Scott Shanahan, 39, disappeared from Defiance, Iowa, in August 2002 but was not reported as a homicide until more than a year later. For 14 months his wife, Dixie Shanahan, told neighbors and some investigators that he had left; in October 2003, following a tip, authorities executed a search warrant and found Scott’s skeletal remains in a spare bedroom. An autopsy determined he had been shot in the head.

Investigators arrested Dixie Shanahan and charged her with first-degree murder. At trial she did not deny killing Scott; her defense was that she acted in self-defense on August 30, 2002, after sustained physical abuse and threats against her and her unborn child. Neighbors and testimony described repeated, severe domestic violence. In April 2004 a jury convicted Dixie of second-degree murder and she received a 50-year sentence.

If anyone in Defiance at the time knew the Shanahans or has information about Scott’s final days, please share what can help clarify what happened.