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Who was your favorite character in DIXIE’S LAST STAND?

BODY IN BED Free Dixie fundWhen I wrote DIXIE’S LAST STAND: WAS IT MURDER OR SELF-DEFENSE? I made a concerted effort to limit the number of key characters in this feature-length book for #WildBluePress.

You can find out more about the book and how to purchase it at #Amazon #Kindle by clicking here https://wildbluepress.com/dixies-last-stand-john-ferak-true-crime/

Dixie audible cover

DIXIE’S LAST STAND will be available in audiobook in early February 2015

Sure, there were plenty of names and positions that were paramount to the case. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent David Jobes assisted the Shelby County Sheriff’s Offic.e Iowa Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Julia Goodin handled the autopsy.

Jobes, Dr. Goodin and a host of others were mentioned at various stages within my book, but not in overabundance, either.

All told, there were about a half dozen Iowans who played an enormous role in the outcome of DIXIE’S LAST STAND.

For those of you who have read DIXIE, which character did you identify with the most? Why so?

Was it:

DIXIE'S LAST STAND

Dixie Shanahan talks to her attorney, Greg Steensland

Dixie Shanahan, the long-time domestic abuse victim who suffered multiple beatings at the hands of her wicked husband, Scott Shanahan? Ultimately, Dixie turns to violence herself and steadfastly maintains she killed him self-defense.

Greg Steensland, the Council Bluffs, Iowa, state public defender, was assigned to represent defendant Dixie Shanahan after she was charged with first-degree murder.

Gene Cavenaugh, long-time Sheriff of Shelby County, Iowa, who takes it upon himself to investigate the uncanny disappearance of Scott Shanahan, the life-long Defiance resident, who was first reported missing during the summer of 2003.

Gene Cavenaugh and Matt Hervey

Gene Cavenaugh and Mark Hervey

Mark Hervey, long-time chief deputy sheriff of Shelby County. He was intricately involved in responding to previous episodes of domestic violence at the Shanahan home. He tried to help Dixie break free of the chains of domestic violence and punish the wife-beater husband.

Photo 8 Prosecutor Charles ThomanCharles Thoman, veteran prosecutor from Sioux City who worked for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

Thoman accepted the assignment to handle the prosecution of State V. Dixie Shanahan, including the sensational jury trial in Harlan, Iowa at the Shelby County Courthouse.

Charles Smith III, the southwestern Iowa judge who presided over Dixie Shanahan’s jury trial and her eventual sentencing.

Please post your answers below or in various Facebook’s forums. I am curious to gauge the responses from devoted #truecrime readers like yourself.

Filed Under: Blog, DIXIE'S LAST STAND, True Crime Tagged With: Charles Thoman, Dixie Shanahan, Gene Cavenaugh, Iowa, John Ferak, Judge Charles Smith III, Mark Hervey, Mike Dauplaise, Murder, True Crime Discussions
January 27, 2015 By John Ferak 3 Comments

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Ferak’s WildBlue Press Books

TERROR TOWN USA John Ferak Kindle Cover

TERROR TOWN, USA

During the early morning hours of July 17, 1983, fatigue became a factor for the young couple from central Illinois who spent their day under the hot sun at Marriott’s Great America amusement park north of Chicago. On their drive home, the tired … [More...]

WRECKING CREW Kindle Cover

WRECKING CREW Gives An Inside Look Into Kathleen Zellner’s Efforts To Free Steven Avery

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FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six Wrongful Convictions; A True Crime Thriller By John Ferak

'MAKING A MURDERER' TIMES SIX! If the dubious efforts of law enforcement that led to the case behind MAKING A MURDERER made you cringe, your skin will crawl at the injustice portrayed in FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six … [More...]

Body of Proof Cover-Final

Discredited CSI Commander At The Heart of John Ferak’s True Crime BODY OF PROOF

Tainted Evidence In The Murder of Jessica O'Grady? Jessica O’Grady was a tall, starry-eyed co-ed in search of finding her Mr. Right. Christopher Edwards was a 19-year-old deceitful and darkened soul. David Kofoed was a veteran crime lab … [More...]

Dixie's Last Stand Cover

Readers Asked To Decide “Was It Murder Or Self-Defense?” in DIXIE’S LAST STAND

A WildBlue Press True Crime By Award-Winning Journalist John Ferak Dixie Shanahan had a terribly troubled and abusive marriage in the sleepy little town of Defiance, Iowa. Then one summer day in 2002, Dixie's mean and wicked husband was gone. Some … [More...]

John Ferak’s Books

Nonfiction

True Crime Classics

Buy John Ferak's book Bloody LiesBLOODY LIES: A CSI Scandal in the Heartland (Black Squirrel Booksy Series)
Rural Nebraska is the backdrop for one of the nation's most egregious crime-scene investigation scandals in modern history.
--
Recent Development: BLOODY LIES was selected as a Foreword Reviews' 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award Winner!
--
An hour's drive from Omaha, Murdock, pop. 269, seemed about the last place on Earth to be the setting for one of the Heartland's most ruthless and gory double murders in decades. The little farming town in western Cass County had gone more than a century without a single murder.

The frightening and chilling killings inside the upstairs of the farmhouse captured state news media attention. Residents in the country were filled with fear, panic and outrage. Who killed Wayne and Sharmon Stock? What was the motive?

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John Ferak, author of WildBlue's hit true crime book FAILURE OF JUSTICE, was recently featured on the True Murder radio show with host Dan Zupansky to … [More...]

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John Ferak Discusses FAILURE OF JUSTICE With Host Alan R. Warren on The House of Mystery Radio Show. Listen Here!

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Who was your favorite character in DIXIE’S LAST STAND?