marriage created some complexities to the  case and more people to look at and investigate  

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could this missing persons case have been foul  play after all so that was also something we had  

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to look at was this could there been harm done to  her by someone that she was dating that we didn't  

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know so there was about seven i think different  people who whether she was acquaintances or had  

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dated that we needed to interview as well  six months into their marriage right before  

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shannon disappeared in the fall of 2014 the  couple hit some bumps in their relationship  

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things got so bad they were ready to call it quits  the very next day josh came home and told shannon  

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that he'd overreacted and he would actually like  to try to work on the marriage after all they  

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decided that the best way to work on that would  be to focus only on the marriage and they agreed  

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that they would close off the marriage until they  sorted through what was going on but closing the  

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marriage wasn't so easy shannon ended up finding  out about a week later that he was still seeing  

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the girlfriend he told shannon that he was going  to break it off and shannon sent the girlfriend a  

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text they always had open communication and open  phones and then about a week later she found out  

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that his phone was locked she asked him to open  it and when shannon opened up the phone she found  

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out that he'd actually been in communication  with the girlfriend and he'd requested to go  

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and break up with her in person and it turned  out in that in-person meeting he actually told  

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the girlfriend that he was planning on leaving his  wife and that she would become the primary partner  

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so shannon was pretty hurt shannon was  incredibly hurt she felt incredibly deceived  

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shannon had some tough decisions to make her  acting career was leading her to edmonton and  

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given the unraveling marriage she decided to move  out as that transition happened they made a point  

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of avoiding each other at their home so there was  a often that she would go out and wouldn't be home  

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for a couple of days and then would come home and  they would miss each other and their schedules  

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were completely different because josh was doing  the nine to five and shannon was usually working  

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in the evenings to do stand-up or she would be  working overnight reading her books so it was very  

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common that they wouldn't actually see each other  during that time on the night she went missing  

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josh told police he spoke to her briefly then  went to bed when he woke up the next morning  

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she was gone investigators said shannon's  footprints of life ended november 27 2014.  

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those are digital footprints like bank  transactions emails texts any normal activities  

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that show someone is still alive in shannon's case  that stopped at about 12 30 a.m on november 27  

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2014 except for some strange phone activity 12  hours later in her alley our tech crimes unit  

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examined her cell phone records and they were able  to determine that on the afternoon of the 27th  

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her phone is out in the alley kind of does a  walkabout in the alley and back into the residence  

192
00:20:44,799 --> 00:20:51,839
and so that was a flag because josh hadn't found  the phone right away but he does notify police  

193
00:20:51,839 --> 00:20:53,759
within a few days that he'd found her phone  

194
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,120
and couldn't really give an explanation of  how the phone is out doing this walkabout  

195
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:05,600
in the alley so she was last seen like in the  early morning hours of november 27th and so then  

196
00:21:05,599 --> 00:21:10,719
this is like 12 hours later in the afternoon  that the phone is out and about in the alley  

197
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:19,279
eight months after Shannon Madill's disappearance  police decided they needed to take another look  

198
00:21:19,279 --> 00:21:24,960
at her husband's story we've now had several  interviews with josh and he's you know the  

199
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:29,680
important time period he's he's vague and isn't  giving a lot of detail and it's not really adding  

200
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:36,400
up the strange cell phone activity in the alley  created suspicion we didn't reveal to him right  

201
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:42,320
away about the cell phone doing the walkabout and  he certainly wasn't offering an explanation of why  

202
00:21:42,319 --> 00:21:46,720
perhaps her phone would be even still on  after that kind of time period right because  

203
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:51,759
cell phones typically the battery  dies so you know there was no um  

204
00:21:53,039 --> 00:21:58,879
real obvious thing but the totality of all those  things together raised the suspicion enough to  

205
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:05,200
believe that yes she could have been murdered  police applied for warrants to seize josh's cell  

206
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,240
phone along with the vehicle they shared the  difficulty was in order to get a court order  

207
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:15,599
you need to believe that offense had occurred and  early on that just that threshold wasn't being met  

208
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:20,640
because of the concerns for suicide and the  family's suggestion that she could just be  

209
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:26,720
away somewhere and not wanting to talk to anyone  by that point police had already searched the home  

210
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:33,279
twice each time they found nothing out of the  ordinary he's definitely starting to look more  

211
00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:40,079
suspicious to us at that point he's our only good  possible suspect at that point we ruled out a lot  

212
00:22:40,079 --> 00:22:44,879
of possibilities by through all those witness  interviews he's the last person to see her alive  

213
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:50,800
during domestic relationships at that point  where they're looking to break up or separate  

214
00:22:50,799 --> 00:22:54,159
those are usually the most  volatile times and so that all  

215
00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:59,519
played into our level of  increasing suspicion of josh

216
00:23:03,839 --> 00:23:08,079
the mysterious missing person's  case was about to take a dramatic  

217
00:23:08,079 --> 00:23:10,879
turn that's coming up on crime beat

218
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:23,040
welcome back to crime beat the mystery of what  happened to Shannon Madill unraveled quickly  

219
00:23:23,039 --> 00:23:27,519
and unexpectedly and now here's nancy Hixt  

220
00:23:29,519 --> 00:23:37,759
on july 2nd 2015 just over seven months after  shannon disappeared detective witt went to josh  

221
00:23:37,759 --> 00:23:45,920
burgess's home one more time this time to execute  the search warrant i knocked on the door and i  

222
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:51,279
called his cell phone and he didn't answer the  first time and but we could hear the movement  

223
00:23:51,279 --> 00:23:55,680
in the room so we also had already identified  but said again you know josh it's the police  

224
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:01,040
we just want you to come to the door we have  a warrant for your cell phone and your car we  

225
00:24:01,039 --> 00:24:04,480
would like you to come out technically we have the  authority to come in but we just want you to come  

226
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:09,599
to the door so that we can talk to you and deal  with this um he answered the phone the second time  

227
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:15,440
and he i felt like he was trying to buy some time  like he was stalling with me and he's like i just  

228
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,759
need a few minutes i need to go downstairs i need  to put my pants on and they're in the wash and  

229
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,360
you know he's kind of upset and he's like well  why do you need to speak to me and i'm trying  

230
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,599
to explain and you know i'm getting a little  frustrated i'm like josh honestly we just need you  

231
00:24:29,599 --> 00:24:34,159
to come to the door we just want you to talk to us  we have this court order come to the door so that  

232
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:39,360
this is a lot easier than it has you know let's  make this easy for you and me and come to the door  

233
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:44,079
and so he's kind of stalling and i think really he  was just trying to figure out what he was going to  

234
00:24:44,079 --> 00:24:49,199
do what his next step was because we caught him  off guard detective witt said what happened next  

235
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:55,200
was the last thing she expected he gets very  upset and starts crying and blurts out to me that  

236
00:24:55,839 --> 00:25:01,039
i killed her i killed my wife i verbalized that  so that the other people with me understand  

237
00:25:01,039 --> 00:25:05,119
what's happening and i'm like i'm sorry  josh can you say that again and he's like  

238
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:10,799
yes i killed my wife and i said you killed shannon  he said yes i killed shannon and so then that was  

239
00:25:10,799 --> 00:25:16,399
just a complete transition they changed the  situation and from that point on we went from  

240
00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:21,519
him just coming to the door to give us  his cell phone to now we need to negotiate  

241
00:25:21,519 --> 00:25:27,200
to get him out of the house safely safely for  him safely for us detective witt kept him on the  

242
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:34,080
phone for an hour and 20 minutes until finally  he came out he wasn't really wearing anything  

243
00:25:34,079 --> 00:25:40,240
other than a pair of underwear and he was covered  in blood which i wasn't expecting josh burgess  

244
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:47,359
was taken to hospital he had used a small like  a pocket knife and had been cutting at his neck  

245
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:54,319
so once he was assessed medically it was  determined that he hadn't cut any main artery  

246
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,759
so he hadn't lost he'd lost quite a bit  of blood but it required some stitching  

247
00:25:59,759 --> 00:26:04,480
he didn't require surgery but then he had  to be held over for a psych assessment  

248
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:13,039
in the meantime police got another warrant they  needed to search the home it was the next night  

249
00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:19,519
after josh was released from hospital that he was  arrested and taken to calgary police headquarters  

250
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:29,680
detective kurt jacobs was the first to try to  get josh to open up hey josh hey doing all right  

251
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:39,440
consider him i'm kirk i know that shannon's dead  

252
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,560
and i also know that you're  responsible for her death

253
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:55,279
i know that definitively what's going through your  head buddy i really miss her you miss her yeah  

254
00:26:55,279 --> 00:27:05,839
yeah look at this picture and tell me  what you would say to her if you could

255
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:14,400
same thing i always said to her yeah what was that  that i loved very much that you love her very much  

256
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:21,279
well into the wee hours of the following day  detective witt went in to talk to burgess  

257
00:27:22,319 --> 00:27:29,439
you can tell me do the right thing for shannon  and tell me but burgess wasn't willing to talk  

258
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:36,960
anymore detectives decided to let him rest but  before they did they let him know one more thing  

259
00:27:37,759 --> 00:27:41,759
the cadaver dogs are finding some  stuff right now so there's a lot  

260
00:27:41,759 --> 00:27:45,119
going on at the house so we're going to  focus our attention on that right now  

261
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,719
and you can have a sleep and someone  will be in to speak with you tomorrow

262
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:59,680
as cadaver dog searched his home  josh burgess slept morning josh  

263
00:28:01,039 --> 00:28:08,480
get any sleep i think so a little bit in the  morning detective jacobs came in with an update

264
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:16,720
we have shannon body she's been  recovered but there's no doubt

265
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,360
you're responsible for the death  of shannon we have evidence you've  

266
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:29,839
already admitted to killing her her  body's been recovered on your property  

267
00:28:31,039 --> 00:28:36,000
police found shannon she had  been at their home all along

268
00:28:38,559 --> 00:28:43,839
did you intend for this to happen josh

269
00:28:46,319 --> 00:28:52,000
can you put your head up for a few minutes  i know it's listen i know this is tough josh  

270
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,759
i know it's difficult for you but i realize that  

271
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:11,839
burgess was again left alone he stared  at shannon's head shot and whispered

272
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,319
josh i just got some stuff here i'm gonna hook up

273
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:32,160
i'm a detective at the home segment a short  time later a third officer detective ray bangloy  

274
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:39,360
took over the interview my goal my purpose of  this interview is try to get the truth out of him  

275
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,759
ultimately this is for for court  purposes and obviously the more  

276
00:29:43,759 --> 00:29:48,799
information we have the better and it's also for  the victim's family so they can understand as to  

277
00:29:49,359 --> 00:29:55,599
what happened and why this happened detective  bang loy is a veteran police investigator and  

278
00:29:55,599 --> 00:30:01,599
wit's current partner he does undercover work  and that's why we're not showing his face  

279
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:10,079
he's well known for his interview skills and for  getting offenders to confess i'm not here to judge  

280
00:30:10,079 --> 00:30:16,799
you detective bangloy had the green light from  the prosecutor to charge him but he wanted to  

281
00:30:16,799 --> 00:30:25,440
give burgess one final chance to tell his side  of the story i came home she was on the couch  

282
00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:38,720
there's a little bit of misunderstanding where shannon believes that josh said break up sex and that's when she kind  

283
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:47,039
of just goes off on on josh and starts saying  very cruel things he mentions um to josh that  

284
00:31:47,039 --> 00:31:57,119
she regretted marrying him that she never needed  him by her side and that he was the worst husband  

285
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:05,200
and just a lot of very cruel things and  after that josh was trying to just calm  

286
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:11,519
her down and actually puts his hand on  her mouth and shannon bites his hand  

287
00:32:12,319 --> 00:32:20,399
and screams i just wanted her to stop talking you  wanted her to stop talking but what was she saying

288
00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:43,039
she said she was disgusted touching you what else did she do what else did she say

289
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:08,880
and what happened i

290
00:34:35,380 --> 00:34:44,977
he choked shannon until she was  lifeless he seemed very remorseful and as he was

291
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:53,519
telling me uh what happened he was he was crying  and very emotional um but once he did get the  

292
00:34:53,519 --> 00:35:00,239
story out you could just tell it was it was  cathartic and it was like a huge weight off his  

293
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:07,279
shoulders you know you think about it eight months  of carrying this lie and betraying the family that  

294
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:15,840
took him in it was a huge emotional relief for  him shannon was gone murdered by her husband  

295
00:35:16,559 --> 00:35:24,000
the entire time she was missing he kept her at  their home while police searched the house more  

296
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:31,280
than once they never looked inside the storage  containers on the back porch he said he put bags  

297
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:39,120
of empty bottles all around her so no one would  notice then just two weeks before his arrest he  

298
00:35:39,119 --> 00:35:50,719
moved her body and buried her in the yard i chose  my lawn because it i just didn't want her to leave  

299
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:59,359
i didn't want to hide her burgess maintained his  silence right up until that day he blurted his  

300
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:06,480
confession out to detective wit he even stood with  the family as they made a plea to the public for  

301
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:15,360
help knowing the whole time exactly where shannon  was i think josh was still very attached to her  

302
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,920
and didn't and this isn't something he'd  ever done before i think he didn't know  

303
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:26,079
what to do with her body and he didn't know how  to really part with her in maybe some ways and i  

304
00:36:26,079 --> 00:36:31,440
don't know if that's what led to him hanging on  to her for so long certainly not something you  

305
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,840
would normally see usually people try to get rid  of the evidence quickly and that's not what he did

306
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:45,280
after the break shannon's family finally  learns the truth about what happened to shannon

307
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:53,840
but would there be justice in her case  

308
00:36:55,519 --> 00:37:01,759
police had a confession but would the  punishment fit the crime in her family's eyes  

309
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:08,640
and now here's nancy hickst with the  conclusion of shannon mcdill's last audition  

310
00:37:10,159 --> 00:37:16,559
josh burgess was charged with the second  degree murder of Shannon Madill her family  

311
00:37:16,559 --> 00:37:23,279
finally began to grieve the loss a memorial is  being planned for this sunday for a calgary woman  

312
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:28,800
murdered earlier this year the family of shannon  madill burgess has been on an emotional roller  

313
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:34,720
coaster first she was missing for months then her  body was discovered and her husband is charged  

314
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:39,919
with her murder nancy hicks is covering this story  and nancy her family wants to celebrate shannon's  

315
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:44,639
life well this family has really been through the  worst possible nightmare first not knowing what  

316
00:37:44,639 --> 00:37:50,079
happened to shannon and then getting the worst  news possible when her body was found so now  

317
00:37:50,079 --> 00:38:03,840
nine months after she was last seen her family  is going to hold a tribute to the 25 year old  

318
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:11,840
the sister will always be there to listen to  laugh to lean on to comfort or simply to care  

319
00:38:13,039 --> 00:38:16,719
there's no one who's more in your corner  and no one you're more grateful to  

320
00:38:17,679 --> 00:38:31,839
there's no better friendly sister  and no better sister than you  

321
00:38:35,679 --> 00:38:42,639
the truth about what happened that fateful night  wouldn't come out until more than two years later  

322
00:38:42,639 --> 00:38:47,920
during the court proceedings good afternoon we  have breaking news from the calgary court center  

323
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:52,720
joshua burgess has pled guilty to second-degree  murder in the death of his wife shannon  

324
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:56,719
global's nancy hixt is at the court with  the latest nancy what can you tell us on this  

325
00:38:57,599 --> 00:39:02,480
well the justice in this case will be passing his  sentence in just a few minutes burgess faces an  

326
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:06,719
automatic life sentence defense and  the crown have made a joint submission  

327
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:10,959
for parole ineligibility suggesting  that burgess served 10 years before  

328
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:15,440
he is eligible for any kind of release there  were tears in the courtroom as the details of  

329
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,079
the killing of shannon Shannon Madill burgess were read  along with emotional victim impact statements  

330
00:39:20,079 --> 00:39:25,199
joshua burgess admits he strangled his wife to  death first with his hands and then his belt  

331
00:39:25,199 --> 00:39:30,639
he then hit her body in a large plastic container  that he kept on his patio for about seven  

332
00:39:30,639 --> 00:39:36,559
months before burying her in his front yard he  waited until the very last second to plead guilty  

333
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:43,360
based off of his behavior with the  murder with everything he did afterwards  

334
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:47,599
the ways in which he intentionally went  around to save his own hide repeatedly  

335
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:55,199
i find it very hard to believe that  his choice to plead guilty had anything  

336
00:39:55,199 --> 00:39:59,519
to do with helping us i believe  it was entirely a selfish decision  

337
00:39:59,519 --> 00:40:03,759
because he didn't want his confession to be aired  and he didn't want to have to sit through a trial  

338
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:12,080
i should clarify because there was no trial the  videotaped confession wasn't played in court the  

339
00:40:12,079 --> 00:40:19,360
first time his confession was made public was on  an episode of my crimebeat podcast about shannon's  

340
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:27,280
case josh burgess was sentenced to life in prison  with no chance of parole for at least 10 years  

341
00:40:28,079 --> 00:40:32,000
no sentence would ever be sufficient to make up  for the loss we've endured i think it's something  

342
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:38,480
that we've all kind of had to to to weigh uh you  know the sense of betrayal of him sitting with us  

343
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:45,600
conversing with us and um you know that i  think just makes it that much more difficult to  

344
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:53,360
to process shannon's family trusted  josh he was like family to them so this  

345
00:40:53,360 --> 00:41:02,960
was the ultimate betrayal the fact that that  he led us on for seven months and was quite  

346
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:09,119
prepared to pretend he knew nothing about it  and let us you know have to live with all of the  

347
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:15,600
the not knowing and that betrayal was really the  only emotion that i felt i was not angry with him  

348
00:41:16,639 --> 00:41:23,920
i was not i didn't want to harm him it was  sadness and betrayal it was how could you do  

349
00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:30,000
this to us and to our family we supported you when  we thought that your wife was missing and you've  

350
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:36,480
done this thing the real gut punch happened when i  finally found out the whole story because at this  

351
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:42,079
point in time i still believed that even if he was  involved it had to have been an accident some way  

352
00:41:42,079 --> 00:41:47,679
i never thought that he actually intentionally  would hurt her but more you have a fight at the  

353
00:41:47,679 --> 00:41:53,199
top of the stairs push her she hits her head on  the way down and he panicked that was sort of the  

354
00:41:53,199 --> 00:42:01,839
narrative that i had up until this point it wasn't  it wasn't an accident he he chose to kill her  

355
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:11,760
josh burgess is eligible to apply for  day parole in july of 2022 shannon's  

356
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:17,600
family plans to attend those hearings so the  parole board fully understands the impact  

357
00:42:17,599 --> 00:42:23,440
of his crime the way i like to describe it is that  there's a little piece of my heart that's died  

358
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:30,960
and that's where she lives and sometimes  i can take it out and grieve over it  

359
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:35,119
and then i can put it away and go  back to what i was doing before

360
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:43,760
shannon used to come to this spot to walk  her dog or take in a view of the city it's  

361
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:51,440
just blocks from where she lived with josh it's  where her ashes are scattered and it's where her  

362
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:59,840
family comes to remember her on her birthday  and raise a glass in her honor she was such a  

363
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:10,480
an amazing funny creative intelligent individual  that i just find it so sad that that that was  

364
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:18,960
taken away and you know i'm selfish i i'm i'm very  sad it was taken away from me i'm sad it was taken  

365
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:25,840
away from all of the family and beyond that i'm  sad that it was taken away from the world that  

366
00:43:27,679 --> 00:43:32,480
because i think she could have done some really  amazing things if she'd been given the time to

367
00:43:34,639 --> 00:43:39,839
the countless home videos of shannon  are treasures her family holds dear  

368
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:46,639
there even just for a few moments  she comes alive again on screen  

369
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:56,000
at the end of her final audition tape recorded the  same day she was killed shannon signs off it's the  

370
00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:04,559
closest thing to a goodbye her family ever got  to hear so so yeah uh that's me uh are we good  

371
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:12,720
thanks i'm gonna go i have to do this editing  thing for tonight you're gonna edit this right  

372
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:24,000
a memorial scholarship was handed  out in Shannon Madill's name in 2019  

373
00:44:24,639 --> 00:44:29,759
the gems for gem charity organization  presented the special award to a survivor  

374
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:35,840
of domestic abuse to honor shannon's  memory with the gift of education  

375
00:44:39,519 --> 00:44:43,519
i'm anthony robart thank you for  joining us tonight on crime week  

376
00:44:46,159 --> 00:44:51,039
want more on this crime beat episode  listen to my crimebeat podcast  

377
00:44:51,039 --> 00:44:56,400
now for free on apple podcasts spotify  or wherever you find your favorite

378
00:44:56,400 --> 00:45:03,840
podcasts


