The Bad Nurse (10 page)

CHAPTER 39

K
arri, even from her cell at Tutwiler, did not let the initiation of her sister's lawsuit pass without putting up a fight. She struck back with a vengeance, taking the opportunity to use her response to the lawsuit to hurt Billy Shaw's already-distraught family yet again. When her response to the complaint was filed at the circuit court clerk's office, Karri made some incredible allegations against the stepfather she had admitted to killing—accusations that once again rocked the Ider community and set the rumors flying.

Karri claimed in the response that her motives for the murder had never been driven by money, but said that the murder had taken place as a means of protecting herself and her daughter from Billy Shaw, who had threatened them, she said.

“Billy Shaw was not the only victim,” she asserted, “and Kimberly Dalton is attempting to exploit his death.”

Karri alleged that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to sexual molestation and abuse she had suffered at the hands of her stepfather, and claimed, “Kimberly Dalton is well aware of this abuse, and has never shown any sisterly love or concern for me or my family.”

Karri went on to say that Kim had chosen instead to try to intimidate and threaten her with the lawsuit, which she said was nothing more than “a public attempt to further belittle me and disparage my character in an attempt to bolster her own and her husband's own public reputations.”

These accusations naturally caused yet another public uproar by Karri's remaining faithful followers—few that there were—and they seized on them as the very excuse they had been wishing and hoping for, a justification for Karri's confession of murder that they could grasp on to.

When Billy Shaw's autopsy results had sparked the full-scale investigation into his death, Karri cleverly had planted the seeds of her outrageous claim of abuse with a few of her friends. She knew that she could rely on them to spread rumors on her behalf if the need should arise, claiming they had heard her mention abuse and molestation in the past. No specifics were ever given; it was only the most vague hints. But that was enough for Karri's followers to grab hold of and run with it. Karri was at the center of Ider's gossip mill yet again.

CHAPTER 40

B
illy Shaw's surviving loved ones naturally were appalled and hurt by Karri's claims of sexual abuse, for there had never been even the slightest hint of such a terrible accusation in the past. There was quite the opposite, in fact. It had been very obvious to everyone who knew him that Shaw doted on his grandchildren, and he had always loved and cared for his stepchildren as though they were his own.

Kim Dalton said that Karri had never before mentioned to her having been either molested or sexually abused. Kim said that the first time she had heard of such allegations was when the investigation started, following the sheriff's receipt of the autopsy results. Billy and Lila Shaw had always been very regular babysitters for Kim and Karri's children, spending lots of time with their grandchildren, usually several times a week. If Karri feared for her little daughter's safety, why, then, did she leave the child so often with the man who, she said, had molested and threatened her?

“She never talked to me about any allegations of abuse,” Kim Dalton said of her sister. Kim said she had no reason to believe any of the vague rumors about molestation and abuse that had begun to spread, especially after Karri turned herself in following the grand jury's indictment of her for Billy Shaw's murder. It seemed almost too convenient that such a monstrous accusation would be made against the deceased Billy Shaw, especially at a time when Karri's followers were searching for justification for her behavior, just in case she was actually to be found guilty.

At first, Kim had not doubted her sister's story about what she said had happened on the day when Karri claimed that she had stopped at their stepfather's house and found him dead. Like everyone else, Kim assumed that the coroner's ruling of an accidental death from a heart attack was accurate. But bit by bit, as time passed, she began having second thoughts about Karri's story of how she had found her stepfather unresponsive on that final day.

When they both attended a spring football jamboree at the Sylvania High School stadium one evening, shortly after Billy Shaw had died, the two sisters talked about his death. Karri told Kim that she had taken the drugs from the surgery center and had given them to Billy, “and she said she hoped he hadn't done something to himself,” Kim said. “That was the turning point to where I became suspicious of her, and that the story would not be what she said.”

Kim said that she began to look more closely at all the evidence and soon decided that there were a great many unanswered questions and contradictory facts.

“I didn't want to believe that she would do something like this,” Kim said. “She's my sister, and because she's so much younger than me, I helped raise her.” When she and Billy Dalton were married, Kim said, Karri had spent a lot of time with the two of them.

Kim said she and her family had been left with very mixed emotions—from the time Karri turned herself in, following her grand jury indictment, until she entered her shocking guilty plea.

“There was family, church community, and people we live with who started picking sides,” Kim said. “We saw two-faced people and the ones who came out and made me out to be the bad guy.” They even had accused Kim's husband, Billy, she said. “We went from being ignored to being attacked.”

Karri's friends and followers began to suggest that Billy Dalton, a well-known and respected businessman who was the owner and operator of Corner Stone Funeral Chapel & Crematory, was the one responsible for Billy Junior Shaw's death. This gossip circulated despite the fact that there was never one shred of evidence of any kind to that effect. More of Karri's carefully planted seeds, no doubt, sprouting thanks to her true believers.

Billy Dalton said it hurt him deeply to see and hear the things that were being said about him by people who he had thought were his family and friends. He acknowledged that it was easy to see how so many people had gotten caught up in the “campaign of popularity” that swept throughout the community on the Internet and the placing of all the hundreds of yard signs.

“Many wanted to believe that she was innocent so much that they would look for anyone to blame to keep from hearing or seeing the facts,” Billy Dalton said.

Kim Dalton said that even though she still loved her sister, “I'm disappointed at the decisions she's made, and I'm angry that her decisions have had such negative fallout.” Those decisions, Kim said, had affected their whole family forever.

“I don't know if any of this can ever be reconciled,” Kim said. “She took away my stepdad, and she took away the only grandfather that my children will ever know on my side of the family.”

CHAPTER 41

I
n the days after Billy Shaw's death, Karri Willoughby had gone to great pains to write blog posts that would portray her the way she wanted all her friends to see her, just in case her “perfect crime” didn't work out the way she had planned so carefully. She wrote so many heartfelt poems and reminiscences about her parents—with prayer, love, and longing heavily emphasized—and her many followers hung on her every word. They believed her when she talked of how brokenhearted she was over Billy Shaw's tragic death, never suspecting that they were deliberately being told what they wanted to hear, by the person who was responsible for that tragic death. In fact, they grew hostile and downright aggressive at the mere mention that Karri might be guilty. Karri was extremely skillful at planning for the future and writing things that would bolster her image of innocence. However, in the matter of the alleged abuse and sexual molestation, her blogging was ultimately her undoing. She wrote one blog post around a year following Shaw's death, and she relied heavily on dramatics to make her point.

Junior, why did you go?
she wrote.
I'm so angry at you! You left me when I needed you most.
Karri said she had barely begun to process the thought of losing her mother, and then Shaw was gone, too.

Why did you call ME that day? Why did I have to find you? Did you mean for me to find you that way?
she typed.

Then, amazingly, Karri wrote that having to do CPR on Junior still haunted her:
I can't get that image of you out of my head.

This, despite the fact that she had never performed CPR on her stepfather, even though the 911 operator had suggested it. Karri knew, however, that she should claim to have done so. She was carefully covering her tracks, just in case the EMTs who responded to the 911 call should happen to notice that she had not tried to revive Shaw. As it turned out, they did notice, and they reported it to the investigators.

Karri continued to write, saying she knew Billy had missed her mother more than life itself:
[B]ut could you not stay for me, for my kids?
She said that she might not have had his DNA, but he was her dad:
You got your life right a long time ago, and I outgrew my bratty teenage years; we were as close as any father and daughter. Why did my love not outweigh losing momma?

Karri wrote that she still waited to hear Billy's voice on the other end of the phone, still expected to hear him come driving up in his truck to see the children, but she knew that he wasn't there, and he wasn't coming.

What do I do with that?
Karri asked. Her son asked about Billy all the time, she said. They all missed him. Her heart was already broken:
losing you too just about drove me over the edge of insanity,
she claimed. But watching him mourn for her mother, Karri said, was harder than dealing with her own grief. She didn't know how or why, she said.
[B]ut I know you are with mom now and that's exactly where you always wanted to be,
she wrote.

Then, another skillfully planted sentence:

Junior's side of the family sure was making things hard on Karri and her sister at that time, she said,
so if you or God can, can you please send them a signal to lay off!

She told Junior that she loved him, asked him to keep taking good care of her mother, writing,
and I'll see you one day soon. Your Daughter Now and Forever, Karri.

CHAPTER 42

A
t the time Karri wrote and posted the blog expressing her anguish at losing Billy Shaw, she must not have thought out the possibility of perhaps needing to accuse him of molestation at some point in the future. When the post was located on the Internet and subsequently published in the newspaper following her claim that she and her young daughter had been “threatened” by her stepfather, it caused her to lose even more of her remaining followers.

They seemed to find it hard to believe she would write a post of that nature if she had actually been sexually assaulted in the past. Many people found it highly distasteful that she would have written and posted such a letter a year after she had intentionally killed her stepfather. Karri's dramatics had caught up with her, and her accusations of sexual misconduct by Billy Shaw were falling on deaf ears.

CHAPTER 43

A
fter Karri was transferred to Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, there were a lot of adjustments that had to be made in the lives of Jason Willoughby and his two young children. Karri's scandalous crime and jailhouse romances could easily have destroyed Jason's career. In many small Southern towns, teachers and ministers are the two professions that are held to the highest standards of ethics and morals. Oftentimes just a hint of scandal was enough to cause teaching contracts not to be renewed. But throughout the chaos his wife wreaked on her family, Jason had conducted himself in such a way that his own reputation remained virtually undamaged despite Karri's shocking crime and her scandalous behavior in the DeKalb County Jail.

At first, Jason had stood behind his wife 100 percent, using his Facebook page to rally the troops in support of his wife. He had joined Facebook in November 2009, and had made only a couple of posts prior to Karri's arrest on Friday, May 14, 2010. The day after she turned herself in, however, he put up a post thanking everyone for all the prayers and support.

Hopefully the truth will be made known quickly,
he wrote.
If you would like to help you can write a letter to the honorable Judge of the Circuit Court in support of Karri and requesting that bail be set in her case; get the letter to me and our attorney will present them at the hearing.

On May 18, he posted that there were many hardcopy petitions floating around to be presented at a bond hearing for Karri,
but here is an electronic one that you can sign if you can't get your signature on a paper copy,
he wrote.
It's VERY quick and easy! Please take a moment and “sign.”

This was followed by a link to a website called ipetitions.com.

On May 23, Jason posted again, asking his friends to remember to keep them in their “prayers during this difficult time,” and to pray for the judge to set a hearing date soon.

Karri is in good spirits considering everything,
he said.
Pray that the truth will be made known soon.

And in a final post about Karri on May 30, he wrote,
Thank you for all the prayers and support. Hopefully Karri will be home soon. Pray that the judge will set a reasonable bond so that she can be home while we prepare for a trial where I know she will be found innocent.

Following that post, there were no others concerning Karri. There were occasional photos of the children on holidays and winning awards at school, but no further mention was made of their mother.

Jason Willoughby somehow managed to maintain his professional and personal life and keep his children living in as normal an environment as possible, healthy and happy, seeming to be relatively unharmed despite the chaos their mother had created in their lives. His teaching and coaching continued as before, and he kept on being considered a respected member of the community. Considering the extent of the damage Karri had caused to so many, it was remarkable that Jason Willoughby was still able to hold his head up, protect his children, and maintain the career he had worked so long to build.

One of the more recent posts on Jason's page showed that he was also rebuilding his personal life; he listed himself as currently being “in a relationship” with a young woman he described as “awesome,” and thanked her for her help with family activities and holidays. Other recent posts were concerned with sports tryouts, practices, and other details of everyday school athletics. Jason Willoughby was evidently moving ahead, taking good care of his children, and living his life without the emotional burden of his faithless, sociopathic wife.

 

 

Karri Willoughby, in the meantime, would have to content herself with memories of her life before prison, and could only long for her jailhouse love interest, Nathan Wilder. She wouldn't be able to spend hours composing long letters to him, which had amounted to hard-core pornography.

There was no communication allowed between them, and his release date from prison was around three and a half years later than hers. His time would be completed on December 8, 2034, and it is doubtful the two would be allowed to contact one another after release, since both would continue to be classified as convicted felons.

In the infamous “Freak Nasty Dream” letter, composed seventy-two days before her trial was scheduled to start, Karri wrote,
I'm scared, Nathan, I'm really scared.
She was fearful despite her attorney's assurance that everything would be fine.

Would Karri be able to cultivate a group of followers in prison as she had done so successfully in the community and on social media? That still remains to be seen. The inmates at Tutwiler were unlikely to be so easily fooled as the legion of women who so eagerly sought to obtain truth and justice for Karri, believing everything they were told and assuming that things were always as they seemed.

The Karri Willoughby they thought they knew so well had never really existed. The real Karri now sits on a bunk in a sweltering dorm, remembering how her life used to be, surrounded by hundreds of women who won't be so easily conned.

Perhaps Karri will remember her parents, who rest, side by side, in Ider's Fuller Cemetery, their graves marked by a granite monument engraved with two Western saddles flanking the name SHAW. Or maybe she'll think of her children, growing up without grandparents or a mother, because her own coldhearted greed led her to murder the stepfather who loved her.