Circle of Friends

Summary

Cold Case Files: "Circle of Friends" – Detailed Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Cold Case Files
• Host: Paula Barros
• Guest Contributors: Detectives, Forensic Experts, Witnesses
• Episode: Circle of Friends
• Release Date: June 24, 2025

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Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "Circle of Friends," host Paula Barros delves into the harrowing cold case of Shannon Siders, an 18-year-old girl whose brutal murder in Newaygo, Michigan, remained unsolved for over two decades. This case exemplifies the relentless pursuit of justice by dedicated investigators and the pivotal role of community involvement in solving heinous crimes.

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The Disappearance of Shannon Siders

The story begins on the evening of July 17, 1989, when Shannon Siders vanished without a trace. While her single father, Bob Siders, was working the night shift at a local bottling plant, Shannon spent the evening with friends. Upon his return, Shannon was nowhere to be found.

Carolyn Siders (Shannon’s Father) at [02:19]:

"17 July. That was the last time I saw Shannon alive. I was working for Pepsi Cola on third shift. I started at midnight and I got out at 8:30 in the morning. And when I came home, Shannon was nowhere to be found."

Determined to find his daughter, Bob undertook extensive efforts to locate her, including distributing missing person flyers and mobilizing the community.

Witness at [03:15]:

"There were so many different things that Bob did to get the word out about his daughter. He did everything he could in his power to say, hey, my daughter is missing. What do you know about this?"

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The Initial Investigation

Detective [Name] explains the immediate steps taken by law enforcement, highlighting that eight individuals were the last to see Shannon alive.

Detective at [01:33]:

"There were eight people that last saw Shannon alive."

Forensic experts noted possible signs of sexual violence and aggression in Shannon's injuries, suggesting a violent confrontation.

Forensic Expert at [01:20]:

"You're either dealing with a sick son of a bitch or somebody trying to dispose of some evidence."

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Finding Shannon

Nearly three months after her disappearance, Shannon’s body was discovered on October 15, 1989, in the Manistee National Forest. The severity of her injuries underscored the brutality of the crime.

Carolyn Siders at [08:04]:

"I never viewed her. Didn’t want to for the pallbearers. I had some difficulty with that because I felt that whoever killed her knew her..."

The community grappled with the shocking reality that someone they knew could perpetrate such violence.

Witness at [10:06]:

"It was scary because when you think about something like this could happen in a small town, it could be your neighbor, it could be the person right next door."

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The Long Cold Case

Over the years, the case grew cold with scant leads and dwindling investigative momentum. Shannon's family remained steadfast, refusing to let the case fade into obscurity.

Carolyn Siders at [19:08]:

"There's not a day goes by I don’t think about her... Somebody knows something. I knew I had to keep it out there in the public's eye."

Despite relentless efforts, the absence of substantial evidence and the passage of time made solving the case increasingly challenging.

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The Reopening of the Case

In August 2011, a renewed determination by a new administrative team led to the formation of a cold case task force dedicated to solving Shannon’s murder.

Forensic Expert at [19:55]:

"I started in Newaygo as chief in 2000. Part of the reason I took the job in Newaygo was the case. I wanted the case solved."

Amy Bonner, a former police receptionist, joined the task force, driven by her personal connection to the case.

Amy Bonner at [20:19]:

"Finding those responsible for the murder of Shannon was the reason I became a police officer."

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Gathering New Evidence

The task force embarked on comprehensive victimology interviews to reconstruct Shannon's life and identify potential motives and suspects.

Pat Hedland at [20:38]:

"First thing that we do is we need to learn who Shannon Siders is... studying our victim to see if Shannon or Shannon's lifestyle will lead us to her killer."

A crucial discovery was the absence of Shannon's class ring, which was typically worn on her right hand, hinting that the perpetrator might have taken it as a trophy or evidence.

Forensic Expert at [21:12]:

"The ring is missing. This was something that was held back. The police didn't advertise this. If we could find the ring, we could find the person that killed Shannon Siders."

Amy Bonner’s relentless pursuit led her to create a Facebook page to generate new tips from the community, capitalizing on the rise of social media.

Amy Bonner at [22:10]:

"I never did stop thinking about Shannon... My motivation behind it was justice for this family."

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The Breakthrough and Conviction

A pivotal moment came when Jenny Corrigan, a friend of Shannon, came forward with crucial information after years of silence.

Jenny Corrigan at [27:20]:

"I was so caught off guard. She's crying hysterically, telling me the story about what happened and what she had seen."

Jenny revealed that on the night Shannon disappeared, she witnessed Dean Robinson and Paul Jones interacting suspiciously near Shannon’s location.

Detective at [34:03]:

"Dean and Jenny were able to describe exactly what happened that night."

Further testimonies linked Paul and his brother Matt Jones directly to Shannon's murder. The discovery of Shannon's class ring in Paul's ashtray solidified the case against them.

Lindsey Bradley at [28:47]:

"She saw a female class ring in the ashtray in Paul's vehicle."

Faced with compelling circumstantial evidence and corroborative testimonies, Matt and Paul Jones were arrested and subsequently convicted.

Matt Skip Jones was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Paul Jones received a conviction for second-degree murder, resulting in a 30 to 75-year prison sentence.

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Impact and Conclusion

The resolution of Shannon Siders' case brought long-awaited closure to her grieving family and the community of Newaygo. Carolyn Siders expressed profound relief and vindication.

Carolyn Siders at [36:42]:

"We got justice. Shannon finally got the justice she deserved."

The case underscores the importance of continued vigilance, community involvement, and advancements in forensic technology in solving cold cases. Paula Barros concludes the episode by highlighting the enduring hope and determination that eventually brought justice to Shannon Siders.

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Notable Quotes:

• Detective [01:25]:

  "There were eight people that last saw Shannon alive."

• Amy Bonner [22:10]:

  "I never did stop thinking about Shannon... My motivation behind it was justice for this family."

• Carolyn Siders [36:42]:

  "We got justice. Shannon finally got the justice she deserved."

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This episode of Cold Case Files eloquently demonstrates how perseverance, combined with modern investigative techniques and community support, can illuminate the darkest of mysteries, bringing peace to those left in the wake of unsolved tragedies.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Detective]

It was especially shocking for an 18 year old girl to be brutally murdered.

[Forensic Expert]

You're either dealing with a sick son of a bitch or somebody trying to dispose of some evidence.

[Witness]

Was I obsessed? Absolutely I was. I did receive death threats, but I wasn't about to stop.

[Detective]

There were eight people that last saw Shannon alive.

[Amy Bonner]

One of the kids knew something about the case. Someone was lying.

[Narrator]

When an investigation runs out of leads, it becomes a cold case. Years pass and hope fades. But for the families of the victims, these cases are never cold. The truth takes time. In Newaygo, Michigan, single father Bob Siders leaves to work the night shift at the local bottling plant in 1989. His only daughter, 18 year old Shannon, spends the evening with friends. When Bob returns home the next morning, Shannon is gone and the town of Newego would be haunted with the question for 25 years, who killed Shannon Siders?

[Carolyn Siders]

17 July. That was the last time I saw Shannon alive. I was working for Pepsi Cola on third shift. I started at midnight and I got out at 8:30 in the morning. And when I come home, Shannon was nowhere to be found. I made a few phone calls to a couple of friends and asked if she was with them, called some parents to find out if possibly they knew where Shannon was. I actually went outside and hollered around the neighborhood because sometimes she'd be around the neighbor's house, and there was no response. I finally went to the local state police post and reported her as a missing person. My daughter, she was a typical young child growing up, you know, inquisitive. When she was younger, my wife decided she didn't want to stay married anymore. So we ended up getting divorced, and I got custody. So I ended up raising Shannon. She was missing. Let's find her and bring her home.

[Narrator]

Amy Bonner is a former police receptionist.

[Witness]

There were so many different things that Bob did to get the word out about his daughter. He did everything he could in his power to say, hey, my daughter is missing. What do you know about this?

[Carolyn Siders]

I had missing person flyers printed up and sent copies of the flyers to every police post in the state.

[Narrator]

Pat Headland is a cold case detective.

[Forensic Expert]

There were a lot of sightings around town. People that knew her came in to the police and said, I saw her, and they were certain that it was her. One of the tips that came in indicated that there was a Shannon hiding out at a drug house in a nearby town. The girl was hiding from her father, and she didn't want to go home. Police go out to the dope house. This is a small community. How many Shannons could be hiding from their dad? Unfortunately, it wasn't the right Shannon.

[Witness]

After Shannon went missing, people are talking. Rumors are flying. I was 15 years old, working at the sheriff's department. I answer a phone call. The voice was excited. He was almost yelling into the phone. He said, I just killed Shannon Siders.

[Detective]

And.

[Witness]

And then he hung up. I didn't know what to do, and I just started crying. The detective at the time talked to me about the phone call.

[Forensic Expert]

It was chased down extensively, but nothing came from it.

[Witness]

At the time that phone call came in, we had only known that she'd been missing. I thought, my God, maybe Shannon had been murdered.

[Narrator]

Mike Stevens is a cold case detective.

[Amy Bonner]

It was labor day weekend of 1989. Two individuals were out in the woods, kind of in the middle of the forest where it was off the beaten path. And they came across two separate pieces of identification.

[Forensic Expert]

The cards both had Shannon's name on it.

[Narrator]

Adam Mercer is a cold case detective.

[Detective]

One of the Michigan state troopers went out to the location where these cards were found. In addition to the cards, there was a pair of blue jeans.

[Amy Bonner]

If the jeans do belong to Shannon, then that would lead me to believe that something probably pretty bad had happened to her.

[Forensic Expert]

The area where these things were found, they called it the hole in the woods, was A well known party spot for local kids.

[Carolyn Siders]

I'd gone out there myself in my teenage years, but didn't know that that was the spot where they went.

[Forensic Expert]

Bob Seiders went out and looked in.

[Carolyn Siders]

The area and I, at that point was fearing the worst. I was looking for either a body or a grave to talk about ESP and communicating with the dead. I believe in some of that. I think some people have that ability, not everybody. And I've determined that I don't because she didn't say, dad, I'm over here.

[Narrator]

It's now October 15, 1989, three months after Shannon's disappearance.

[Forensic Expert]

The south end of the Manistee National Forest. This is the same location where Shannon's two pieces of identification had been found a month earlier. In western Michigan, deer hunting is a big deal. So a hunter was walking back into the plantings of the red pine plantation. The hunter went to the state police post in Newego and reported it.

[Carolyn Siders]

We got a phone call about 10 o' clock and my girlfriend at the time, Linda, answered the phone and.

[Amy Bonner]

I.

[Carolyn Siders]

Had trouble with this part. And she said, one of us to talk to, she was the owner of a local bar and restaurant that we frequented. So she gave me the phone and she said, bob, they found the body up here and they could see it and the police are looking for you. I said, okay. I got to the state police post around midnight. They were waiting for me. And I talked to Detective Miller. He told me had I gone up into the wood line, I would have found her. That's where she was.

[Amy Bonner]

Shannon's body was found almost three months to the day from when she was reported missing. Local medical examiner was brought in. The injuries were examined thoroughly. She had several injuries in several different locations. She was brutally beaten and ultimately the cause of death was blunt force trauma to her head.

[Detective]

There was evidence to suggest that she had been victim to rape due to the position. She was found on her back with her legs somewhat spread.

[Amy Bonner]

Her shirt was pulled up above where her breasts would have been and her panties were pulled down and were only around one leg.

[Forensic Expert]

The skin around her perineum, around her genitalia appeared to have been incised or cut. There was some mutilation. You're either dealing with a sick son of a bitch or you're dealing with somebody trying to dispose of some evidence.

[Carolyn Siders]

I went to the local funeral home and made the arrangements for the funeral. One thing I knew for sure, she'd been in the woods for three months. I never viewed her. Didn't want to for the pallbearers. I had some difficulty with that because I felt that whoever killed her knew her, not knowing who killed her. How do you pick pallbearers? I didn't use any of her friends, buddies, crowd that she hung with because of that. So I used cousins and they were all females. Nobody knew who did it. So somebody's still out there. And I said, I don't want somebody that killed her to be a pallbearer.

[Narrator]

Julia Liddich is Shannon's friend.

[Jenny Corrigan]

At the funeral, almost the entire high school was there. Shannon was the type of person that you could tell anything to without judgment. She was sweet and caring. I know that we would have always been a part of each other's life.

[Carolyn Siders]

A couple of friends wanted to know if they could write a letter and leave other remembrances in the casket. And I told them they could. They were to Shannon, they were given to Shannon, so I don't know what they said.

[Amy Bonner]

The original investigators had asked the Michigan State Police behavioral analysis team to build a profile to try to find any potential killers.

[Detective]

The profiler unit in Lansing believed that Shanna was likely killed by someone within her peer group and her age group by more than one perpetrator. And there was a good chance that alcohol and drugs were a factor.

[Amy Bonner]

And they said this was most likely a sexually motivated homicide and also that.

[Detective]

She was likely killed by someone that she knew. It had a pretty big impact in the city of Newaygo. Being a small community, it was especially shocking for an 18 year old girl who was well liked, did not have enemies to be brutally murdered.

[Witness]

It was scary because when you think about something like this could happen in a small town, it could be your neighbor, it could be the person right next door. How scary is that? There were so many rumors going around to schools, pointing fingers at different people.

[Amy Bonner]

There are some cases where the person responsible for the murder has taken something from their victim, kept it as a trophy or some type of memento.

[Carolyn Siders]

I knew she had a class ring. I know her initials were on it and I know there was an inscription. It was never found in the house and it was never found where the body was.

[Forensic Expert]

Now they had to go back and build on that timeline that they started based on the missing person's report.

[Detective]

When Shannon was found, there was a forensic entomologist brought in to help try and determine a timeline as to when she was killed. The entomologist looks at what type of bugs and larva are on the body and in what cycle they're in. I would say it's Fairly uncommon to use an entomologist because we don't get a lot of cases where a body is dumped out in the woods and it's not found for weeks or months. People are usually found a lot sooner, even murder victims.

[Amy Bonner]

The entomologist was able to determine that it was somewhere, you know, the last couple weeks of July to the first week of August. Prior to that, the investigators didn't know who she was with, where she had been.

[Detective]

Investigators were looking for the one person that was last with Shannon. And it turns out there were eight people that last saw Shannon alive.

[Amy Bonner]

I was very confident that one of the local kids in that group that night knew something about the case, but they were either afraid to come forward or unwilling to come forward. Now we have eight suspects we have to either confirm or eliminate as being responsible.

[Detective]

Investigators Talked to all 8 of these kids in detail at police stations, on recording for those willing taking polygraphs, and tried to rule them out one by one.

[Narrator]

John Forner is a cold case detective.

[Pat Hedland]

From those interviews, the original investigators are able to develop a timeline backtracking where she was that night. Shannon's father worked third shift in Grand Rapids. So that night, he left the house. At about 10:30, Shannon was still home.

[Detective]

After Shannon's dad goes to work, she ended up meeting up with some people that she knew.

[Amy Bonner]

The kids in this group, they were local kids, liked to hang out, and they'd all kind of gone to school together.

[Jenny Corrigan]

It was a typical group of teenagers whose real focus was partying. I would not have called that group her good friends.

[Amy Bonner]

That group of friends, eight other individuals that were all together that night in three separate cars. They eventually ended up at the hole in the woods, drinking, smoking, driving around the trails in the forest. And later that night, Shannon wanted to go home.

[Detective]

She had been riding around with Levi Pearson and Brandon Sievers.

[Witness]

If there was trouble, his name was associated.

[Jenny Corrigan]

Brandon. She didn't like being alone with him. He just gave you the creeps.

[Amy Bonner]

Brandon Sievers was someone who didn't think highly of a lot of women. People that knew him said that he would often refer to women as sluts and whores and things like that. There are some tips coming in. Saying that Brandon had left town shortly after Shannon went missing made him look suspicious.

[Narrator]

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[Amy Bonner]

There are some tips coming in. Saying that Brandon had left town shortly after Shannon went missing made him look suspicious. Brandon Sievers was brought in.

[Detective]

From what we read in the interviews, Shannon was riding around in the car with Brandon.

[Amy Bonner]

He said that Shannon wanted to go.

[Detective]

Home when the opportunity came up for her to get into a car with someone else, she did.

[Amy Bonner]

Brandon said that he didn't see Shannon after that. The original investigators asked why Brandon had left town and were able to determine that he went out to Colorado just to pick up a cousin to bring him back. It wasn't like he left to move out there to stay away for months. He was gone a day or two.

[Detective]

The kids told investigators that Shannon got into a car with Paul and Matt Jones.

[Pat Hedland]

Paul and Matt Jones were brothers that grew up south of Newaygo. The original plan was that they were going to go back to Shannon's house and watch movies and drink beer.

[Amy Bonner]

The group ended up separating from there, and Shannon was with Paul and Matt Jones at that point. And Paul and Matt, they claimed that they dropped Shannon off at home.

[Detective]

They gave a pretty detailed description of dropping Shannon off at her house anywhere between midnight and 2am they described the house, the fact that there was a porch light on. They saw a TV on, and they even saw Shannon's dog running within the house.

[Pat Hedland]

The original investigators looked extensively into Matt and Paul Jones story.

[Detective]

Investigators retraced the route that these kids drove to Shannon's house.

[Pat Hedland]

They saw Shannon's dog moving around inside of the house.

[Detective]

You could see the TV through one of the windows and that there was a porch light. That led the investigators to believe that what they were saying was truthful.

[Forensic Expert]

The Jones brothers took a polygraph and passed it.

[Pat Hedland]

Everybody in the group was looked at extensively. Those individuals didn't provide anything fruitful to the discovery of who killed Shannon.

[Jenny Corrigan]

People wanted to think that it was a stranger. That would have been the easiest. But the fact that she was found in such a remote spot that was known to local people made that hard to stay with.

[Witness]

Everybody thought somebody else did it.

[Jenny Corrigan]

It changed the way I function during the day. Things like that just didn't happen here.

[Amy Bonner]

The longer an investigation draws out without finding those responsible, you're not receiving as much information and you're not getting as many leads to follow up on.

[Forensic Expert]

Tips slowed way down at certain points. They didn't come in at all. The investigation didn't have any traction. So over the years, the case went cold.

[Narrator]

Carolyn Siders is Shannon's grandmother.

[Carolyn Siders]

There's not a day goes by I.

[Witness]

Don'T think about her.

[Carolyn Siders]

How old would her children be?

[Witness]

Would she be a grandmother by now? We lost a very special person in our lives.

[Carolyn Siders]

It becomes a hole in your heart. She was my only child. I never remarried and I'll never have grandchildren. The fact remained that there was a killer out there among us and nobody knew who it was. I rented a billboard and I got 45 or 50 people on the M37 corridor. But who killed Shannon Sider? Somebody knows something. I knew I had to keep it out there in the public's eye.

[Jenny Corrigan]

You'd get kind of a chill when you would see him. Everybody needed to be careful because things hadn't been solved.

[Narrator]

It's now August 2011, 22 years after Shannon's murder.

[Forensic Expert]

I started in Newego as chief in 2000. Part of the reason I took the job in Newaygo was. Was the case. I wanted the case solved. Shannon's case was like a cancer in the community. It was something that people knew was there. It just never went away.

[Pat Hedland]

We had new administration in our district, and they wanted to put a cold case task force together.

[Amy Bonner]

When I was asked to be on the team, without hesitation, I accepted finding those responsible for the murder of Shannon. That was the reason I became a police officer.

[Forensic Expert]

I've always felt that it was a solvable case if you got the right people and the right information. I agreed with Bob. Someone knows something.

[Pat Hedland]

First thing that we do is we need to learn who Shannon Siders is. We call it victimology interviews. We're basically studying our victim to see if Shannon or Shannon's lifestyle will lead us to her killer.

[Amy Bonner]

We talk to all of Shannon's family, her close friends, her acquaintances, just to.

[Forensic Expert]

Find out who Shannon was through the victimology. It was pretty well known that Shannon always wore her class ring on her right hand. It wasn't in any of Shannon's personal belongings that were left behind at home. The ring is missing. This was something that was held back. The police didn't advertise this. If we could find the ring, we could find the person that killed Shannon Siders.

[Amy Bonner]

For Pat, I Think it was important. If the ring was out there, he wanted to find it. That would be a crucial piece of.

[Forensic Expert]

Evidence, if it still existed. First thing that needed to be eliminated was the ring laying out there where Shannon was murdered. Some years back, I got into metal detecting just as a hobby. I went out many times and looked in that area for Shannon's class ring. Lots of bullets. I think I dug up every bullet within 200 yards of where her body was found. You know, in the back of my mind, I was always hopeful that the ring would show up somewhere.

[Witness]

I never did stop thinking about Shannon. I worked at the sheriff's department during the summer when I was 15 years old, and I didn't stop thinking about that phone call. So I decided, I'm going to solve this murder. My motivation behind it was justice for this family.

[Carolyn Siders]

She basically became like a dog after a bone. She became a detective, and she wasn't a detective.

[Witness]

I'm talking to 10 people a day. Some days, some were very frustrated with me because it's not like I accused everybody, but I looked at everybody like they could have done it.

[Forensic Expert]

It was the talk of the town again. There is no ignoring the fact that social media is now an everyday facet of our lives, and people say things on a keyboard that they may not say in real life. That's why I started the Facebook page. I literally set the page up and bing, instant message from Amy. That's how I met her. She had no concept of what we were doing, and I told her, if you have information, give it to us unfiltered and just give it to us and don't expect anything in return.

[Detective]

Amy Bonner is a civilian. She was working in her own capacity, trying to generate tips, trying to help solve the case.

[Forensic Expert]

People started thinking that Amy organized the Facebook page, and I was more than happy to let them think that.

[Witness]

I received this Facebook message from a gal named Stephanie, and she tells me a story of her family and the possibility that they were involved in Shannon's murder.

[Forensic Expert]

The Hammond family is a local family. They have a bad reputation.

[Witness]

So much incest and abuse and crazy stuff went on in that family. Stephanie tells me that there is a house on the lake that has a creek that runs underneath of it. Stephanie tells me Shannon was raped there by several people after being drugged. Stephanie claims that they kept her there for a couple of days. Then they took her from that location by a van out into the woods, and then they ran her over. So I asked her to bring me there. When she brought me to that house. And I saw that there was, in fact, a creek running underneath that house. My mind is running wild thinking, oh, my God, what did Shannon go through? So if that house has to be true, I knew this had to be it. So I immediately called Pat Hedland.

[Forensic Expert]

All appearances from the street, it's just a normal house on a lake. But as we pull up, there's a creek under it, and it's kind of like, wow, there is a house like that. Maybe something happened to Shannon in the basement of this house. The homeowners, several of the family members, were convicted of serious assaults, attempted murder. The information was that Shannon had been raped in the basement and held for days. But the house has no basement. It's never had a basement. And when we look at the Hammond family, we talk to everyone that we could find in their life. There's no evidence that they had any involvement with Shannon in her murder. Amy was a pain in the butt sometimes, but I can't fault somebody for being obsessed with a case when I'm the very same person.

[Witness]

Was I obsessed? Absolutely. I was. I. I did receive a few death threats. I felt that I was getting the death threats because I was getting close to the truth, but I wasn't about to stop.

[Forensic Expert]

At this point in the investigation, there was still one thing that we wanted to do. We knew that there had been letters placed in the casket at the funeral, and police had never read those letters.

[Pat Hedland]

There was a tip that indicated that there might have been. Have even been a confession letter in Shannon's gasket.

[Amy Bonner]

It wasn't an easy decision to make because that's pretty sensitive to have to bring someone out of their final resting place.

[Forensic Expert]

So with the blessing of Bob Seiders, we actually were wielding shovels and, you know, digging Shannon up.

[Detective]

There were a handful of letters.

[Pat Hedland]

The letters were letters from friends telling her how much they loved her and how they were going to miss her. We didn't find a confession letter, unfortunately.

[Forensic Expert]

And then Mike says, I think we've discovered something.

[Amy Bonner]

She had some hair in her right hand. Glob of hair found in any victim's hand. I would assume that they probably fought back and got it from that person. So we resubmitted these items to have them tested for the presence of DNA to see if they could obtain a profile, something that we could compare to a possible suspect.

[Detective]

But the hair they found belonged to Shannon. There was next to no physical evidence to help us try and link a potential suspect.

[Forensic Expert]

The exhumation was no more disappointing than chasing down all these Leads that needed to be chased down and nothing coming from them. It was a stone that had to be turned over. It had to be done.

[Detective]

During the investigation, we interviewed approximately 400 people. We talked to all the people that knew Shannon. That led us to Julia Liddich. Julia Liddich was a friend of Shannon's.

[Forensic Expert]

Julia had been interviewed by the original detectives, but the information that she brought was not in the original file.

[Jenny Corrigan]

I got off of work at 10 and then I started looking for Shannon. I knew that she was going to run an errand and then connect with me after 10, when I got out of work. The first time I went over there, it would have been about 11:30, 11:45, and she wasn't home. About every half hour I would go over again, knocking on the door. I even went in at one point, ran up to her room and she wasn't there. The last time that I went was quarter to 3am on the 18th.

[Forensic Expert]

Originally in 1989. Paul and Matt Jones tell investigators we took her home.

[Narrator]

This is the audio of Paul and Matt Jones interrogation.

[Carolyn Siders]

We were going to go into Shannon's and drink beer and watch tv. When we got there, she said she was too tired. She was going to go to bed and so we dropped her off. What time of night was it that you last saw her? 12 or one or a little after.

[Amy Bonner]

Well, as we were driving by Smith TV on I seen jump someone was lying.

[Pat Hedland]

From the original investigation, we began finding people that had had contact with Paul and Matt Jones during the time of Shannon's disappearance.

[Forensic Expert]

Lindsey Bradley came up in the original investigation as a friend of Shannon's. She also dated Paul Jones. Lindsey came in and talked to us.

[Detective]

She said that she was in the company of Paul Jones, riding around in his car with her him.

[Forensic Expert]

She saw something in Paul's ashtray.

[Amy Bonner]

She said there was a female class ring in the ashtray in Paul's vehicle.

[Narrator]

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[Carolyn Siders]

Erie, it was raising flags and he.

[Witness]

Said, there's no way that that fish.

[Carolyn Siders]

Should weigh 7.9 pounds. It's just not big enough to a.

[Narrator]

Nondescript office building in Richmond, Virginia, home to a $700 million fund for children with special needs.

[Carolyn Siders]

If there was a cliche list of.

[Witness]

How to blow money that you just.

[Amy Bonner]

Stole very quickly, this guy did all.

[Narrator]

Of them to the ski slopes of Salt Lake City, where a former Olympic snowboarder landed on the FBI's most wanted list.

[Detective]

Ryan James Wedding is one of those.

[Witness]

Interesting Norcos who have had two very.

[Detective]

Successful careers, one legal and one illegal.

[Narrator]

We're pulling back the curtain on a fresh lineup of opportunists who stopped at nothing to get ahead. These are the stories of people who saw a loophole, a moment of weakness, a chance to get ahead, and took it. I'm host Sarah James McLachlachlan. Join me for a new season of the opportunist on May 19th. Follow now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Forensic Expert]

Lindsay Bradley was friends with Shannon. She also dated Paul Jones. Lindsey told us about a class ring that she saw in Paul's ashtray. She confronted him and said, you're asking me on a date when you have another girl's class ring? And then he said, let's face it, she's probably dead.

[Amy Bonner]

Why would he say, let's face it, she's probably dead? It doesn't seem like a normal person would want to implicate themselves.

[Forensic Expert]

That said to me that maybe that was Shannon's class ring that Paul and Matt Jones killed her because of the.

[Detective]

Class ring in the ashtray of Paul's car. We believe they could have talked Shannon into going out to another party spot. But it turns out there was no party. It was just the three of them.

[Forensic Expert]

We believe there was some attempt at sexual advances and Shannon resisted and they didn't want to take no for an answer.

[Amy Bonner]

Every piece of information that came in was pointing towards Paul and Matt Jones.

[Detective]

But it's definitely a circumstantial case at this point. We needed to make a case through confession, eyewitness testimony, any physical evidence. Somebody had to know something.

[Witness]

During this investigation, I talked to hundreds of people and several people told me I should talk to Jenny Corrigan. Jenny Corrigan was always a friend. So I called her, she came over and I said, Jenny, for God's sake, you've been my friend all this time and you know I've been working on this case for years. Are you kidding me? What do you know about Shannon Siders? She tells me she knew how Shannon was killed. I was so caught off guard. She's crying hysterically, telling me the story about what happened and what she had seen. I immediately called Pat Hedlund and said, I have an eyewitness.

[Detective]

Jenny told us she may have seen something relevant to what happened to Shannon that night.

[Forensic Expert]

That's a very unusual statement to make about a 20 some year old murder. Where was she in 1989?

[Detective]

She never came forward because she was worried about retaliation by the suspects. Jenny told us that we needed to talk to Dean Robinson.

[Forensic Expert]

We found Dean and then Dean and Jenny were able to describe exactly what happened that night.

[Detective]

On the night that Shannon disappeared, Jenny Corrigan had not been with Shannon and the group of eight kids. She was riding around with Dean Robinson. They came across a car that was parked. Dean ended up having a conversation with the driver of this other vehicle. While Jenny stayed in the car. Jenny heard the person identify themself as Jones. She overheard the driver say that they were looking for the a girl. This definitely suggests that Shannon had gotten away from Matt and Paul Jones at.

[Forensic Expert]

Some point and now they were hunting her.

[Detective]

Dean and Paul Jones parted ways. Eventually Paul and Matt Jones were able to find Shannon.

[Forensic Expert]

They caught up to her, they beat her bad.

[Detective]

We believe this was a sexually motivated crime. And they took turns raping her and.

[Forensic Expert]

They crushed her skull. It wasn't just an assault. It was brutal enough where they knew that they were killing her. Later, Dean and Jenny came back through and they see the same two brothers standing outside of the car with a girl Laying unconscious or lifeless on the ground. Dean got out, started to run up to see if he could help, and tripped and fell. Dean recognized that it was Shannon, so. And that's when he described Paul Jones coming over and kicking him in the face. Matt Jones is coming around the back of their car with a hammer of some sort.

[Amy Bonner]

And then once Matt had found out someone else was in the car, he decided to retreat.

[Forensic Expert]

After Dean's statement, there's no denying that Paul and Matt Jones killed Shannon Siders.

[Narrator]

Matt Skip Jones was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Paul Jones was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 30 to 75 years in prison. During their original 1989 interrogation, detectives asked Matt what should happen to the perpetrator of the crime if we were to.

[Carolyn Siders]

Find, identify this person that did this.

[Detective]

Do you have any personal preference what should happen to the guy?

[Carolyn Siders]

Yeah. Lock him up for good.

[Narrator]

Pardon?

[Carolyn Siders]

Lock him up for good. Lock him up for solitude. Okay.

[Witness]

I have no doubt that the information that I gave to Pat Hedlund was instrumental in how this case was solved. That day, Pat called me and told me that they were making arrests. I screamed, cried, screamed.

[Carolyn Siders]

You're not supposed to bury your children, but you know your children are supposed to bury you. But life goes on. She would have been 45, but I'm sure she would have had children. She wanted to be a mom. She would have been a good mother. So I would have had grandchildren. I missed all that. All the stuff that goes with your daughter becoming a woman and getting married. Giving your grandchildren the ups and downs of their life. Hopefully they have a better life than you had. But we got justice. Shannon finally got the justice she deserved. This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with.

[Narrator]

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[Carolyn Siders]

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[Carolyn Siders]

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[Forensic Expert]

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[Carolyn Siders]

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[Carolyn Siders]

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[Carolyn Siders]

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