A gunfight in the middle of the night left Texas jeweler Ted Shaughnessy dead in his home. His wife, Corey, was the sole survivor. Was it a random attack, a robbery gone wrong, or a murder conspiracy? CBS News Chief Correspondent Jim Axelrod and Producer Jenna Jackson discuss Corey’s emotional journey to realizing her own son had hired hitmen to kill her and her husband for money. This episode of "48 Hours Post Mortem" originally aired on January 16, 2024. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened during the Shaughnessy home invasion?
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Chapter 2: Was Ted Shaughnessy's death a robbery or something more?
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Welcome to Postmortem. I'm your host, Anne-Marie Green. And with me today are CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent Jim Axelrod and producer Jenna Jackson to discuss Shootout at the Shaughnessy's. Thank you so much for joining us, guys.
Thanks for having us.
Yes, thank you. The thing about this hour is, you know, the story starts off one way and it ends in a way that's completely different than you expect. There's a break in at Ted and Corey Shaughnessy's home in Austin, Texas. Ted is killed, but his wife, Corey, actually survives. And initially, it seems like this could have been, you know, a robbery gone wrong.
But as the police start investigating, it looks more and more like this is an inside job. So before we get into the discussion, let's just hear a quick recap of the broadcast.
Before dawn on March 2nd, 2018, intruders entered the home of Ted and Corey Shaughnessy, killing him and one of the family's Rottweilers, Bart. Corey says she shot back and called 911. I'm in the closet.
There were shots fired. Help me. Okay, we're helping you, ma'am. Help me.
Paul Salo and James Moore of the Travis County Sheriff's Department say bullet casings were scattered on the floor. We had .40 caliber and .380. It was a hell of a gunfire. At first, Corey Shaughnessy thought it was a botched robbery. The family business had made them wealthy.
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Chapter 3: How did the police investigation unfold?
Moore says he noticed something about one of the men that made him freeze the video. Something he was wearing. A green Anderson t-shirt. Window company. A window company. This feels like a break and it only happens because you isolated a frame of the video from the security camera? Yeah. He and Salo drove to the window company where their hard work ran into more good luck.
By sheer coincidence, an employee's daughter said she'd actually met the man in the freeze frame. Apparently, he'd only worked there for a few days, four years earlier. And this woman still remembered his name. Sergeant, what are the odds of a hit like this on the identity?
It was crazy that we got that break.
OK, so that was a lucky break for sure. Right. But it's not just luck because I didn't even I couldn't even figure out why he zeroed in on that T-shirt. Something about it stuck out to him.
Yeah. You know, this is sort of one of the controlling principles of police work. But this case in particular, luck is the residue of design. Right? The harder you work, the luckier you get.
I mean, you can say luck all day long, but unless Detective Moore is staying on this to the degree he did and kept this behind in the chair in front of the screen and went over and over, they would have missed it.
Jim's exactly right. They left no detail unturned and they searched and searched to figure out who this guy was and thankfully found somebody who remembered him from four years earlier, you know, so it's pretty amazing.
It still makes my hair stand up in the back of my neck. That's how they broke this case.
That shirt would not have jumped out at me enough to follow up on. Oh, yeah.
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Chapter 4: What was Nick Shaughnessy's relationship with his parents?
You're describing kind of the delicate balance, all the different thoughts that go through your head. And that's part of the reason why I was so impressed with your approach to him, because you did ask the questions that the outraged viewer would ask, but not in a way that would stop him from answering your questions. Yeah. So I want to play part of your interview with Nick.
He very quickly accepts what he did, but accepting what he did is different than taking accountability, right? So, Jim, here's what you ask Nick.
Were you at all thinking, what am I doing?
Of course. It was always in the back of my head, like red flags, like stop.
The back of your head? Why not the front of your head?
I guess the validation or approval from Jackie.
So that's when I was like, there it is. Best moment ever, Jen. Yes, there it is. Because the whole time I'm thinking, geez, he seems, you know, really ready, willing, and able to take responsibility for this.
Somebody said to me, and this is the highest compliment I think I've ever received. They said, man, that was disappointed dad vibe.
Oh, yeah. So as I was watching the interview with Nick, I kept on thinking, why am I unsatisfied with his answer? He's taking responsibility. I know. But I still feel unsatisfied. And it's because you don't say those words without breaking down, without tears in your eyes, something.
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Chapter 5: How did Jenna Jackson approach interviewing Jackie?
And Corey says there is no point responding to an apology. She was never meant to hear.
In my mind, I am supposed to be dead. And so I'm a ghost and ghosts can't speak.
It's such an interesting way of phrasing that feeling.
It gives me goosebumps every time I hear that, you know, as a parent. I mean, I just don't know how you accept that news and then how you deal with it.
You heard Nick's bloodless, almost pulseless tone when he was apologizing to his mom. It's like robotic. And then Corey, who's working hard to keep it all together all these years later, still, you could hear the emotion in her voice as she's, you know, sort of, I'm not even going to respond because I'm supposed to be dead.
Like, she has to still, every day of her life, try to make sense of the absolute senseless.
Do you believe Nick's apology?
I mean...
He's sorry he's sitting in prison for 35 years.
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Chapter 6: What challenges did Jim Axelrod face interviewing Nick?
I have never heard of it. I think it's sort of brilliant. I mean...
It is brilliant. It is. However, there are the other 364 nights of the year.
That's right. I mean, it's still it still seems like getting off easy compared to her cohorts who are every night in prison. But, you know, I did think it was an interesting thing that was in addition to this probation that I have never heard of before.
Well, it was a great hour. Fantastic storytelling, incredible interviewing. Thank you so much for joining us this week.
Thanks for having us.
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