Mountain State Mysteries contains adult content that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host Mark and sadly I'm solo this week.
Courtney and I already recorded this episode but the audio quality just wasn't up to our
standards because we're both perfectionists. So with her being on the road for work we came
to the decision that it needed to be a solo episode because we didn't want you guys to wait
another week. So this is Mountain State Mysteries.
The case I have for you today is part two to last week's episode. This is the case of Michelle
Shelley Michaels. Where we left off in part one we told you all about Shelley and Jimmy's life
leading up to his murder. On Tuesday morning Shelley arrived to work at 6 30 a.m. shockingly
early for her shift. She made sure that she was seeing pinching Reggie hours on the bus then she
checked into the nurse's station which she never did. She called Jimmy's cell phone around 7 30 a.m.
Reminding him to pack lunch for the kids because Kylie wouldn't like what was on the school lunch
menu that day. Shelley also made a point to call the home phone to see if anyone would pick up.
After this she told the clerk at the pediatrics wing that she left her pager in her car
and that she would be right back. The clerk thought this was really odd because Shelley never wore
her pager. At 8 11 a.m. she was seen on security camera leaving the parking lot of Ruby Memorial.
Shelley and Jimmy only lived a mile away from the hospital and his staff started to get concerned
when he wasn't at the office yet. Like we said in part one he was the first to show up in the
last to leave. By 8 a.m. his staff were ready to do something. In all honesty they weren't just
concerned about Jimmy but he had an appointment to set up a sleep apnea machine for a newborn baby
that was being released from the hospital. They knew it wasn't like Jimmy to miss an appointment.
When they called they were worried because they knew Jimmy always had his cell phone on him
and that he would always answer. At this point Bobby Teach was out for a delivery.
The office manager called him and explained what was going on. She asked if he could stop by his
house to check on him so he did just that. He drove over to check on Jimmy. Do you ever find
yourself searching for a true crime podcast focused on West Virginia? Well I have you covered. I'm
Mark Covey the creator of Mountain State Mysteries where every Friday my co-host Courtney and I
will tell you about one of West Virginia's coldest unsolved cases. Tune into Mountain State Mysteries
on your favorite podcast platform.
Two utility workers who were on Kalarney Drive noticed smoke coming out of Jimmy Michael's
home. They called 9-1-1 around 10 27 a.m. Around 10 27 a.m. the windows to the upstairs
bedroom blew out. Smoke and flames started to flood out the windows. When Bobby arrived to
check on Jimmy the police and fire departments were on the scene. Bobby saw that Jimmy's car was
still in the garage. He started to scream that Jimmy was in the house. He ended up being so upset
that they put him in a patrol car. Around 10 35 a.m. Bobby tried to call Shelly even though
Shelly went back to get her pager he couldn't reach her. So Bobby called his wife Kelly to see
if she could get a hold of Shelly. Finally Kelly got a hold of Shelly. She had to call the hospital
to even get a hold of her. Kelly told her that her house was on fire and that she needed to
leave work to get home. So Shelly calmly told that to the clerk of the pediatric wing that she needed
to leave and what all was happening. Instead of leaving right then and there she went to her office
and called Jimmy's cell phone and left another voicemail. This time she said that the house was
on fire. When the clerk saw her leave she said she wasn't in a rush to leave. At the Michaels home
firefighters had finally made their way back to the bedroom. They realized that there was a body.
So they knew they had to put out the fire to protect the body which was already severely burned.
So they called detectives to the scene. Detective Paul Masinot and fire lieutenant Ken
Tennant walked into the bedroom. When firefighters told the detective that there was a body on the
bed he had trouble even seeing it. Jimmy's body was burned past recognition but when the smoke
cleared out of the room he finally saw Jimmy's teeth. They also saw that there was a trail
from the bedroom to the bed. Basically you just didn't know that there was a fire if you were
anywhere else in the house. By now Shelly had shown up and it said that she was acting crazy
hysterical even. Rob Angus her ex-husband heard about the fire and dropped everything he was
doing and rushed over to the scene. He was there comforting her while detectives told her that
her husband was killed. However they did notice one thing about her. She had no tears. I mean
I know everyone handles shock differently but this made detectives and even seasoned firefighters
think that something was just off. She was taken to a neighbor's house and she laid on the couch
under a blanket. She would stay there and family and friends came to see her and check on her.
Detective Mesonaut questioned Shelly's ex-husband and her new lover Rob and Bobby Teetz who both
knew Jimmy well. Both of the men were upset with what happened. They both told Detective Mesonaut
that Jimmy did not drink. He didn't do drugs and that he would never commit suicide. He went on
to question other people that knew Jimmy and they all said the same thing. That Jimmy was a strong
religious man, a hard worker. There was no reason to believe that he would ever do this to himself.
However one reason Detective Mesonaut kept pushing was due to the way Jimmy's body was
positioned on the bed. It's like he was just asleep. His body wasn't found in the position of
someone who would try to escape a fire or even one that had been burned. What was left of Jimmy
shown that he was asleep on his back and that he never moved. To Detective Mesonaut this seemed
impossible but Jimmy was a trained respiratory therapist and he worked in medical supplies.
So maybe Jimmy injected himself and somehow started the fire but the arson investigators
did not believe this is what happened. By 12 30 p.m. Jimmy's parents got to the scene. The police
were able to stop Ruth but they couldn't stop Denny. He had to see what happened to his son but
he ended up getting into a fight with a police officer and he didn't make it into the house.
So they decided to go see how Shelly was. They both noticed that she was just laying there,
that she wasn't crying or upset. Everyone noticed the lack of emotion coming from Shelly.
To everyone it was honestly unsettling. While Detective Mesonaut was questioning Jimmy's ex-wife
Stephanie she was extremely emotional. She described her relationship with her ex as good
but she did say there had been some problems and she did not lie about the CPS investigation
after Jimmy whipped Drew. She insisted that Jimmy was a great father. While Detective Mesonaut went
to talk to Shelly she snapped at him for talking to everyone but her first. He honestly found her
to be calm and trying to control the scene. Shelly's own mother described her as very detached.
The entire time Ruth was there she was watching her daughter-in-law like a hawk. Ruth said
quote she just sat there she didn't cry she just sat there end quote. When Carrie Whitaker one of
Jimmy's oldest friends walked in Shelly's first words to her was I love your outfit did you get
it at b-molce? Another friend asked Shelly if she could get her anything and she replied with a new
husband. Investigators found out that it would be hard to move Jimmy's body from the bed without
causing it more damage. It's like he was melted into the box spring. One leg was burned to the
point that it was completely gone with other body parts. A hole was in Jimmy's chest that was caused
from extreme temperatures basically causing a blowout to happen. So investigators did notice
one thing about Jimmy's body. His muscles never contracted like they would if you were conscious
while being burned alive. While they were taking his body to the ambulance his father Danny begged
them to stop so he could look at his son. They told Danny that he would be unrecognizable but
Danny knew when they took him to the morgue he would never see Jimmy again. Jimmy's mother Ruth
said the hardest part for her was that she never saw Jimmy after the fire and that it just didn't
feel real to her. When they got Jimmy's body to the morgue for his autopsy most of his skin had
burned away however there were still a few patches on his back and not all of his organs were burned.
They knew Jimmy was dead before the fire there was no snot in his throat his sinus cavities
or his lungs. No carbon monoxide was found either which they knew would have been there if he was
breathing when the fire started. So they tested the blood and tissue from his heart and they sent
it all for toxicology testing. They also got his dental records so they could officially identify him.
While everyone was going to the neighbor's house to check on Shaley, Dan, Stephanie's husband went
to be with her to help her with all of the kids. This is when he noticed Shaley and Bobby Teetz
laying under a blanket together. He also saw Shaley and Kelly going over Jimmy's insurance
which to me is just insane knowing what just happened and knowing everyone is there. Back
at Shaley and Jimmy's house they found out the fire burned so hot that it would take a lot of
testing so they brought in a canine dog that was trained to sniff for accelerants. The fire
burned so hot that the headboard basically became engulfed and burned through the flooring which was
honestly the only way you could tell there was a fire downstairs. There were six places that the
dog alerted to accelerants. They were all in the bedroom. It was all around the bed where Jimmy's
body was found. They saw that the bed was really the only thing that sustained the fire so they knew
for sure that the bed had been doused in accelerant. So after talking to the detective, Reggie was a
friend who went to the next level. He called a friend at the hospital and asked him what kind of
drugs they should look for. It was actually one of Jimmy's friends, Dr. Mike Farrabee. He suggested
several drugs and which one would work the fastest but he did mention one in particular,
a paralytic drug called freconium which is given to patients before they are intubated for a
respirator and I actually had Courtney google this to tell us what the drug was about. This is what
she found out. According to drugs.com, freconium is used to relax the muscles. It works by blocking
the signals between your nerves and your muscles. It's given before general anesthesia and preparing
you for surgery. It helps keep your body still during surgery. It also relaxes your throat so that
a breathing tube can be inserted easily. Dr. Mike Farrabee also said that the drug was easily accessed
at the hospital because it was not a narcotic. Especially in the pediatric intensive care unit
where Shelly worked at Ruby Memorial. Dr. Farrabee said that it just sits out to where anyone can
grab it. So he put together a list of drugs to give to Detective Mesonaut. While Detective Mesonaut
was talking with Jeremy Miller, Jimmy's friend from church, he told Detective Mesonaut about the
anonymous box Jimmy received in the mail that had Shelly sweater in it. He told him it accused her
of cheating. After this interview, Detective Mesonaut knew he had to go interview Bobby Teetz.
During the interview, Bobby went over the relationship between the couples and talked about
how all four of them were really good friends. He talked about the embroidery business. Him
and Shelly were going to start, but he never talked about the affair they were having. He did say that
he wished the fire was an accident and that he hoped Jimmy died peacefully. He said quote,
It bothers me every day just thinking about it. I would be happier to know that he didn't suffer.
I would be able to sleep a lot better. End quote. I'm not sure if Bobby knew that him or Shelly
could be suspects in Jimmy's death, but he had an alibi so the police weren't looking at him too
hard. But one thing they did want to find out was his affair with Shelly. Detective Mesonaut
wanted proof about the Chicago trip Shelly and Bobby took. So after his interview with Bobby,
he called the hotel to confirm there had been only one room booked and he arranged to have
surveillance cameras checked immediately. So now Detective Mesonaut sat down with Bob Angus,
who also told him to test for drugs. Ironically, Bob also had a connection at Ruby Memorial. His
sister Shannon Ruby, who was one of Shelly's nursing supervisors, she told Rob to tell the
investigators that they needed to look for one drug for Cognum. The fact that two different men,
who had no idea the others said this, both told the investigator to look for one specific drug,
basically told the investigators that they really needed to look for it. Reggie Bonnell decided to
have his own conversation with Shelly. He played along, acting sympathetic, gently questioning her
on what she really thought happened to Jimmy. She told him that she was afraid that she left
an iron on in the bedroom and that she felt really guilty about it. Reggie told her that an iron would
not have caused that type of fire, but Shelly being Shelly insisted on that the fire was caused by
that. So what Reggie did after his talk with Shelly, he immediately called Detective Mesonaut and
told him everything. After the fire, Shelly was staying with Jimmy's parents in Cumberland,
Maryland. A friend called her and offered to collect Shelly's mail and bring it to her.
Shelly casually said to just look for an envelope from Morgantown Bank & Trust. It would have been
a bank card from the Memorial Fund. That was the only mail she wanted to see. That Saturday,
Jimmy's obituary appeared in the newspaper, the same day of the visitation and funeral. The family
arrived first. Shelly insisted on seeing Jimmy's body. Shelly insisted on seeing Jimmy's body.
However, the funeral director refused. He said that she should not see him in this condition.
Jimmy's father actually told Shelly that he saw him and that she did not want to see him.
Shelly was outraged and started to cause the scene. She said she didn't care the state of his body.
She wanted to see it. Carrie Whitaker was at the visitation. She not only watched Shelly herself,
but many of the people her and Jimmy grew up with, walked up to her and asked her what in the world
was wrong with Shelly. Carrie later gave her own opinion to detectives, saying Shelly just seemed
cold. Drew, Jimmy's son, was inconsolable at his father's visitation. He sat on top of the closed
casket, talking to his father. Stephanie went to try to talk to her son. Shelly threw another fit,
and said she wanted to be alone with her husband, and that everyone needed to get out. Shelly would
even complain after the funeral about Drew. After the visitation, Shelly would ask Jimmy's parents
if Bobby and Kelly Teets could spend the night at their home. She was spending the night again,
and just wanted as much comfort as possible. They agreed to let them stay, and of course,
Jimmy's family had their own suspicions about Shelly. For now, they just wanted to keep peace
with Shelly. After everyone went to bed, Denny was still up. He couldn't sleep, so he decided to
leave the house for a bit. When Danny came back, he didn't want to use the front door in case he
would wake anyone up. So he used the basement door, and that's when he called Shelly and Bobby hugging,
and Bobby was kissing Shelly on the cheek. When Shelly saw him, she pushed Bobby away.
She would end up pretending that Denny didn't see them together. At the funeral the next day,
Drew was sobbing hysterically. Stephanie was crying as well, and when she looked over at Shelly,
she saw that there was no emotion whatsoever. The funeral was very heartbreaking, and no one could
believe that Shelly was showing no emotion. They said that she just seemed so damn cold.
The next Monday, Ruby Memorial granted Shelly a six-month leave of absence. While she did next
was head straight to the insurance agent. First thing that morning, Shelly was there to get the
instructions on how to fill out the paperwork to file a claim so she could collect the life
insurance policy. She had to go to Jimmy's office because he owned 55% of the company,
and she needed his partners to buy him out. Monday afternoon, Shelly would hesitantly agree to a
memorial service in Morgantown. She tried to fight going and tried to get out of it, but Jimmy's
family insisted that his local friends and co-workers wanted to say goodbye. She finally agreed,
but she made them move it to the following day, making it hard to publicize so everyone would
know. Shelly being Shelly was adamant that they just need to get it over with. The morning of
the memorial service, Shelly met with the pastor, Reverend Goodwin, and of course she brought Bobby
Teets with her. The two were holding cans in the office the entire time, as Reverend Goodwin went
over the plans for the evening. Reverend Goodwin just saw that Bobby could have been family,
but kept growing more and more uncomfortable with how close the two were. He said,
I honestly felt like they behaved more like lovers than friends. He also talked about how
Shelly had no emotion about the entire situation. He said that she had no interest in giving input
on the planning and told the Reverend to just take care of it, which like anyone else found,
to be very odd. Jimmy's parents arrived early that evening for the memorial service. They were
meeting with Detective Mesonaut. Denny basically told him that he thought Shelly killed Jimmy. He
even said that he thought she drugged his son. Denny definitely did not know the tips that everyone
was giving Detective Mesonaut. It was just Denny's intuition. Detective Mesonaut came to the service
so he could observe her behavior. He said that he saw Shelly was not just detached, but she was
overly irritated during the entire service. The next day Detective Mesonaut had interviews set up
with both Shelly and Bobby. He set them up back to back with Bobby going in first. Shelly would
just be sitting in the waiting room wondering what Bobby was saying. Now police had the videos from
this Chicago hotel, as well as the footage of Shelly leaving the hospital the day of the murder.
It wasn't long into Bobby's interview until he broke. He immediately confessed to the affair he
was having with Shelly. He said that he was not in love with Shelly and wanted to stay with his
wife. He said that him and Shelly had sex numerous times and he also talked about the trip to Chicago.
He wanted the affair to stay a secret, but detectives told him it couldn't. Bobby would be
required to testify at the trial and that it would just be smart to break the news to Kelly now.
When Shelly got into the room, they immediately told her Bobby's confessions. She denied the
affair and started to detail their trip to Chicago, saying that the one room was just to save some
money, saying it was a sweet and that Bobby slept on the couch. Detective Mesonaut accused her of
lying and Shelly would not admit to anything. So he brought up the fire. He told her that Jimmy's
death and the fire were both suspicious and she showed no emotion at all. Then he said the fire
was caused by Arson and she replied, quote, you're joking, end quote. He told her about the blood and
tissue samples that had been sent off. He told her, quote, we pretty much have an idea from the
autopsy on how he died. In quote, she said, okay, can you tell me? Detective Mesonaut was playing
hardball with Shelly, basically acting like Shelly's friend. During the entire interview,
Shelly was even calling Detective Mesonaut by his first name, which was Paul. He begged and begged
her to come clean, just to unburden herself to help herself by telling the truth. She finally
said that she understood how her and Bobby's relationship could be misunderstood, that she
insisted that they were just friends and nothing more. Detective Mesonaut started to ask about the
day of the fire. He asked Shelly to walk him through everything that happened. She told him the same
story as before. When she arrived to work, making her rounds, the trip to the car for the pager,
none of her story changed. Detective Mesonaut started to ask about the fire, then said, quote,
I have a feeling you know, Jimmy didn't suffer. End quote. Shelly said she had no idea what he was
talking about. This went on for about two hours, and Shelly did not break down and confess.
After the interview, Shelly called Bobby and she asked him what he said. Bobby lied to her and said
that he hadn't told police anything. But after their conversation, he never really spoke to her
again. He went home and confessed everything to his wife, Kelly. He was now fully willing to
cooperate and wanted to save his marriage. Kelly was actually shocked about his confession. After
this, Bobby wanted to take a polygraph exam. He knew that he was a suspect and he really wanted
to clear his name. He passed. Next, it was Shelly's turn to take a polygraph. Sergeant Merrill,
a polygraph examiner with more than 20 years of experience. He watched Shelly's interview with
Detective Mesonaut through two-way glass. He watched her try to control and manipulate the interview.
When Sergeant Merrill got into the room, he used the same method, just pretending to be her friend.
He even called her honey, saying he understood she was upset. This was just the interview before
she was hooked up to the polygraph machine. Detective Merrill wanted to get Shelly shaken up
before he started the exam. The first time he called her off guard is when he told her that
there was camera footage of her leaving the hospital. She actually appeared shocked, but
quickly regrouped. Then she told him that she remembered that she had decided to move her
Ford Expedition into the parking garage because it was raining. So Sergeant Merrill pointed out
that her car was gone for about 17 minutes. Then it showed her walking back inside, just not from
the parking garage. She was like, yeah, I drove around the garage for a while, unable to find a
spot before returning to the parking lot. He then asked her if she by chance went to her house. She
of course said no. She was certain that she didn't. He asked if anyone had seen her at the house.
That day, and she said no. Shelly said she did not leave the hospital. Then he tried to catch
her off guard when he asked her why Bobby Teet said they had been having an affair. She denied
the affair by saying she had no idea why he would say something like that. After the first set of
questions, he explained how the polygraph worked. He told her that the two tubes go around her
thioortic and abdominal area to monitor her breathing and a cardio cuff on her arm to watch
her blood pressure. Then he showed her a set of numbers on a piece of paper and told her to circle
one and then to put it in her pocket. He told her he wanted her to lie about that number to tell
him a completely different number. As he would read them off, she was to say no to each one. After
she was done, he told her that she picked number five. Now Shelly was scared. She honestly didn't
want anything to do with the polygraph at this point. He picked her number. He knew the number
she lied about. So she asked to stop the test. So while he was unhooking her, she confessed to the
affair. Shelly said, quote, listen, I'm not taking your polygraph, but I'll be honest with you.
I did have the affair, end quote. I think Shelly just thought she would walk into the room,
make the interview go the way she wanted and pass it with flying colors.
When Sergeant Murrell picked up on the very first lie, it honestly had nothing to even do with Jimmy.
She was shaken and bolted. She left the room and went back to the room with Detective Mesonaut.
A few minutes later, Sergeant Murrell joined the two. The tone of the room switched and became
accusatory. The detectives told her that they had an eyewitness that saw her in the driveway at 8
20am the morning of the fire. Shelly didn't even flinch. She kept saying that she never left the
hospital grounds. The thing is, Shelly knew detectives weren't lying. So the neighbor Shelly was told
about was actually a respiratory therapist at Ruby Memorial. Shauna Loob had been coming home from
working the night shift. Ironically, he was also a volunteer firefighter. It was raining when he
got home and he lived down the street from Shelly. When he got out of his car, he smelled smoke,
but it wasn't like normal chimney smoke. He knew that it was the smell of a house fire,
so he walked around his house and he knew it wasn't his. He stood in the driveway and looked
around at the neighborhood. He couldn't see anything. The reason he couldn't see anything
is because the house wasn't on fire. It was just the bed Jimmy was in. So he decided to go inside
and shower. Then he came back out and decided to drive to the firehouse. He could still smell
the smoke. He just had no idea where it was coming from. Around 8 20am, he passed Shelly at the
stop sign at the top of the hill on the road. He knew her as a neighbor and a co-worker. So he
waved and Shelly ignored him. He honestly wasn't surprised by this. In the hospital, she was known
for her moods, though he didn't think anything of it. And he continued to drive to the fire station.
He confirmed that nothing was called in about the fire on his street. Then he fell asleep in his
bunk. He was woke up around lunch by another firefighter who told him about the fire on
Kalarney Drive, just a couple houses down from his. So he called his friend Reggie Hours,
who told him that Jimmy hadn't made it to work. Sean told him that it was weird because he smelled
smoke earlier and that he saw Shelly. But there wasn't anything on fire at the time. Reggie didn't
say anything else and hung up. A few minutes later, Detective Mesonaut called Sean. Do you ever find
yourself searching for a true crime podcast focused on West Virginia? Well, I have you covered. I'm
Mark Covey, the creator of Mountain State Mysteries, where every Friday my co-host Courtney and I will
tell you about one of West Virginia's coldest unsolved cases. Tune into Mountain State Mysteries
on your favorite podcast platform. Reggie actually called Detective Mesonaut with another tip.
Shelly definitely wouldn't have known that the tip was Sean. So all she did was stare back at the cops,
showing no emotion whatsoever. Sergeant Murrell said, Holly Gott was a cold stare while Detective
Mesonaut tried explaining how he would word it to the prosecutor. That there was a fire and Shelly
had 17 minutes that were not accounted for and that they knew she was lying because they had
a witness who saw her. But Shelly being Shelly just stuck to her story and she didn't budge.
Sergeant Murrell asked Shelly how long her drive was to work. She said 10 minutes. He said, really?
Then she changed the time saying it was probably more like five minutes. Detective Mesonaut spoke up
and told Shelly that he tested the drive himself. He had made it from the hospital to Shelly's home
in four minutes. He said he waited in the driveway maybe three or four minutes. Plenty of time to
run in the house, douse the bed in accelerants, strike a match, then leave and went back to the
hospital and he actually beat the 17 minute time frame. Detective Mesonaut and Sergeant Murrell
spent the next few minutes playing good cop and bad cop with Shelly. Detective Mesonaut was playing
the good cop which made sense because Shelly was still calling him Paul. Sergeant Murrell told her
that she should trust Detective Mesonaut because he was the only one on her side and that there
was no way they could explain those 17 minutes to a jury without her cooperation. After almost two
and a half hours of interrogation, Shelly did admit that she did leave the hospital grounds that day
but she claimed that she just had to pick something up for her son and take it to his school. So I think
she realized quickly how bad this live was because both detectives asked her why she went to the
house for her. She quickly said that she never went in the house, that she actually decided,
that she didn't need it so they asked her why she needed it. She ended up finally saying that it was
the paperwork that she needed to fax to the importer financing. Then they asked her why she
didn't go inside the house and get it. She said that all of a sudden she realized that she had it
with her so she turned back around and went to work. The most important thing of this is the fact
that they got Shelly to admit that she did leave work and went to the house that morning. Right at
the time her co-worker and witness started to smell smoke. The detectives had her now. They kept
asking her why she lied. They kept asking her why she lied and she said that she didn't want her
boss to find out that she left the hospital and that she was scared she was going to get in trouble
again. Sergeant Murrell asked her if she wasn't more scared of getting arrested. Then he informed
her that they knew the fire was no accident and that they knew Jimmy was dead before it even started.
They knew that she was lying, that she was the number one suspect and then he left the room.
After six hours Shelly left the station. She was trying to play it cool like she was innocent
with Detective Mezzanot who continued to play good cop with her. She insisted that she only
left out the affair with Bobby out of embarrassment. She also said she left out going to the house that
morning because she felt guilty for not going inside. She said if she had only gone inside
she could have saved her husband. Later Detective Mezzanot and Sergeant Murrell both agree that
Shelly was one of the most arrogant, cold, and calculated people to have ever interviewed in
20 years. Shelly went to her parents' house that evening and told her mother that the police were
just trying to scare her. Her mother Kathy Goots was actually scared. She said we need to get you
an attorney and she got on the phone. The next morning Detective Mezzanot got a call from a
prominent defense attorney from Clarksburg named Tom Dreyer. Tom told Detective Mezzanot that he
was now representing Shelly and she would no longer be answering his questions. Bobby Teach would go
in for a post polygraph interview. Even though he did pass there were still some red flags. The
investigators believed him when he said he felt guilty because of the affair and he feared Shelly
killed Jimmy so her and Bobby could be together after his death. Around Christmas time Bobby took
another polygraph exam. This with the information on his movements that morning helped police clear
him as a suspect. Shelly was of course going on with her life as if she wasn't the main suspect
in the murder of her own husband. She would go by the house and pick some things up. On December 13th
she met with the insurance company again who told her that the payout was not intimate because
the fire was considered suspicious. So Shelly agreed to be questioned on tape. Now she mentioned the
iron theory. She told investigators that she ironed a shirt for that morning and sometime before
she had noticed that the iron was an automatic switch off if none of the features were working.
She thought that she possibly just left it on and it fell over. This isn't the first time Shelly
tried to use this theory. She told it to Reggie Owars and he thought it was crazy but that was
her story for now. She said the only phone call she could think of was to Carrie Whitaker,
Jimmy's closest friend. So Detective Mesonaut wanted a phone interview. Carrie said that she
spoke to Jimmy once a week on the phone and they would never miss a call. She provided Detective
Mesonaut with as much information as she could. She even told him about Shelly trying to force him
to have another child. She also gave him the clinical analysis of Shelly's behavior at Jimmy's funeral.
After this Tom Dreyer, Shelly's attorney gave interviews to TV shows and the author John Glatt,
who wrote the book Plain with Fire. In all honesty, his book was one of the many resources we use for
this episode. You can either buy it or listen to it on Audible like I did. Tom Dreyer said
when he first met Shelly at his office, he left the room for a moment and he left his coke on the
table. When he came back into his office, he'd be damned before he picked up that can of coke
again after it set their unattended with Shelly. He told John Glatt, quote,
the first thing that catches your attention are her Charles Manson eyes. She's the only woman I've
met in my life with absolutely black hole eyes. Look right into her eyes and tell me it doesn't
send a shiver down your spine. In quote, on December 23rd, the Dominion post ran the story
about officials being back on the scene, which prompt the claim that Shelly had no right to
be in her own house. That Christmas, Jimmy parents had to keep up the front and see her.
Drew, Jimmy's son actually refused to even be around her. Ruth and Steve, Jimmy's brother,
went to dinner with Shelly. Shelly was mad that Drew and Denny wasn't there. Steve said that she
was bubbly like you never thought she lost her husband less than a month ago. On January 9th,
Shelly turned in a 34 page handwritten summary of everything she lost in the fire to the insurance
company. Here are a few things that she claimed. $40 for her framed wedding vows, $72 for a basket
of nail polish. She listed the number of socks Jimmy kept in their drawer. The second week of
February 2006, Jimmy's talk screen came back and he tested positive for the drug Braconium,
related to the drug Braconium. That was the drug that everyone told them to look for. The blood
from Jimmy's heart contained a high level of the paralytic drug, so they sent off the liver
tissue for further testing just to be sure. On March 4th, the second toxology report came back
and Jimmy's death certificate was changed by the chief medical examiner. Jimmy's cause of death
was now listed as homicide by unintentionally lethal dose of Braconium by another person.
And of course, I had Courtney Google this drug too and this is what she told me. According to
Drugs.com, Braconium is given prior to general anesthesia while preparing you for surgery.
Braconium helps to relax your muscles and keep your body still during surgery. Braconium also
relaxes the throat, allowing a breathing tube to be placed for those who need a mechanical ventilator.
A few days after the death certificate was changed, Denny Michael actually got a copy of it in his
mailbox. They sent it to him by mistake. The police were actually relieved that Denny got it
instead of Shelly. Denny said they better go arrest her or he was going to go down there
and find out why. Finally, the criminal complaint was written up for Michelle Shelly Michaels.
The same afternoon, a magistrate signed an arrest warrant and Shelly was picked up. Shelly went before
the Morgantown Magistrate Court and was granted a $100,000 bond for the arson charge. Shelly would
be transferred to jail before she could even be considered for bond on the murder charge.
That charge was up to the Circuit Court Judge. The next morning, the headline for the Dominion
Post was wife charged with murder. Shelly Michael also accused of arson in fatal suncrash fire.
The following morning, Shelly was granted a $350,000 bond by the Circuit Court Judge. Six days
after her arrest, Shelly's parents posted the full $450,000 bond. And Shelly walked out of jail.
She was supposed to stay confined to her home and be electronically monitored. However, it wasn't long
until the citizens of Morgantown started to see Shelly. She found every single way possible to
get around her restrictions. She was allowed to go to the doctor, work, and the grocery store.
But that was it. Shelly was also seen around the mall and even talked to the officer who
checked her monitor about moving the monitor to her thigh. Just so it wouldn't show when she wore
a dress. No one would hire Shelly after this. Shelly had to take a job in Clarksburg. She
continually got caught where she shouldn't be and she was finally put in front of the judge.
The judge said that she violated regulations. It wasn't serious enough to revoke her bond.
The hit show 48 hours set up camp in town, getting interviews with anyone they could. Soon after the
affair with Bobby Teetz hit the headlines. Now Shelly was hated by the public. The citizens of
Morgantown started to call the sightings of Shelly the Shelly sightings because of how often they
happened. Do you ever find yourself searching for a true crime podcast focused on West Virginia?
Well, I have you covered. I'm Mark Covey, the creator of Mountain State Mysteries, where every
Friday my co-host Courtney and I will tell you about one of West Virginia's coldest unsolved cases.
Tune into Mountain State Mysteries on your favorite podcast platform.
Tom Dreyer, her attorney, said that she tried to control every single aspect of her defense.
Writing up her own briefs, character analysis of Jimmy's friends and family. She even wrote the
closing statement that she wanted Tom to use. The only thing that Tom and Shelly agreed on
was that she would have to testify. Tom said, quote, it's a right she has, but 12 people in the
jury don't give a shit. Their immediate reaction is son of a bitch. This person's got something to
hide. End quote. Shelly would spend weeks rehearsing at Q&A sessions with Tom and his associates. They
won a very important motion of getting the trial moved to Charleston, West Virginia due to the
publicity. The Morgantown investigators had called the state police, FBI, and the AFT to figure out
how the fire was started. The AFT would compile seven different models for their trial, all of
which saw the same exact thing. The problem no one could understand was how the fire could smolder
for hours after Shelly was seen at 8.20 a.m. Before the workers saw the smoke at 10.30 a.m. and called
it in. The AFT models found out that the fire needed oxygen. Shelly did make a mistake. She had
closed the bedroom door with the door and the windows being closed. There wasn't much oxygen
to feed the flames, but when the headboard finally fell through the bottom of the floor,
that left enough oxygen in for the room to become engulfed and finally blow out the windows.
Police and firefighters had been to the scene and quickly put it out. The AFT were able to prove
that the bed Jimmy was on could have smoldered for over two hours until it got enough oxygen to
engulf into a full on fire. The last Shelly sighting was in June of 2007. Shelly was seen
getting her nails done. The state put on a strong case. The evidence was circumstantial.
The sighting of Shelly at 8.20 that morning from the hospital cameras, the drug used to kill Jimmy
was at her disposal. Her affair with Bobby Teet. All of this made her look bad, but it didn't
prove that she killed her husband. There really wasn't any physical evidence to tire to the crime
scene. Despite the syringe being found, which had no fingerprints on it, knowing Shelly being a nurse,
she wore gloves while she injected Jimmy. One thing that they did find at the crime scene
was the syringe cap under the bed, which is actually normal. I know you're probably like,
Mark, how is that normal? Well, from our research, nurses usually never recap a syringe,
so it was just normal for Shelly to leave it on the floor under the bed, which I'm sure she never
thought of again thinking that the house would just burn down. In all honesty, prosecution wasn't
100% sure if they had her or not. During our research, we actually found the journal from the
jury and we were shocked. Not everyone was fully convinced that Shelly killed Jimmy. One juror
wrote about how slowly her story unraveled and they could not believe the lack of emotion coming
from Shelly, especially when photos were shown. They said that they could hear Jimmy's family sobbing
in the courtroom and that they just saw Shelly sitting there with no emotion on her face.
They said that she was busy writing notes to her attorney, but she took the stand. The jury said,
at that point, they really tried to convince them that the huge amount of evidence they had on
her was wrong and that she couldn't have done it. However, no amount of pre-trial training with Tom
Dreyer could stop the real Shelly from showing up on the stand. She doubled down on three ridiculous
scenarios of the crime itself, even saying that Jimmy committed suicide. When Shelly stepped down
from the stand, they were horrified but no longer conflicted. Michelle, Shelly Michael, was convicted
of first-degree murder and arson. In the jury journal, it did say they did stay out for a few
days because initially they were split, but going back over all of the testimony there was no doubt
that Shelly killed Jimmy. At her sentencing, Shelly was allowed to make her statement and she went on
about self-pity and told the jury that a life sentence for her was also one for her children.
Jimmy's family was also able to make a statement. They were powerful, but what was said to be the
most devastating statement was a letter from Jimmy's daughter, Jacey. Shelly Goetz has a cold
blooded heart and an evil mind. I hope you give her the maximum by law." The judge agreed with this
and also sentenced her to 20 years for arson to be served consecutively, meaning that she might get
paroled after 15 years for the murder. She would still have to serve 20 years for the arson though.
After the sentencing, Shelly stood up to get a final word, quote,
I mean no disrespect. I am not cold. I am not calculated. And I did not kill my husband,
end quote. The judge replied, you're guilty and innocence is not the issue. It has already been
decided. There was a website called Justice for Shelly. We tried to access it through a system
and sadly we couldn't. However, there is still a Facebook page ran by Kiley. There are some
emotional posts on there, but there's not much on it. In 2023, Shelly made headlines again. She
had been serving her life sentence at the Lincoln Correctional Center, Mongagalia County Circuit Court
in front of more than two dozen people being represented by Tom Brzezinski. He argued that
Shelly's then attorney Tom Dreyer insufficiently, constitutionally defended her and provided an
effective counsel. Shelly's defense had until March to file all of the necessary paperwork
in attempt to get her a new trial. From there, the state of West Virginia will have until August
of this year to answer if it is found out that he did not constitutionally represent Shelly.
She will receive another trial and Tom Dreyer will be called to testify.
If this happens, we will be the first to update you on the case of Michelle Shelly Michaels.
This is a part of the podcast where Courtney and I usually share our final thoughts.
And typically if it's a solo episode, I don't do it. But I wanted to tell you guys that Courtney
actually sent me this case during season one and that this case has been one of the longest ones
we covered. In the middle of writing the script for part one, I send a text to Courtney and was like,
yo, this needs to be a two-parter. I do believe that Shelly is guilty and I believe that she was
used to getting everything that she wanted. I believe that she is still doing that in prison
today. If she does go back to trial in August, I will be glued to my phone and everything else
just so we can update you guys on this case. We will be back next week with a brand new episode.
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Thank you.
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