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- [00:02]
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Hi, it's Katie. I'm excited to let you know that you can watch video episodes of Crime House daily Night Watch on Spotify. It's the same gripping true crime stories you've been getting here now with added videos and photos that give you even more depth and detail into each case. Search Night Watch on Spotify and hit follow so you never miss an episode. This is Crime House. She was brutally raped as a freshman in college and for years the system failed her, dismissing her assault, saying there wasn't enough evidence, and then destroying the evidence they did have. But thanks to public outrage and an international manhunt, she is finally getting her day in court. Tonight we're diving into a story that has dominated international headlines after one woman's decade long fight for justice. So let's get into it. A woman goes face to face with the man who sent her the chilling Facebook message, so I raped you. Shannon Keillor was raped in 2013 when she was a freshman at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
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It wasn't until nearly seven years later Shannon got these Facebook messages cleary writing, so I raped you. I'll never do it to anyone ever again.
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Assistant DA that said to me, you know, you're a really pretty girl and you have a lot going for you. Are you sure you want to go through the trauma of a trial? Hi, I'm Katie Rang and this is Crime House Daily, your weekday true crime companion. We follow the cases making headline now where justice is still unfolding. This is a Night Watch episode bringing you today's biggest crime stories. For video, check out our YouTube channel Rimehouse Daily and follow Night Watch on Spotify. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide, guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- [02:33]
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- [03:02]
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Tonight we're talking about the case of 30 year old Shannon Keillor. After Shannon was sexually assaulted as a freshman in college, she did everything right. She reported the assault immediately, got A rape kit done, and even rounded up witnesses. As someone who has worked with victims of sexual assault, there isn't a correct reaction after being assaulted. But despite this fact, many people judge victims or say they don't believe them if they don't take these exact steps after an assault. But despite doing all of this right, the district attorney's office refused, refused to press charges. And years later, when the man who raped her, 32 year old Ian Cleary, sent her a slew of Facebook messages admitting he raped her, the DA's office refused to do anything again. They somehow claimed that this confession wasn't enough for a conviction. So Shannon did what anyone who wants justice in their case should do. She turned to the media for help and publicly shamed the way that sex crimes, particularly those against college students, are handled. After public interest in Shannon's story blew up, police were pressured into actually doing something and finally put out an arrest warrant for Ian Cleary. However, it took an international manhunt over the course of six years to find him. So how did Shannon's life change forever that fateful night in 2013? On December 14th of 2013, 18 year old college freshman Shannon Keillor was gearing up for winter break. She was studying at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. And although she was only in her first semester, she was making a name for herself on the college lacrosse team as a sociable and athletic girl. She was thriving in school, making friends and finding a good balance between fun and studying. And at the end of the semester, she ended up staying at school a day longer than most students because a snowstorm had pushed back her Spanish final. Because of this, she was stuck at the mostly empty campus that Saturday by herself. She took her last exam in the morning and went to grab pizza and drinks with one of her friends who was also still on campus. After, Shannon still had some time to kill before she headed home for break. So she decided to go to a nearby frat party. And at this party she meets 20 year old Ian Cleary. Even though Ian is not a part of the frat, he was let in and started causing trouble. Right away. Ian was harassing a sophomore girl named Katyoun Amir Aslani. Katyun had initially found Ian charming, but pretty soon he started to creep her out, grope her and tell her he wants to take her away. She pulled the classic I have to go to the bathroom excuse many women use in uncomfortable situations and was able to get away from him and ended up running into Shannon. Shannon is 5, 11 and athletic. So she promised Katyun that She would help scare Ian off. But when Shannon confronted him, he just fixated on her instead. He started following her around and getting too close on the dance floor. He ignored all of her hints that she was not interested and tried to kiss her. The harassment was bad enough that Shanna decided to call it a night, and one of her guy friends walked her back to her dorm, which was right across the street. But that wasn't enough to stop Ian and he followed them out of the party. While they walked through the snow, Ian came up to them, pulled out a $20 bill, and said to Shannon's friend, quote, let me have her. Please let me have her. The friend told him to get lost and he walked off. Shannon's friend dropped her safely back to her dorm around 2am and once inside, Shannon finally felt safe. But about 10 minutes later, when she heard a knock at the door, she assumed it was her friend checking on her. But when she opened the door, Ian Cleary was standing there staring back at her. He quickly shoved his way into the room and Shannon knew she was in serious danger. She pleaded with Ian and even texted her friends for help. But nothing Shannon did helped, and Ian proceeded to rape her. And once he finished, he started crying. He said, quote, I didn't mean to hurt you. Did I hurt you? When Shannon says he did, Ian fled the scene and Shannon immediately texted her friends for help. They rushed to her aid and took her somewhere safe to get some sleep for a bit before they went to report the incident the next day. When morning rolled around, Shannon's RA took her to the police station where officers questioned her for hours about the assault. After the police finally stopped questioning her and she was able to officially file a report, her coach took her to the hospital and where she completed a rape kit. While at the hospital, Shannon's parents were contacted and they made the three hour drive from Philadelphia. When Shannon was done at the hospital, her parents took her home for a few days before they brought her back to campus, and they ended up staying for a while so they could keep an eye on her. Meanwhile, Gettysburg College was conducting their own Title IX investigation. As required, they informed Ian that they're looking into the matter. In response, he emailed school officials a generic denial of any wrongdoing. But Ian knew that it wouldn't be that easy for him to get away with what he had done because immediately after sending the email, he dropped out of school and returned to his home state of California. And since Ian was no longer a student, the school couldn't investigate him, which meant the police were the only ones who could do anything. However, they only made things worse for Shannon. Shannon's parents were in town and all three of them met with the police to see how the investigation was progressing. But they were immediately disappointed with what they heard. Shannon's mother, Monica Keeler, got the impression that the police were overwhelmed by the high number of sex crimes at the college because they hadn't made any progress. And that wasn't even the worst of it. Despite Pennsylvania's 12 year statute of limitations on rape, police emailed Shannon weeks after the assault to say she had less than a month to decide whether or not she wanted to press charges. She told them she absolutely wanted to pursue charges and she did everything she could to try and get justice. She and her family emailed and called regularly to push for updates and see if there was anything else they could be doing, but their efforts went nowhere. It wasn't until almost two years after the assault that the Adams County District Attorney, Shawn Wagner, met with Shannon and her family to tell them it would be hard to prove because Shannon was drinking on the night in question. Because we all know that rape can't happen if you're drinking. Classic victim blaming. He also said that the suspect moving back to another state would complicate things even more. But again, you can still charge someone if they're not in the state. Eventually, he told the family that he wouldn't be pressing charges. Shannon and her family were all devastated. And to make matters worse, police destroyed the rape kit Shannon provided. Even though there was still a decade left on the statute of limitations, as far as the police were concerned, the case was closed. But Shannon wasn't done fighting.
- [10:57]
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- [11:29]
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In 2015, a college student, Shannon Keillor, was told that despite having a rape kit collected and multiple witnesses confirming her story, her local district attorney's office was not prosecuting the man who raped her. Shannon had invested two years into trying to find justice, and this system had completely let her down. Seeing the situation play out the way it did not only hurt Shannon, but also everyone around her who tried to help her seek justice. Khadayun Amir Aslani, the girl who Ian Cleary had been harassing earlier on in the night, was hit particularly hard by this news because Shannon put her own safety on the line to help protect her. Khattayoun later came forward to say that she was assaulted by someone else at Gettysburg College about a year before Shannon's case was dismissed. The incident caused Katyu to leave school, and she never tried to file a report. It was an incredibly frustrating situation for everyone involved. For Shannon, the fumbled investigation and the feeling of of not being believed affected her more than the rape itself. She was angry at the criminal justice system for failing her. Although Shannon was disappointed with how things went, she did her best to move on and went to Spain for a study abroad program. She also helped her lacrosse team win a Division 3 National Championship her senior year. And eventually she earned her degree and started her career. Still, the situation continued to weigh on her, and for the next few years, Shannon didn't feel like she knew how to be the best version of herself. But all she could do was focus on the future. And while Shannon was moving on with her life, Ian Cleary appeared to be doing the same. Supported by his wealthy parents back in California, he went on to get his bachelor's degree and master's degree. Then Ian worked for Tesla for a while before he moved to France, where he tried to become a successful writer. He wandered around Europe for a time, and on paper, it seemed like his life was going well. But deep down, Ian has dark demons and struggles with mental illness, which only gets worse as he gets older. And in 2019, he ended up in the hospital for treatment. Deep in the throes of mental illness, Ian decided it was time to atone for his past actions. So he reached out to Shannon on December 8, 2019. And when he finds Shannon on Facebook, it had been six years since he had raped her. Between 1:39pm and 4:43am he bombarded Shannon online with a slew of disturbing and potentially retraumatizing messages. He tried to voice call her first. And when that failed, he wrote, quote, I need to hear your voice. I need to know if I did it or not. Then he apparently decided he didn't do it and says, I wanted to, but I couldn't. Don't worry. From there, Ian sent several messages back to back, saying, I'll wait for you. I'll pray for you. I kissed you, I grabbed your breasts. Then I tried to, but I couldn't because I was high. Then I had to catch a plane. That's why I ran. It was a 5am plane. After that, there was a several hour long gap before 2:45am When Ian got up again and typed, I played with you, but I didn't penetrate you. Then an hour later, Ian finally confessed. He says, quote, so I raped you. And another hour later he wrote, I'll never do it to anyone ever again. Ian's messages are a major plot twist. However, they went unread because Shannon rarely checked Facebook. It wasn't until six months later, in May of 2020, that she finally saw everything. At the time, Shannon was on vacation with her then boyfriend and current husband. And during some downtime, she decided to check Facebook. And when she saw the messages and started reading them, she became overwhelmed with emotion. The messages opened serious emotional wounds for Shannon. But she also realized something. The messages weren't just a painful visit from the past. They were evidence. That night, on May 31, 2020, she emailed the screenshots to the Adams County District Attorney's office. But when they responded, they told her that it still wasn't enough to press charges. You're telling me a written confession isn't enough to even try and press charges? And when Shannon saw the response, she became fed up. She was sick of justice slipping through her fingers. So she hired a lawyer. Shannon's lawyer, Laura Dunne, decided to take a different approach to things and wanted to use the media to put pressure on authorities in Adams County. Laura connected with Mary Claire Dale, a journalist with the Associated Press, who agreed to pick up the story. Mary Claire interviewed Shannon, and when the article dropped on May 28, 2021, it ran in papers all over the country. The article not only told Shannon's story, but it also put a spotlight on the way sexual assault cases are handled in Adams County. Apparently, the Adams County District Attorney's Office only prosecuted 10 rape charges from 2013 to 2019, which is a shockingly low number, especially considering the fact that during that time frame at Gettysburg College alone, there were 95 rapes reported. The Associated Press reached out to Sean Wagner, the District attorney who had told Shannon back in 2015 he wasn't going to file charges. By this point, he had become a judge. So his replacement, Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnott, commented on his behalf. Sinnett says that they only prosecute cases that they believe have sufficient evidence to result in a conviction, but with an actual written confession, witness testimony, and a rape kit that had been thrown out by the PD Shannon had no idea how she didn't have enough evidence. Shannon's not alone in her frustration. For weeks, public pressure continues to mount. And finally, the DA's office caved. On July 6th of 2021, they filed for an arrest warrant for Ian Cleary on sexual assault charges. And when the news broke, Shannon released a statement saying, quote, while I am moved to tears by this result, which I have waited for over seven years, I am mindful that this moment came because I went public with my story, which no survivor should have to do in order to obtain justice. And the press agreed. The media reached out to the DA's office to ask why they're just now issuing the Warrant, but the DA's office provided no comment, which may be because they now have a brand new problem on their hands. Ian is nowhere to be found.
- [18:57]
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- [19:27]
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- [20:15]
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In July 2021, authorities in Adams County, Pennsylvania finally issued a warrant for the arrest of Ian Cleary. However, they hadn't taken him into custody yet because they couldn't find him anywhere. They did know that he had been living in Europe though, so they enlisted the help of Interpol to track him down. Interpol put out a red notice on him, which is a worldwide request for law enforcement agencies to help locate and arrest a suspect pending extradition. Police in Pennsylvania And California also issued alerts. But for years, no one got any leads. Finally, in the spring of 2024, French police found Ian by accident. At the time, Ian was homeless, and on April 24, he was taken into custody on a routine police sweep. But once officers submitted his name in their system, they quickly realized they had caught an internationally wanted man. Ian had managed to avoid detection, in part because he was a bit of a vagabond. He didn't have a permanent address, and he'd been wandering through France and Albania somewhat aimlessly for several years. But now they got him. On July 8, 2024, French courts granted extradition, and Ian was sent back to Pennsylvania. Shannon was thrown, thrilled that things were finally moving forward, and she had renewed hope. Ian was flown back to America on January 16, 2025, and the next day, he was brought to court in Adams county, read his charges, and denied bail. There is a lot of speculation about how he managed to evade police for so long. Many think that his wealthy parents were sending him money to help him hide. But reporters weren't able to get contact them for comment. Ian's parents also hadn't attended any court hearings, so this theory hasn't been confirmed. Ian himself claimed that he was simply homeless and had no idea that there was an international search for him, whether or not he had any family help overseas. Though his family did hire him, a private attorney who began negotiating a plea deal. Things moved quickly, and Shannon was eager to finally get her day in court. On July 17, 2025, Ian Cleary pled guilty to one count of second degree sexual assault. Seeing Ian finally in court brought up a lot of emotions for Shannon. She said that when she watched him plead guilty on the stand, it felt unreal. And that, quote, I'd been thinking about this moment for 12 years. Years. On October 20, 2025, Ian's sentencing hearing took place. And during a powerful victim impact statement, Shannon told the world about how the assault affected her. She says, the trauma of that night wasn't confined to my dorm room. It changed how I saw myself, my confidence, my self care, my relationship with my body. All of it shifted in quiet, painful ways. Presiding Judge Kevin Hess says he considered many factors in deciding the sentencing, including the horrifying nature of the crime. However, he also believes Ian is looking for, quote, forgiveness. From there, Judge Hess also takes into account Ian's long history of mental illness. In the end, Judge Hess sentences Ian Cleary to just two to four years in prison. Due to time served, Ian could be up for parole in just six months. The outcome elicits mixed reactions from the public. Shannon's lawyer says the sentence was less than expected and certainly less than Ian deserves. Shannon also says she was hoping for a harsher sentence. And after he's released, Ian will only be on the registered sex offenders list for a maximum of 25 years because he pleaded guilty to sexual assault, not rape. In my opinion, if you commit a crime like that, you should be paying much more time and you should never be taken off a list like that. However, Shannon at least finally has closure. In the end. She remarks on the power of forgiveness. She says it sets her free, and now it's on Ian to redeem himself. Beyond that, Shannon hopes her story will help inspire reform. She says it starts with listening to victims and making sure their voices are heard. What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel Rimehouse Daily and follow us on social media Rimehouse 247 for for real time updates because the pursuit of justice never stops.