Worst Neighbor Ever

Normally, if your neighbor is mad at you

over a little fight in a property dispute,

it's simple.

That's a civil issue.

Well, it is until it turns into murder.

Nothing justified what that woman did.

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In May of 2018, I was shot in the face.

The bullet went in the right side.

It went through my nose, and it came out my ear.

I'm really lucky to be here today.

Me and my husband, Dave, moved to Mount Sterling in 2002.

We lived in Ohio,

and my parents retired and came to Mount Sterling

because their family's down here.

So, we followed.

Mount Sterling is a small community.

It's about 36 miles from Lexington.

Pretty much everybody knows everybody,

and everybody's nice here.

They're friendly.

We're in our own little world here.

Pretty much my mom's entire family is from Kentucky.

My grandparents lived here, and my aunts and uncles.

Shawna's like my daughter.

Even though Shawna was an adult,

I wanted to make sure Shawna was taken care of, yes.

Shawna's family is… It's pretty good-sized.

Everybody's close.

You go up and count houses,

and half the family is in every house up there.

The kids run up to each family member's house, one to another,

knocking on doors, going and getting candy.

My parents lived right across the street from us.

It was good. I mean, we was all close and spent time together,

and, you know, I had a pool in my yard.

So we had a lot of cookouts and dinners.

Dave and I, we were always laughing and joking and smiling.

He didn't really have a close-knit family like ours.

So David did appreciate having a big family around.

My mom and Dave got together when I was about two years old.

I have always had two dads. I was very blessed in that aspect.

Dave watched me grow up,

and he was there every time I made a mistake or did something good,

he was there.

And I'm just so thankful for that.

In 1995, I was living in Franklin, Ohio.

I worked at Warren County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

I was working as a bus driver.

And I transferred clients to and from home each day

so they could do work.

David worked inside the group home.

My first interaction with David was his very first day.

We got into an argument.

We would argue and fuss, and he complained about me.

But each day, I had to transport a behavioral student,

and he had to go with me.

So then we started talking and was civil to each other.

He warmed up to me, and it just went from there.

And we just kind of clicked.

We eventually started dating and living together in my house

with my daughter, Haley.

One of my first memories of my mom and Dave together was

all of us going to Tennessee.

We're on vacation in Gatlinburg.

We woke up one morning, and he said, "Do you want to get married today?"

And I was like, "Yeah, right."

Neither one of us had clothes to get married in.

We both had shorts on. I had a beer T-shirt on.

And Haley was probably the only one that even had a cute outfit on,

because she was tiny, and I dressed her cute.

They just knew they wanted to be together, so they tied the knot.

And then my mom found out she was pregnant with my sister.

It was just a chance that I took on him, and it was a chance that Dave took on me.

Everybody in our neighborhood, I mean, we all got along.

We were close-knit.

I'd lived there 14 years,

and I did not have any problems with any neighbor.

Up until Frances came.

And then it all changed.

Frances did have a long history with our family in Mount Sterling.

But she was actually quite a bit older than me.

I didn't know much about Frances

other than her and my cousin was very good friends.

And she had stayed with my grandma when she was younger

because she was having family problems.

Frances became part of our family when she was 15, 16 years old.

Frances didn't really have a good home situation.

She told us that her mom wasn't good to her,

but I was never sure.

She enjoyed being with my family.

She was there so much.

After a while, we just always introduced her as our niece.

She became close to us. We all loved her.

She was funny. She was fun to be with.

I don't know what happened to her.

I had not heard a word about Frances for years

until, one day, she just showed up.

She was getting divorced, and she was coming back home.

Frances wanted to buy property and live by us

because, really, she had been a part of our family.

When she first came here, Frances had all kinds of money.

She told us when she got a divorce from her husband,

she got a big settlement.

Frances had bought the property straight across the street from us,

and she was going to put her a new double-wide in there.

But there was an old house and it had to be tore down,

and the yard had to be straightened up.

So she asked me if she could stay with me until she got her house done.

I said, "Yes, that's fine. You can stay."

I could get along with pretty much anybody, and I thought,

"I'm going to help her."

My main goal was to just be there

and treat her like family.

And that's what I intended on doing.

Frances moved in with us at the end of November.

I was on disability, unable to work.

And Dave worked at a factory out here in Mount Sterling

that makes parts for cars.

David also worked part-time at the Montgomery County Regional Jail

as a deputy jailer.

And he was such a hard worker. He worked all the time.

Both of my daughters were out of the house.

So, I mean, I thought it would be good company for me,

for Frances to be there.

Me and Frances would get out and go shopping.

We'd go out to eat.

We went to the movies.

We had cookouts.

We used to go to a club downtown and dance.

And we just had fun.

-But then we started having problems. -

She'd get a little short with me or upset.

But I just blew it off and didn't address it.

Frances's personality became bossy.

Everything had to be her way.

Like, she wanted to take over.

If anybody knows me, they know I clean.

I clean a lot.

I was vacuuming my house one morning, early.

And she came out there and pulled the plug out of the outlet and said,

"It's too early to be vacuuming."

And I was like, "Whoa, this is my house."

I started seeing more signs that it wasn't a good idea for her to be with me.

She had told me about a video that she was in.

And we watched it on YouTube.

Muslims, they follow the same satanic book that they all do.

They all read the same pages.

Here's the thing. I don't even see Islam as religion.

It's a death cult. A glorified death cult.

That's all it is. That's all it ever will be.

-I don't like you. - You don't like me? Why?

- Because you're Muslim. - Who said I'm Muslim?

If you're not Muslim, you're a Muslim lover.

I didn't tell you. I'm Jewish.

I don't think you're into Jesus.

That's the truth.

You're Jewish, you're Muslim, or you're atheist.

Are you a fag too?

- Am I a fag too? - Yeah.

I thought it was a little bit crazy.

But she thought it was cool that she was in this video protesting.

And then I started thinking, "She may be a little racist."

"This is not gonna work."

David did not like her at all.

He said she's trouble from the beginning.

She's loud-mouthed, and she is an attention seeker.

He was a very good judge of people.

In 2016, I was living in Ohio.

I had met my husband.

My son Owen was born in 2013.

So I'd already had a son when I met my husband.

I visited my parents almost every other weekend.

Dave and I was very close with Owen.

Owen was the highlight of his life because he had two girls.

So he wanted a boy in the family so bad.

The moment that Owen was born,

Dave was there every single day,

rocking him to sleep, holding him, watching NASCAR with him.

You would think that they had been best friends their whole lives.

He was our world.

It's different when you have a grandkid.

Haley brought Owen to visit one weekend.

And when they come in, Haley's like, "Who is that?"

And I said, "That's Frances, she's staying with me."

When I learned about Frances moving in with my parents,

it was a big surprise.

I didn't know this lady. I didn't know anything about her.

Meeting Frances for the first time,

she was different.

She was very awkward when we came into the house.

Kind of felt like we didn't belong. She made us very uncomfortable.

Owen was three at the time that Frances moved in.

So he was pretty rambunctious.

He was…

hell on wheels.

He didn't slow down for anything, maybe for a cup of chocolate milk.

He was on the go all day long.

Frances was just kind of a grumpy old lady when Owen was around.