More Shauna

​Shauna's obituary added more facets to her past life. She came out of the education shute fully prepared to enter the world of education. She went into the Watertown, Massachusetts, school system as a student teacher and then never left. Some neighboring towns paid more, but she stuck with her hometown, where she was raised.

That tells me that she valued where she came from and her family and believed enough to stay in a fight to win. Did she stay in her marriage too long because she was a fighter?

It's not hard to imagine that she realized an early dream of teaching right where she went to school. She was rising through the ranks as a school administrator as well as a long-term teacher when she was cut down.

There were no arrest records, articles in local newspapers or even a property transaction during the early stages of her life in the school system. From what I can see, Shauna realized her dream and was living it.

It was a good dream until she met Mr. Right. James, Jimmie Vassilios.

The color he added to Shauna's life was the kind nobody would welcome, and I'm sure her family was collectively scratching their heads as articles in the daily town paper became common.

About a year and a half after Shauna's graduation, the police broke up a domestic altercation at an address linked to Shauna.

Back in the day, when local newspapers covered local crime, they wrote extensively about events that affected a community, and in this first article, the author wrote that “the victim looked like she had two contusions near the eyes.”

Allow me to translate: Jimmy decided that Shauna would look better with two black eyes and he was generous with his fists to Shauna's face.

What a charming guy. Love is funny, isn't it? There were two more police responses to the address shortly after the first one. 

Shauna's and Jimmie's engagement announcement appeared in the same paper a few months later.

In Shauna's engagement, all of her education accolades and current employment are listed. Jimmie Vassilios graduated from the local school system; according to the notice, he sold Ford cars at a local dealership.

There is nothing wrong with a man who works, but when you scratch a little deeper, you see that Jimmie Vassilios has had multiple arrests in his past for assault and battery, burglary, petty larceny, accepting stolen property, and check fraud. It's funny to think that back in the day if you wrote a bad check, you could potentially end up in the papers.

So, did the love and care of what was, in my mind, a very good woman keep Jimmie Vassilios out of the local jail and newspaper?

Tango and I hopped into the truck and saw Shauna's sister, Maria.

I looked closely at Maria. She resembled Shauna in every respect, though she was a few years older than her dead sister. Maria was nice, clearly sad about her sister's death, and ready to talk about Jimmie.

At this point, for the sake of the case, I have to be mostly honest with who I speak with.

I told Maria that I was going over all the things about her sister's murder and that I was not a cop but a Private Investigator,

“I do things that Police Departments don't have time to do right now.”

I learned that Shauna's whole family hated Jimmie for all the obvious reasons. What Maria told me was all too common in these situations.

“Shauna loved him. He had ambitions and dreams. He was good-looking, and it looked like he worked hard.”

“He had a temper when he drank, and unfortunately, he drank all the time.” She added.

"He tried to straighten out at one point, and it looked good. He got a union job in a shipyard in Maine."

 The commute was long, but “Jimmie told Shauna that it kept him out of trouble.” It's better when I stay on the rails; every day is the same.”

They eventually bought a condominium in a small town in New Hampshire, which eased his commute but also created one for Shauna.

This was the first time, except for college, that Shauna was out of her hood.

Shauna and Jimmie had a child, and then whatever normalcy the couple had went away.

Instead of going home to help with everything, Jimmie picked up the old habit of stopping in a bar for “just one after-work beer.”

According to Maria, on most nights, he wouldn't get home until after 11 and then have to get up at 4 to go to work.

There was one spousal battery arrest during this marital bliss, and it was the one that caused Shauna to smarten up.

She realized that “This was not normal.” according to Maria.

With the help of a victim's advocate in New Hampshire, Shauna broke away from Jimmie permanently.

Jimmie got served all the right papers, and things moved on schedule. Court dates happened, things were signed and a direct deposit was initiated onto Jimmie's Shipyard paycheck.

He was out of all responsibility to Maria and his daughter except monetary.

I looked at Maria as she relayed all these items that painted a pretty good picture of a man with a possible reason to be angry enough to kill his ex-wife.

Was Maria making Jimmie out to be worse than he was?

I don't think so.

I asked Maria about what she knew about Shauna's life when she was in college.

Maria offered that she did not think Shauna had a boyfriend, and when she was not studying, she would go out with her dorm mates.

I asked Maria if "She knew which dormitory Shauna lived in?"

She said, “Abernathy,” and she had spent a weekend there once, which was nice.

I didn't mention the tape left in Shauna's kitchen because the police had not yet mentioned it.

My last question to Maria was if she thought Jimmie could kill Shauna. Her answer was interesting, off the cuff, and not practiced.

"If he ever killed her, it would have been an accident and done in anger. The police are positive this was premeditated, and there was anger but not the flash anger Jimmie was capable of."

"I don't think he did it."

Two Days Later - Exeter, Massachusetts -The Office of Fulvio Oscar Rodriguez III - Police Chief.

Oscar Rodriguez was angry. One of the investigators in the Vasillios murder case went to speak to the sister of Shauna Vasillios and was put in check by Maria the sister.

“I already told all of this to Thomas Allston and honestly I don't like your tone.”

Fulvio was speaking to his peers on this case. The Chiefs of Lexington P.D and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Who the fuck is Thomas Allson, and what the fuck is he doing in my God Damn Case?"

The Chief in Lexington knew the Chief in Exeter, and he held back a laugh during this conference call.

The new Cambridge P.D. Boss, also on the call, was named Marcia but was formerly called Frank, and was offended by the language and tone of Oscar.