5 chilling details about Shaunna Dodd 's crimes

Shaunna Dodd was a Nevada native who was convicted of her husband, Brad Dodd's, 2012 murder. Shaunna called 911 on December 29, 2012, and reported that her husband had been shot to death by an intruder. Deputies from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene to investigate the crime and found no signs of forced entry.

Upon further investigation, they found Brad Dodd in a pool of blood in his bed, shot to death. He had been shot twice, once at the back of his neck and the other to the right side of his skull. They believed he had been shot in his sleep.

As they investigated the murder further, they discovered that Shaunna and Brad's marriage was strained. Yahoo reported that some witnesses claimed that Shaunna Dodd had been planning to kill her husband for months. Authorities soon found Shauna Dood guilty of her husband's murder, and she was convicted of the crime in 2013.

Oxygen's Snapped season 19 episode 6 titled Women Who Kill explored the case in detail. The episode was originally aired on December 18, 2016. The case was also the subject of Investigation Discovery's Dark Nights & Stormy Deeds, which aired in August 2024.

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5 key details about Shaunna Dodd's crimes

1) Shaunna Dodd claimed that Brad was killed after a robbery went wrong

Shaunna reported to the police that an intruder shot Brad Dodd to death (Image via Pexels)

Daily Crime reported that Shauna and Brad Dodd lived in Washoe Valley, Nevada, with their two kids and Brad's 16-year-old niece, Alison. In December 2012, Shaunna called 911 to report a burglary at her home, and deputies from the Washoe County Sheriff's Office responded to the residence.

Shaunna claimed that an intruder entered their residence and pointed a gun at her head while asking about the house safe. As per the documentary, Shaunna claimed two people stole a black box of jewellery and a few bags of weed before escaping. She also claimed that she and Alison had managed to escape, but that the intruders had killed Brad.

However, when authorities scrutinized the crime scene, they did not find any signs of forced entry. They also found Brad in his bed, shot to death with two gunshots.

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2) Shaunna Dodd asked her boss, LaVeta Dudley, to dispose of a bag

Shaunna asked her LaVeta Dudley to dispose of the bag on the driveway (Image via Pexels)

During the investigation, authorities discovered that Shaunna was having an affair with a patron of the bar, where she worked as a bartender. Shaunna reportedly called her boss, LaVeta Dudley, after Brad's murder, asking if she could dispose of a bag.

Shaunna told Dudley that she had left the bag in her driveway and wanted the latter to take care of it. However, when LaVeta asked Shaunna Dodd what was inside the bag, she didn't provide an explanation, but said that she had "snapped," according to The Cinemaholic.

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3) Investigators discovered that Brad and Shaunna had a strained marriage

Authorities discovered that Shaunna and Brad had a collapsing marriage (Image via Pexels)

The police also discovered that Shaunna and Brad's marriage was strained after Brad found out about his wife's affair. He also considered divorcing her, threatening to take custody of their children.

Shaunna had reportedly been planning to kill her husband for several months before she shot him in December 2012. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Shaunna even tried to hire a hitman to kill Brad. She also reportedly tried to poison one of Brad's drinks herself one night.

Alison also said that under Shaunna's instructions, she even crushed some pills into Brad's drink. However, he didn't consume it because they had some visitors that night, according to The Cinemaholic.

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4) Shaunna Dodd's DNA matched the rubber gloves found in the murder weapon bag

Shaunna's DNA matched the DNA sample found in the rubber gloves (Image via Pexels)

Authorities found the bag that Shaunna had left on LaVeta's driveway, and inside it, they discovered several key pieces of evidence. This included bags of marijuana, rubber gloves, and a gun, which was discovered to be the murder weapon.

When the DNA sample in the gloves was tested with Shaunna's DNA, it was a perfect match.

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5) Shaunna Dodd was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment for the murder of Brad Dodd

Shaunna was sentenced to life in prison (Image via Pexels)

As per the Court Records, Shaunna was arrested by the Washoe County Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Division. She was found guilty of first-degree murder in October 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison. She was also given an additional sentence of 20 years for the use of a deadly weapon.

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Edited by Madhur Dave