Pure Evil - The Murder of Shauna Tiaffay

Pure Evil - The Murder of Shauna Castleton Tiaffay 

[Shaun]

Shauna and George Tiaffay appeared to be the ideal couple to everyone around them. Their friends and family were sure they were perfect together. After all, they were both attractive and wonderful people that everyone loved. 

[John]

It seemed like the Las Vegas love story that has happened a million times, and in many ways it was... But George and Shauna’s friends and family could never have guessed how horribly it would all go wrong.

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

[Shaun]

Here we are again. Sometimes it seems like a lot of these cases are similar in so many ways but this one is a bit different. 

[John] 

Also, there’s another detail we’ll discuss later that makes this one feel a lot different. Do you want to get us started by talking about our victim, Shauna Castleton Tiaffay? T- F - A 

[Shaun]

Sure thing. Shauna Castleton Tiaffay was born on March 13th, 1966 in Salt Lake City, Utah to William and Nancy Thompson. She has five brothers and one older sister, Paula. 

Shauna lived in Utah until 1978 when she moved to Pennsylvania and finally to Northern Virginia where she attended middle school and then graduated from South Lakes High School in 1984.

[John] 

Shauna was very popular. She was a cheerleader in high school who loved reading and drawing, and according to her friends was a “girly girl” whose favorite color was pink. She loved to sing and dance, and everyone who knew her agreed she was very generous and caring.

She moved to Las Vegas at the age of 28 in 1994 to be closer to her sister (although her sister and her brother-in-law eventually moved away from Las Vegas to Nashville). 

She worked in upscale retail stores like Saks Fifth Avenue selling cosmetics until she got a highly sought-after job at the Palms when it opened in 2001 as a cocktail waitress.

If you’ve never been to Las Vegas and experienced that world, cocktail waitress jobs can pay extremely well. They make their hourly wage, but most of their money will come through tips, and even back in 2001 she could make up to $500 a night, which would be closer to $850 in 2024. If you do the math on that, it could be nearly $300,000 a year in 2024 dollars. So many nights they’ll turn in a stack of chips as the greater part of their pay.

[Shaun]

One of the most common things people had to say about Shauna beyond what has already been said is that she was extremely pretty. In the casino environment that’s going to attract a lot of attention, and in 2001, it attracted the attention of George Tiaffay.

George was 6 years younger than Shauna. He was born September 15th, 1972, and grew up on a chicken ranch. His father died when he was young, and George worked hard on the farm and eventually excelled in school. 

He was his high school valedictorian and graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1994. His friends and family often said that George was very service-oriented. More than one of them said that George claimed his purpose was “to serve” in whatever capacity he could.

[John] 

And serve he did. In his career, he joined the Army Corps of Engineers where he worked on projects like building schools and water systems in 3rd world countries. Eventually, he left the military and took a civilian engineering job but didn't love working in an office environment. 

He decided to shift, as people often do in their careers. He joined the fire department and became an EMT and was at the level of an EMT-I, the intermediate level of EMT just below Paramedic. So he was out there, helping people fulfilling the role of first responder. 

Always serving.

In 2002 George met Shauna at the Palms, and things must have been going well because their daughter was born about a year later.

[Shaun]

Their daughter’s name isn't important to the story so as we typically do, we’ll just keep her name out of this episode. George and Shauna got married in Hawaii on March 16th, 2006 just three days after Shauna’s 40th birthday. There’s some video out there of them around the time of their wedding. It was just the three of them, Shauna, George, and their daughter.

Things were going pretty well for the couple, but in 2008 you might remember a little thing called the Great Recession, which was the greatest downturn in the US economy since the Great Depression. The main cause of the downturn was the housing crisis. 

The housing crisis was bad throughout the United States but was particularly bad here in Las Vegas. 

That was a very difficult time to be living in Vegas. Many people were dealing with layoffs and unemployment, and eventually declaring bankruptcy. The housing market crashed and people were choosing to walk away from their homes. 

But one haunting thing from me and the work I was doing at the time was that In 2009, Nevada was #1 in the nation per capita for femicide - for women being murdered by men. There were 35 femicides that year – or a rate of 2.7 per 100,000. The national average that year was 1.25 per 100,000 - so Nevada was more than double that rate. 

[John] 

I moved to Las Vegas in 2011 after the economy had begun to recover along with the housing market, but it was still pretty bad with foreclosures happening at a shocking rate. 

The unemployment rate was 10% nationally but it got to 14% here in Las Vegas due to the state's economy relying on tourism and construction, both of which dried up fast in the downturn. If you live here you remember how the Fountainbleu stopped being built and basically stood there like a steel skeleton for nearly 20 years

In the midst of this, George and Shauna’s relationship became very strained, and the couple started having money problems. There’s some evidence to suggest that George was personally affected by the housing crash. 

It was not at all uncommon at the time before 2008 for people to be HEAVILY leveraged in extra rental properties, only to lose them all when prices crashed.

He started acting controlling and they began fighting over money.

[Shaun]

Shauna moved out in April of 2012 and got her own apartment in Summerlin, something she was proud of. The couple started sharing custody of their daughter. That wasn't particularly easy because Shauna worked nights, and George worked long days as an EMT and firefighter. As a result, their daughter was spending a lot of time with George’s mother who lived nearby.

We want to take a moment to let you know that we’re introducing bonus content for the first time related to this very episode. There’s an EXTREMELY interesting connection to “the one and only John” that he’ll be talking about in that bonus “overtime” episode. We’ll also talk a bit more about this case and some of our thoughts we’re keeping out of the actual episode.

[John] 

Yeah. As we researched the case we discovered something really interesting you’re not going to want to miss. To listen, head over to sinspod.co/subscribe to find out how you can subscribe to our ad-free premium content. 

But now back to the case. 

Things were not going well between George and Shauna for a few months. At one point she told him that she didn't think there was a way they could get back together… she seemed done with him. We’ll talk a little more about the possible reasons she might have said that in a bit.

In the summer of 2012, things got a little better, and they were getting along again which was a good sign they might potentially work it out.

In early September that same year, Shauna’s apartment was burglarized and it was a very weird burglary. Someone broke in and used her shower, then stole some of her personal items like underwear and bathing suits. She was understandably freaked out but must have assumed it wasn't going to happen again because there was no evidence of her making any sort of security upgrades to her apartment or anything like that.

[Shaun]

Shauna worked the evening of September 28th, and early in the morning, at 3:01 am on the 29th of September, there is surveillance footage of her clocking out from the Palms, and walking to a remote employee lot to drive home. That footage is the last time Shauna is seen alive.

Around 9 a.m. George came by her apartment because their daughter needed to pick something up. When they arrived he noticed that the garage door was open, which was not normal. George walked in through the garage door and made a horrible discovery. 

Shauna had been brutally murdered. As an EMT he immediately recognized she was gone and called 911 to report what happened. She was murdered in a horrific fashion apparently with some sort of blunt object which the police soon began to assume was a hammer. This was confirmed by an autopsy.

[John] 

When the police arrived, they interviewed George immediately at the scene. He identified himself as a firefighter and EMT and explained that he had just worked an overnight shift. They checked his story, and it was true. George had a rock-solid alibi for that night.

Police believed that Shauna had come home from work, and someone was lying in wait in her aprtment and attacked her. With George’s alibi, investigators don't have any suspects in the murder. They aren't sure if this is some sort of sexual predator, or possibly someone stalking casino employees, or even just some random attack. They just didn't know and didn't have much to go on.

They interviewed people at the Palms but learned little beyond how great of an employee and friend Shauna was and how she’d be missed.

[Shaun]

Shauna's funeral was on October 6th, 2012. She was buried at the Palm Mortuary in Las Vegas, and her former employer the Palms Casino (not related to the mortuary) let all of the out-of-town family members stay at the Palms for free. 

George gave the eulogy. Something was off in the eulogy though according to Shauna’s friends. According to her former coworkers, George made comments about how Shauna “liked to spend money”, and also recounted a story about Shauna driving away from a gas station with a gas pump still in her tank.

Paula said that even before the casket had been lowered, George had taken his daughter’s hand and led her away telling her it was time to go.  The optimistic reading of this is that maybe he was trying to spare his daughter more pain, but it seems very strange.

[John] 

Shauna’s family and friends also held a memorial in Ogden Utah on November 10th 2012 where they served pink cupcakes in her honor.

Shortly after the murder, the police ended up getting a big break in the case. A local named “Big Will”, an ex-convict who had turned his life around and was passionate about helping others, specifically people coming out of prison, called CrimeStoppers (the same Crimestoppers we always mention on the show) and reported that a person he knew named “Greyhound” had bragged to him that he had been paid to murder a woman, and he’d done it…. With a hammer.

Although this was very early in the investigation, and it was even before the funeral, Only the police knew about the murder weapon so they were immediately interested in talking to Big Will, which they did. 

Big Will explained that Greyhound was a local homeless man who lived in a tent on the edge of the desert. Greyhound often hung around at a nearby Albertsons where he stole food, and also frequented a nearby gas station where he sold drugs.

As luck would have it, Greyhound was at the gas station when Big Will brought the police investigators there to look for him. Greyhound greeted Big Will like nothing was wrong, and Big Will asked Greyhound to hold on and got the police. Greyhound said he’d be happy to talk to them down at the station.

[Shaun]

As the lead detectives on the case, Terri Miller and Dan Long observed, they’d hit the jackpot. It's worth noting that there were no real leads before this, so it’s possible that the crime would have remained unsolved without this tip. Big Will is definitely a hero in this story for coming forward with this information.

Police learned that Greyhound’s real name is Noel Stevens. Noel / Greyhound was cooperative and led investigators to his campsite which they thoroughly searched. No direct evidence was found in his tent or campsite that directly linked Noel to the crime.

Luckily though, Noel had mentioned to Big Will that he had a SECOND campsite, but he didnt know where it was. 

[John] 

Metro PD conducted a search helicopter to locate the second site and discovered it not too far from the tent. 

They searched around the second campsite on foot and found a rolled up pair of jeans under a bush.. With blood stains about 175 feet from the campsite.. Of course, they immediately tested the blood stains for DNA, and as you might have guessed, the blood stains were a match for Shauna’s blood. This was a pair of jeans Noel had worn. 

[Shaun]

They also found the bikini bottoms that were a match for a bikini top that investigators recovered  in Shauna’s apartment. 

Greyhound was then arrested for Shauna’s murder, and during interrogation, he confessed to murdering her. That isn't very surprising, since he had previously bragged to Big Will about getting paid to commit a murder. 

He told the police where they could find the murder weapon in the desert, and led them straight to the broken hammer he’d used to murder Shauna.

Also during his interrogation, police went through Greyhound’s phone and saw a contact named “George” When the police asked who George was, Noel answered “That’s my friend George, the firefighter. “

Greyhound said George promised him $5000 for killing Shauna but he had only received $600. The police also continued their search for corroborating evidence for Greyhound’s confession. Among Greyhound’s possessions, they found a receipt from Lowe’s for the purchase of a hammer. 

Police then went to the Lowe’s location and viewed the surveillance video, which showed Greyhound and George purchasing dark clothing, a hammer, and a knife together.

Noel also told investigators that George had coached him to purchase a hammer with a fiberglass handle because a wooden handle would break during the crime, which had actually happened during the attack.

[John]

Armed with Noel’s confession, details about George’s involvement, and the Lowes surveillance video, the police went to interview George again, and they asked him if he knew Noel Stevens. 

George claimed he didn’t know anyone named Noel Stevens. He DID know a person named Greyhound but he knew him as “Neil Smith”. 

George claimed that he and Shauna had been helping him out, that he had been trying to turn his life around, and that Noel had done work for them as a handyman. 

However, during this exchange with investigators, George inadvertently used Greyhound’s real first name, Noel. This is pretty damning because George has just claimed to know Greyhound as Neil, George is referring to him as Noel, saying things to the effect of “Noel would do odd jobs for us.” or “Noel would drink a beer or two.” 

The police then decided to leak the information that George was about to be arrested for Shauna’s murder to rattle George and potentially get him to react.

It had the desired effect. When George learned that he was going to be arrested, he had a particularly extreme reaction. On October 8th, 2012 (as a reminder just 9 days after the murder), George dropped his daughter off at his mother’s house, and sped off down Summerlin Parkway, weaving in and out of lanes and driving straight into a concrete barrier where the road dead ends. Police have said this was an obvious suicide attempt. 

We question that because when he hit the barrier he was wearing his seatbelt, so he was only very slightly injured.

George was recovering in the hospital when he was informed that he was being arrested for the murder. 

George was placed under arrest for 5 Felonies:

• Conspiracy to commit murder
• Conspiracy to commit robbery
• Burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon
• Robbery with a deadly weapon
• First-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon

And for 2 Gross Misdemeanors:

• Possession of burglary tools
• Conspiracy to commit burglary

Shauna’s sister Paula and Shauna’s friends from work were not at all surprised that George was a suspect. We didn't mention this earlier, but Paula and her husband John had been involved from the beginning and were doing their own investigation, and were also convinced that George had something to do with the murder.

[Shaun]

According to Paula and Shauna’s friends, George had put Shauna through years of verbal and physical abuse. They knew that George was violent towards Shauna. 

This is a quote from Paula - “We were careful not to point fingers, but really in my gut and my heart, I’ve just known all this time that George was somehow involved.”

Paula said that George would grab Shauna, hold her against the wall, and scream in her face. He was controlling & he would demean her, and insult her. Her friends at work had seen the text messages he would send her – where he would text her something nice but if she was busy at work and didn’t answer fast enough, he would turn on her and curse her out. Another friend said that Shauna didn’t know who she’d get with George; he was “Jekyll and Hyde” 

According to Shauna’s boyfriend Alberto, George would be emotionally abusive towards Shauna in front of their daughter, saying things like “Your mom doesn’t love us.”

“I thought George was responsible … immediately,” Alberto has said. 

Even Greyhound  - Noel Stevens said the couple had been fighting and George said she spent too much money. 

So it seems a lot of people were aware of what Shauna was going through. 

George’s friends and family members were adamant that George was not like that. He was a kind and generous person and they insisted he had never been violent. They do not believe he was abusive or that he had anything to do with Shauna’s murder.

The trial began in July 2015, in the 8th Judicial District Court before District Judge Eric Johnson. Paula and Shauna’s friends showed up to the trial every day dressed in hot pink for Shauna. 

The prosecution focused on the relationship between George and Noel Stevens, saying that George had used Greyhound as a tool in order to murder Shauna. Big Will testified about what Greyhound had told him that led him to call in the tip. Paula testified about George’s abuse of Shauna, and how she had told Shauna to move out.  

[John]

Prior to the beginning of George’s trial, Greyhound agreed to accept a plea deal where he would plead guilty to the murder and to the same 6 other charges George had been charged with to avoid the death penalty. One of the requirements of the plea deal was that he would testify against George.

Noel was the key witness for the prosecution. His testimony was blunt and graphic, and must have been horrible for Shauna’s friends and family to listen to. He described how George and he had discussed different ways that Shauna could be murdered - different means, different locations, maybe the parking lot at work or maybe the house.

Greyhound said that he scoped out Shauna’s house 20 times, and that George had given him a key to the apartment. 

The prosecution also provided evidence that corroborated and strengthened Greyhound’s testimony. They produced mobile phone records that showed that George had called Greyhound more than 80 times in the month before Shauna’s murder. They showed the surveillance footage from Lowe’s that showed Greyhound and George shopping together for dark clothing, gloves, knives, and a hammer.

They even had footage of George having a copy of a key made, that the prosecutors said was the key that George had given to Greyhound. 

George had told Greyhound to make it look like a robbery. According to Greyhound, George also had told him that it looked better for George if he and Shauna were getting along. That George would raise less suspicion if he was getting along with her. 

[Shaun]

I want to read one of the most stunning exchanges during Greyhound’s testimony.

Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo asked Greyhound “Who told you to make it look like a robbery?” 

Greyhound replied “George did.”

He explained that he had left the apartment and left the garage door open. 

QUOTE  “That’s the sign,”  Greyhound said 

DiGiacomo: “A sign to whom?” 

“George.”

DiGiacomo “For what?”

“To let him know that it’s done.”

To me, this is one of the most diabolical and twisted parts of this whole story. First of all, when George pulled up to the house that morning, with his 8 year old daughter, and he saw the garage was open, he knew EXACTLY what he would find inside. Prosecutors have said he walked his daughter into that house. He used his daughter as part of his alibi. He couldn’t have had anything to do with it, right? Because he wouldn’t have had his daughter with him. 

Also, he had Greyhound break into Shauna’s house a few weeks prior – crafting a way to mislead the police that Shauna’s murder was due to a home invasion or a robbery. 

[John]

There are a lot of twisted aspects here and this is one of them, and they came really close to getting away with it.

During the trial, George was represented by Robert Langford. Their case was built around the premise that Noel had acted alone and worked overtime trying to impugn Noel as being “crazy as an outhouse rat”, exposing that he heard voices, and was an alcoholic.

The defense really tried to poke holes in the prosecution’s case. Specifically while cross-examining Big Will they got him to admit that he thought Greyhound was a liar. Also, the actual hammer that Greyhound led the police to, the murder weapon wasn't the actual hammer seen being purchased in the Lowes security footage.

The defense also tried to explain away the security footage of them shopping together as an example of George’s generosity – since Greyhound lived out in the desert, George was helping him out by buying camping gear and supplies. 

When Greyhound was cross examined, he admitted to drug and alcohol abuse, and said that he heard voices.. Importantly, one of the members of the jury submitted a question to Greyhound asking if the voices he heard told him to kill Shauna. For me, that tells me everything I need to know about where the jury’s heads were at about Greyhound.

Greyhound answered no, firmly, without hesitation. One of the things about Greyhound was that he answers were often completely deadpan. In the footage of the cross examination, there’s nothing at all to indicate that hes lying. 

[Shaun] 

And, I'll add one more thing about the defense’s case. There was evidence that Greyhound had stalked Shauna at her job in the time leading up to the murder, and he was stopped by police officers on the Palms property. The officers confiscated tools they said would be used for burglary, including a hammer. This may explain why the hammer Greyhound had bought with George was not ultimately the murder weapon. 

On September 3, 2015, the jury reached a verdict. George was found guilty on all 6 counts - including first degree murder. He was sentenced on December 1, 2015 to life plus 81 years for Shauna’s murder, and an additional 32 years for the other charges. 

George’s attorney, Langford, tried to argue that George’s life of service and the good things he had done with his life should count for something. However, the judge, Eric Johnson, was not swayed by this. The judge was focused on how deliberate George had been in planning Shauna’s murder, including how he considered what the hammer needed to be made of. The judge said - 

“I can’t imagine what it would take to break the wooden handle of a hammer. But you pondered that. You were concerned about that. … You allowed this to go forward, knowing the most vicious attack that I can imagine was going to happen.”

The judge also said “why you of all people would do something that you know would be so cruel to so many people beyond just Shauna. My sentence today is not based upon holding you to a higher standard. My sentence is based upon the fact that this was just pure evil.”

[John]

In 2017, George appealed his guilty verdict. Because of the content of his appeal, his lawyer had quit the case and didnt represent him. George submitted the petition himself. It was over 100 pages long, all handwritten. The focus of his appeal was arguing that he had ineffective counsel (You can probably understand why Langford resigned)

Ironically, George attempted to overturn his conviction by “sort of” confessing to the crime. 

He wrote  “my wife is dead and it’s my fault”, but he claimed that he had been told by God to kill Shauna in order to protect his daughter. He blamed drugs he was taking because of injuries sustained in his firefighter job, as well as estrogen-blocking hormones. 

He believed his attorney should have raised these facts in his defense or during sentencing. My sense is that his lawyer probably didnt know about any of this, because George likely made it up between his conviction and his appeal. He did have a lot of time on his hands.

[Shaun]

The Nevada Supreme Court did not accept these arguments and denied his appeal. 

They explained in their opinion that George’s defense had been that Greyhound acted alone. If his attorney had stated George was having mental health issues and was taking medications, that would have been an admission of guilt and undone their whole defense about Greyhound being mentally unstable and a liar. 

The court commented that George had very likely brought up these facts as a way to explain things to his friends and family. I agree - this seems like he was making excuses and definitely not accepting responsibility.

Also the court had some scathing words about the circumstances of the crime: George “plotted the murder while he worked, cared for his daughter, and fostered an amicable relationship with the victim to avoid any suspicion related to her death. Given the patience, subterfuge, and perseverance involved in this plot, the appellant has not demonstrated a reasonable probability that he would not have been convicted or would have received a more lenient sentence.”

[John]

Currently, George is serving his sentence at Ely State Prison in Nevada where he will spend the rest of his life. Noel Greyhound Stevens is serving his 42-year to life sentence and is unlikely to be paroled in his lifetime.

Shauna’s Daughter graduated high school in 2023 according to her Aunt Paula. She has been living with George’s Grandmother since the murder. Paula said she is a well-adjusted and happy young lady.

Shauna’s family had her remains relocated to their family’s plot in Utah, where Shauna’s parents are also buried. 

[Shaun] 

Before we wrap this part of the show up, I want to give Big Will - William Pennix -  a shoutout. Big Will, thank you. Thank you for calling Crimestoppers because, without you, the homicide detectives may never have solved the case and gotten justice for Shauna. 

[John] 

Yeah absolutely. I know the family agrees that Big Will is the unsung hero here. We talk a lot about how people can help with these cases, and it's so important that if you know something that might help an investigation you report it whether anonymously or not.

[Shaun]

John and I are going to continue this conversation in our very first ”swing shift” episode! .Thank you to all of you for listening and a reminder to check out sinspod.co/subscribe to support the show and subscribe to our ad-free premium content for bonus episodes because

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