Sharon Lynn Douglas Fuller Nelson Harrelson

0:00 Hi. I'm Tina and I'm Rich. And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage, it's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband. Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey Rich, Hey Tina. How are you? I'm pretty good. How are you quite handsome today? Oh? Thanks? I just got my haircut. I'm struggling a little bit though, because I was eating an apple right before we came on, and I was I was rushing because I knew you were ready to record, and I bit my lip that. Oh no, yeah, I might impede my voice. Yeah, you're wearing your Detroit Versus Everybody sweatshirt today, feeling feisty. It's kind of weird. This time of year is strange because there's no sport. Yeah, I'm not a basketball guy. Well, March madness. You you like March madness? When does that start? By the way, in March? Sometimes?

1:04 Okay, thanks for arrowing it. It's got to be starting soon. Yeah, it's got to be. But I really recording this a week before it's being released, so it's March tenth, so it's got to start within the next week. I would say, Okay, we took a break and did a quick google because we didn't want to provide incorrect information. But March Madness starts the selection day, which is when they come out with the brackets. That's March seventeenth, and then it goes over the following three weekends and the final four is Sunday, April sixth, So it's in April, right. Doesn't it usually end at April? I don't know, maybe it's ending. How does Michigan look? I have no idea. Really, I'm really like not a basketball fan. I do enjoy March Madness, but I honestly don't pay any attention until the brackets are picked, and then I'm like, oh, Michigan's been doing good or not good. I didn't realize the brackets were picked last minute, but I guess that makes sense because they're playing until Yeah, okay, well everyone knows this is a sports podcast. I don't know if it's because it's been winter for so long, but I've been feeling this sense of existential dread. Yeah. I wonder if anyone else out there is feeling that, or if it's just to me. I feel like I've been feeling that for many years now, really many years kind of yeah, huh, maybe I need more sunshine. Yeah, we could probably all use a little more sunshine. We just wanted to talk for a second about a review we got this week. Do you can you summarize it real quick?

2:30 I mean yeah, Basically, the person said that our reading from our script doesn't sound natural, that the words we're using are either taken from whatever source we're getting it from or generated by AI. We don't address negative reviews generally, it's just a waste of time. People feel how they feel, and they have a right to those feelings. But that felt uncomfortable to me because you and I both we work super hard on writing our scripts. It takes me hours and hours and hours, and we do not take anyone else's words. We do read books, and sometimes the flow of our podcast might be similar to the book, but every word we write is our own. We just wanted to make that and we don't use chat, GPT or anything else like that. We just have big vocabularies. We can't help that. You recently tabulated how much money we make per hour. Do you remember that we make six cents per hour? That might be high. We work really hard.

3:32 That that's that's the only point I wanted to make. We do have a snack. Our lovely, lovely friend Susanna sent us snacks from Colorado. It was so excited when we get listener snacks, I know it's it's really and she went out of her way to bring us to send us some nice nick She send us really nice sample there, some honey, some and you put it on you made some toe to put it on the toast. And she sent us buffalo jerky, beef jerky, and elk jerky, and two candy chocolate bars. They're really pretty other art art bars, caramel coffee, milk chocolate and sorry talking to the microphone, he's on that dark chocolate.

4:18 Let's take a break a while. Try I'm real quick, and then I'll be really full. Those were yummy snacks and no delicious. I've never had elk jerky before. We had buffalo jerky. Yeah, I think the elk was it was really good. They're all good. And the honey was delicious, yeah, and the chocolate was delicious. Sugar free chocolate it was really good. Yeah, it was really good for sugar free. Maybe that's what we should just eat from that Susannah is a holistic life coach and she provides trauma sensitive pain management expertise, all time massage, and she also sells our bond. She's been in practice since nineteen ninety four. She can help you make sustainable life changes and assist you on your path of self discovery and reaching your full potential. You can reach her at Dina Charia Denver at gmail dot com. That's d I n A c h a r Ya Denver at gmail dot com. You can find Susannah on Instagram and Facebook. Just search for Susannah Joysilkwood. Very cool. Thanks Susannah for the next Yeah, thank you so much. Today, I'm going to tell you the story of Sharon Lynn Douglas Fuller, Nelson Harrelson. Oh that's a mouthful, I'll say. My source for today's episode is a book by Greg Olsen. It's weird because there's two names of the book. It was released with one name and then re released under another name. The first name was American Black Widow, the shocking

5:54 true story of a preacher's wife turned killer, and the second name was John Wheels. Oh okay. It was a good book, but a little perverse at times. Perverse, like in what way, like in a sexual way. Okay, like Sharon's I mean, Sharon's a little racy, She's yeah, okay, So I don't really go there too much. But yeah, the author, the author did okay, but uh, he has a lot of true crime books and he did it was it was well written, so we should definitely check out his other books. Cool. There was something about Sharon Lynn Douglas Buller Nelson Harrelson that men couldn't resist. From her first husband to her last, no men left Sharon willingly thrice married. Sharon was a bed hopper who quote would give the frogs of Calaveras County a run for their money. She'd bet at half the married or single men in one hundred mile radius if you wore pants and we're looking for a woman to show you a good time. She was always ready for an encounter. And you know what I mean by encounters? Oh, I think I know what you mean.

6:59 End quote. When Sharon was forty three, she married her third husband, Glen Harrelson, a firefighter. They hadn't yet commingled their homes when there was a raging house fire at Glen's home in Thornton Colorado. Sharon lived about four hours away in the mountains in western Colorado on a remote mountain road named Cougar Ridge. On November eighteenth, nineteen eighty eight, Thornton Police and fired departments responded to a fire at one two three seven zero Columbine Court. Firefighters soon realized the house belonged to one of their own, Glen Harrelson, Sharon's new husband, Bob Lloyd, a criminalist with the Thornton Police Department, had investigated over one thousand homicides, mostly in Detroit. You know, I'm always going to shout out Michigan when I can. Of course, he'd spent twenty years there investigating grizzly crime scenes. He moved to Colorado for the fresh air and lower crime rates. Murders weren't daily there. Life was peaceful. There was still crime, but there were space further apart. On this day in November, he shifted through the smoldering rubble of misshapen household items and melted heaps of plastic that had succumbed to the heat. It was a very hot fire, indicating to Bob that an accelerant had likely been used. He found coins and two shotgun shells in the living room, spent shotgun shells in the basement.

8:18 A chair was pushed over to the window. The grate covering the window was missing. Could this be a point of entry? Spider webs were still intact. Though no one got in or out of here through that basement, Bob thought, but someone wanted him to think they did. No one appeared to be home, but an officer scanned his beam of light into a crawl space and it landed on the burned figure of a man next to a charred gasoline can. Although his black and remains were unrecognizable, the officer knew it must be forty five year old Glen Harrelson, lying on his back. The officer remarked that his head this is a little grizzly. The officer remarked that his head was intact. Typically, in the intense heat of fire, a human head explodes unless the skull has been bludgeoned or pierced by a bullet. Oh boy, Later they would learn that Glenn had taken two bullets to his face, or Glenn was a really sounds like he was a really good guy.

9:15 Sharon Lyn Douglas was born on July third, nineteen forty five to Morris and Josephine Douglas, the middle of three daughters. The Douglases were devout Seventh Day Adventists. Do you know anything about Seventh Day Adventists? I really don't. I'm going to tell you a little bit about Seventh Day Adventists. The Seventh day Adventist Church is the largest of several Adventist groups that arose from the mill Rite movement of the eighteen forties in upstate New York. The Seventh Day Adventist Church was officially founded in Battle Creek, Michigan, in eighteen sixty three. So tell us a little bit about Battle Creek. What do you know about Battle Creek? Oh, Kellogg's Cereal and what about like the Kellogg family and what's that one movie? Yeah, I know, well Wellsville, wells is that it? But it's about like the sanitarium that was in Battle Creek, And you know the cereal was cereal was initially made. It was like a medicine, right, like, yeah, it was like a health It was how far we've come from, you know, the healthy wheat berry cereal to you know, frosted flakes and whatnot. Today the Kellogg family was part of the Seventh Day Adventist movement. The movie was The Road to Wellville from nineteen ninety four. I'm looking at the cast photo here Anthony Hopkins, Matthew broder Bridge at Fonda, and John Cusack. Oh, John Cusack, Yeah, my favorite. There are twenty million Seventh Day Adventists globally in eighty five thousand

10:46 churches, eight thousand schools, and two hundred hospitals. Seventh Day Adventists is a Christian religion that believes the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The beliefs of the church are meant to permeate your whole being. The Bible is to be the ultimate authority of one's life. Adventists don't drink, smoke, or do drugs, or eat meat, and they are discouraged from drinking caffeine, caffeine or eating processed food. I think some of these views have shifted a little bit since their origins. The church believes God created Earth in six days and rested on the seventh day, Saturday. The Sabbath, or day of Rest, is observed from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.

11:26 Church is attended on Saturday Seventh Day Adventists believe that death is a sleeping state and one will be awakened when Jesus Christ returns. Marriage is meant to be a lifelong commitment for Adventists, and marriage is only between a man and a woman. Strict chastity is observed before marriage. Back to the Douglas family, Maurice Douglas was a carpenter and Josephine was a homemaker and part time bus driver. Music, dancing, and movie watching were forbidden in their home. Television was allowed until Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in nineteen fifty six swiveling his hips. After that, television was forbidden in the Douglas household.

12:07 Gandalus Sharon had no memories of her mother laughing or even smiling. She was an austere woman who was on the earth to serve God. When she was pregnant with their third daughter, Joy, Josephine planted herself in the middle of the railroad tracks and waited for a train to come. She wanted to end her life, but she changed her mind and went home to her family. The children were discouraged from playing together and they were kept from one another to keep the house peaceful and quiet. They were taught to suppress their feelings and emotions. This doesn't sound good. No, it doesn't sound like a happy household, does it. Punishments in the Douglas house were swift and stern, and always involved hours of prayer, meetings with a hair brush or sometimes with a switch. The punished child picked from the yard. Morris was a more permissive parent than Josephine Sharon's happy His childhood memories involved going for a ride with her father to town where he would treat her to a soda. That's her happiest memory. Yeah. Judy, the oldest daughter, was sent to a girls school for being rebellious after getting caught on a picnic with a boy.

13:16 She once went to the police after she received a harsh beating with a belt buckle that left her back bloodied, but the police didn't intervene. Not surprisingly, at age sixteen, Judy moved out of the house. Sharon was sexually assaulted twice as a miner, once by a church elder and once by a janitor. Both were by men who she trusted. In November nineteen sixty three, three days after JFK was assassinated, eighteen year old Sharon married Mike Fuller, a young Seventh Day Adventist preacher. Days before the wedding around her parents' kitchen table, Sharon had told them she didn't want to marry him, but they convinced her that he was a good man and it was the best possible decision she could make. She regrets it every day after. Being married to a minister in small town America wasn't exciting enough for Sharon. She didn't like playing second fiddle to her husband, and she found the obligated tasks of a preacher's wife tiresome and mundane. In the first years of their marriage, the couple moved frequently, first to Ohio and then to Durham, North Carolina.

14:22 Sharon worked part time as a secretary for a printing company when she began an affair with her boss, who was twenty five years her senior. She became pregnant from this liaison. When Sharon told Mike she was pregnant, she hoped that he wouldn't question the paternity. One fateful evening, Sharon overheard Mike on the phone say, quote, I've never loved her. She's like a millstone around my neck. Quote. So it's mutual, she thought. Near the end of Sharon's pregnancy, she walked into the icy waters of Lake Erie with the intent of ending her life. With each step, as the water rose higher, she contemplated what life would be like if she were free of Mike. The frigid waters gave her clarity. She went home and told Mike she was done with their marriage, but Mike convinced her they could make it work.

15:07 It's tragic that Sharon, like her mother, wanted to end her life in pregnancy. Yeah, it's truly sad. On June first, nineteen sixty nine, Rochelle was born, adding to the stress of the marriage. Rochelle was a Colaguy baby. One night, Mike confronted Sharon and told her he knew that the baby wasn't his child and demanded to know the father's name. Mike stormed out of the house, intent on fighting the man. Sharon called a friend who was able to calm Mike down. Things were good with the couple for a few years. In nineteen seventy four, they welcomed their second daughter, Denise. In the summer of nineteen seventy six, Sharon Fuller thirty, Mike and their two daughters, Rochelle seven and Denise Toio, traveled from Durham, North Carolina, to southeast Colorado for a fresh start. Their previous church had sent them packing after four years when Sharon had another a with a parishioner named Craig, who she was deeply in love with. He wrote her poetry and loved her like no one had ever loved her. She was heartbroken to leave him. Mike was livid about the affair. He said, quote, We're being kicked out because you're a little slut, Sharon unquote. Others said their departure was due to Mike's terse and unyielding ways. He could sometimes be a difficult man. Mike was hired to be the pastor for two Colorado churches in the neighboring towns of La Junta and Rocky Ford, about eight miles apart. When they arrived at their new home in Lahunta, the Fullers found it abandoned and unfinished by the builder after he went bankrupt. They were forced

16:41 to live in a bleaque cramped motel until they could find a new place. The community rallied around the young pastor and his family and invited them to their homes for dinner to welcome them to the community. One of the first families to entertain the Fullers was church elder doctor Perry Nelson, his wife Julie, and their three teenage daughters. Sharon was soon smitten with a married father of three. Doctor Nelson owned two successful optometry offices. He was the only optometrist for miles around. Surely a doctor was a step up from her boring minister husband. Sharon reasoned, Perry Nelson owned an airplane and a mobile home. Not like a you know, a major just like a little layer plane.

17:22 Okay, it was just a little a little plane. Still, the doctor used the mobile home for more than just camping. His loyal wife, Julie, stood by his side despite his wandering eye. That was a little foreshadowing, okay. The women in Colorado took an instant dislike to Sharon. Their husbands noticed the way she's sacheted into a room. Sharon was attractive and flashy. She dressed far more seductively than a typical minister's wife, with her tight dresses, low cut tops, and short shorts. The Foolers and Nelson's became fast friends. They went hiking and camping together. Sharon was very attracted to the charismatic optometrist he had riz that's what the kids, you don't know what it's all right. He was so much more exciting than her milk toast husband, and he was interested in what she had to say. I don't know why people think that we're using AI to write our scripts when we're using milks.

18:23 That's what I love that discussion. There's a word I don't use very often, but it's a really good quote. He was so easy to talk to. It was like I'd known him all my life. We just fell into a real easy friendship, she said. Later. By fall, doctor Nelson hired Sharon to work with him. Barbaria Sketty, Perry's loyal, longtime assistant and friend, was told she could take extra long lunches now that there was another office assistant. Barb had been the gatekeeper of the optometry office for years, and she knew Perry well, and she had a feeling that trouble was brewing with Sharon. She tried to like her, but she didn't like her in titled attitude and the way she flirted mercilessly with the married doctor.

19:07 You know where this is going, I do. A torrid affair began between the two. They were careless about keeping it a secret, often escaping to Perry's motor home. They were in love and didn't care who knew it. Huh when I wrote that, I thought of Elf. Perry told Barb he'd never felt the love like he had with Sharon. In September of nineteen seventy six, Perry and Sharon left their spouses. They checked into a hotel and took seven year old Rochelle with them. Remember, Rochelle isn't Mike's biological child, but he never saw it that way. He considered her his own. But maybe Sharon, you know, thought she needed to take her with The two spurned spouses, Mike and Julie went together to find Sharon and Perry.

19:51 Mike was enraged when they found Perry's car at the motel. With the assistance of the police, he broke into the hotel room and took Rochelle with them. He had the police because he was like, my child's been kidnapped, because otherwise I don't think the police would intervene. Mike filed a restraining order against Sharon and Perry, prohibiting them from seeing Rochelle and Denise. People were shocked that Sharon would leave her girls for the doctor. She was judged harshly and she felt their vichery all for her. She missed her children and began questioning everything, which was rare for Sharon to have a moment of self awareness. A friend in Fort Worth, Texas, who was a Christian counselor, told her to come and see him and then he would help her through the hard time. Sharon left two men behind, who both desperately wanted her, but she was torn. She spent two weeks in Texas and then Mike joined her there. They attended several days of marriage counseling together and decided to try to make their marriage work. What do you think of that? I think it's probably not going to probably a bad idea. Sharon agreed to never contact Perry again. Mike took a position with a new large church in Nervada, Colorado, about ten miles from Denver, which was about two hours from where they had previously lived, so Mike really didn't want Sharon to see Perry.

21:11 Mike's new congregation of about two thousand was much larger than his last. Sharon could feel them all judging her. She was sure her reputation in the Seventh day Adventist community preceded her. Sure, that's probably true, right, because the church, it sounds like they're very strict, and so any scandal like that, I'm sure probably made waves. It definitely did. And I didn't go into this too much, and the author of the book I read alluded to it. But we talked about she had two affairs. I think she had many, many affairs. It wasn't just too it was a lot. And when they first moved, people didn't know, but eventually they caught wind of her past. Sharon got a job as a staffing coordinator at a hospital, trying to make herself busy to forget about Perry. She began drinking at night when she came home from her job, and then began day drinking to get through the days too. Perry sent her a music box that played somewhere My Love. Do you know that song? So No go ahead, No keep going? Really I thought I might know it, but I don't think I did. These songs to singing. Ah. It broke Sharon, and she decided to move out on her own and end her marriage with Mike for good. Sharon moved to Colorado Springs and stayed with her sister Judy. She took Rochelle and Denise with her, but Mike soon appeared with a court order

22:41 in his hands and a deputy by his side, and took the girls with him. Sharon didn't fight him. It's hard to imagine a mother just willingly leaving her kids behind and not fighting it. I don't think Sharon's children are her top priority. Life sounds like they weren't. In December nineteen seventy six, Sharon moved back to Rocky and began her life with Perry. Julie, Perry's wife and his youngest daughter, Laurie, moved to California to start their own new life. She was saddened by the breakup of her family, but believed that her philandering husband was no longer her problem. Sharon started to work at Perry's optometry practice again. She had the entitled behavior of the bosses mistress, and she and Barb betted heads frequently. I feel bad for Barbara Barb.

23:26 Barb was pretty awesome and she put up with a lot. Sharon was brusque and rude to patience. Many said they'd never return. After dealing with her, Mike sued Sharon for full custody of their daughters. She was outraged. During their court hearing, the judge said, quote, I declare you a whore, and I am taking it just the thing judges, I don't think judges used that word very often. Think I am taking your two daughters away from you. You will not even have visiting rights until they turned thirteen years old. When they turned thirteen years of age, they can make up their minds if they want to stay with their so called mother or go with their father. Wow. Mike then took the girls and moved to Ohio.

24:07 A judge, I declare you a whore? Right? I mean, it's not It was in nineteen nineteen seventies, so maybe judges, I mean, I think a judge would still say that today. Maybe maybe, I don't know. It'd be probably pretty controversial, but yeah. On July first, nineteen seventy seven, not long after their divorces were finalized, Sharon and Perry were married and bought a new home together. Sharon took over the books at the optometry practice. A big mistake, A huge mistake. Vendors were left unpaid and orders unfilled. Sharon would pocket any cash that came into the office.

24:47 The bank account was frequently overdrawn, and several times Barb's paycheck bounced. Perry was financially strained. He had to pay his ex wife child support and alimony, and his new wife was bleeding him dry. Sharon shopped almost daily. She brought her new wares back to the office to show off to disgruntled Barb. By the end of the summer, Sharon announced she was pregnant. The baby, boy, Danny, was born in March nineteen seventy eight. People quickly did the math and realized that Sharon must have been pregnant when the couple got married. Is scandal I mean, you know they are like Perry was involved in the church, So yeah, I mean it was pretty scandalous.

25:29 Laurie, Perry's youngest daughter, came to Colorado that summer to stay with Sharon and Perry. The summer started out great. Laurie loved Sharon. She was permissive and allowed the fifteen year old to drink. Laurie decided to transfer to a school in Colorado. She attended boarding school at Campion Seventh Day Adventist Academy, in Lovedland, Colorado. Sharon bought Lurie alcohol to take to school. She's fifteen. She told her to fill her mouth wash bottle with pepperminte schnops, which is actually pretty smart. Which was taken a mouth wash bottle at school either? I don't think so. I never knew anyone to carry around a mouth wash bottle with them at school. Well, right, but in your dorm room you could have your mouth washed bottle. Oh okay, I guess I wasn't realizing this was a board It was a boarding You said it was a boarding school that I missed it. It's okay. Laurie was later expelled for drinking, among other rebellious behaviors. She moved back with her mother, so it was almost like Sharon set her up. Laurie wrote a heartfelt letter to her father apologizing for her behavior, but Sharon kept it from him. She demanded that Laurie mail all of the things that she had bought for her dorm room back to her. Sharon came between father and daughter and the two became estranged and would remain so for years. In nineteen eighty, Sharon and Perry welcomed another child, a daughter, they named Misty. We'll be back after a break. Despite being extended financially, Sharon fell in love

27:02 with a thirty five acre property in Weston, Colorado, in the Wet Mountain Valley, about thirty minutes from Trinidad, where Perry's offices were located. Building their dream house on a remote mountain was a huge undertaking. Sharon named their house Roundhouse for its six sided living room and stunning mountain views. The property was remote and hard to locate, perched on a mountain side. Sharon loved to sing and play the piano, but didn't have one of her own. A neighbor told Sharon she could play her piano. The neighbor left her house to run errands and returned to find Sharon and her husband kissing on her couch. She beat Sharon with a broom and demanded she leave. Sharon was really bad at making friends with women. I can't imagine why Sharon grew tired of Perry. After she had drained his bank account and sunk his business, she left him and the children behind. She moved in with Buzz Reynolds, a wealthy, self made man and one of Perry's best friends, who lived on an impressive ranch. One day, she dropped into the optometry office to pick up a paycheck. The visit turned into a fight with Perry. As Sharon was leaving the office, she told Barb quote, I'll tell you what, if that son of a bitch doesn't give me a divorce, I'll blow his fucking head off. I'll kill him unquote. Meanwhile, Perry's business continued to struggle. Perry owed everyone money, vendors over one hundred thousand dollars in back taxes along with his large mortgage. He was forced to close one of his

28:33 offices. He had once been the only optometrist in two towns, but there were other doctors in the area now, and with his sullied reputation as an adulterer, his customers left the practice in droves. One former patient said, quote, you don't steal a minister's wife and do business as usual in Trinidad unquote. Barb noticed the doctor often came to work with alcohol on his breath. He told Barb he wanted to end it all. A friend found him with a gun pressed to his temple. He was able to calm Perry down temporarily, but sadly things were about to get worse for Parry. So remember, Perry is a Seventh Day Adventist and he's not supposed to drink. He really didn't drink, but Sharon drove from him to drink. Sharon told Perry that she was pregnant with Buzz's baby. He was devastated and told her he never wanted to see her again. Buzz wasn't excited about the baby either.

29:27 He kicked Sharon out of his house, ending their seven month affair. She aborted the pregnancy. Her sister later claimed that it had been Sharon's sixth abortion. Perry still loved Sharon and missed his life with her. She wore him down and let her back into his life. Sharon began working at the optometry office again. Poor Barb was let go after seventeen loyal years with Parry. He couldn't afford to pay two salaries. Oh poor Barb. Yeah, I didn't talk about this, but in the book the author mentioned and that when Barb went to apply for unemployment, they declined her because Perry hadn't paid the taxes that he needed to pay to ensure Yeah, oh gosh. And again I didn't talk about this either very much, but the author of the book talks about Sharon's appearance non stuff like she's beautiful, and she's curvaceous, and she's just goes on and on about how stunning she is. Okay, and I couldn't find many pictures of Sharon, but I think he may have embellished it a little bit. Just as Sharon was starting to get restless with Perry again, a handsome stranger, Gary Starry Adams, knocked on Sharon's door.

30:38 He was a neighbor who lived in a mobile home near the roundhouse. He was well known in the community for his skills as a carpenter, rufer, and handyman. Sharon decided to have a Halloween party and invited all of her neighbors, among them Gary and his wife Nancy. She dressed as Scarlett O'Hara. Gary was dressed as a mountain man in leather pants. I don't know what that means to be dressed as a MoMA man and leather pants. Sharon asked him to dance and pressed her body close to his with their spouse's just feet away. Did Sharon ever go for unmarried men or was it always married men? I don't think Buzz was married. Okay, but I think the ones you hear about are the ones that are married. Gotcha. Gary had learned his trade from his carpenter father. He was close to his family.

31:25 Gary dropped out of high school after he was told to get a haircut and he joined the Marines instead, and he had to get a buzz cut. He was a simple man who enjoyed the outdoors and earning an honest living. He didn't need to be rich, He just needed enough to live on. He was good with his hands and could build or fix anything his family needed. He loved his wife and his two children. He was kind of a departure for Sharon, right. So you know, she'd been with the preacher and she really loved being married to a doctor. M hm. So Gary was just kind of a well, he was a mountain man, right. Sharon and Gary, not surprising to anyone, began an affair. They were explosive together. Gary quickly fell in love or lust with Sharon. She loved his rugged, carefree demeanor. She confided in him that she was afraid of Parry. Parry was abusive to her and their children. Gary had also forged a friendship with Perry. He and Sharon hid their affair well. Sharon considered Nancy her closest friend. The couples got together frequently to play cards and drink together. Gary knew Perry to be a good kind man and question Sharon's stories of abuse. Sharon hatched a plan to get rid of Perry and solve her money problems. She needed Gary's help, and he obliged. One night in June, Perry and Gary went out drinking at a strip club. Do you think they took their friend Larry with them? I think there was a Larry there too, and Harry too. Of course, Gary drugged Parry's beer when

32:55 he went to the bathroom. When Perry picked up the beer and put it to his lips and said, well this tastes funny, I'm drinking, I'm done drinking for the night. Anyhow, Gary was disappointed but undeterred, but Sharon was shocked. When Perry later returned home, she was furious that Gary had botched the plan. Weeks later, Gary convinced Perry to join him on a four hour road trip to Denver to buy some contraband guns. Only one of them returned from the trip. No one knew that Gary had also been in the car on the way there. Parry's black VW Bug was found crumpled in a creek bed, but he wasn't inside. The car had floated downstream from where it had landed in the water. Crime scene investigators determined that the car must have been going at least eighty miles per hour when it went through the guard rail. Oddly, there were no personal effects or paperwork in the car. Search parties looked for Perry for days. Sharon helped in the searches, but she seemed emotionless and bored. She began selling Perry's possessions days after the accident. She even put the optometry office up for sale. Gary moved in with Sharon within the week Wow and was he was driving a new truck around town. The small mountain community was scandalized. I can imagine. Whispers began to circulate that Parry's body hadn't been found because he had been murdered and his car crash was staged. Maybe his body is buried in the untamed mountain forests surrounding his home, people thought. But some friends thought that maybe he

34:28 had left the country to evade the irs and escape his troubled marriage. But Parry would have never left his children behind. I don't think I didn't talk about this very much, but Perry was a really he was a really nice man. He wasn't a faithful husband, but he did a lot for the community and for his church. He was very generous in his practice. If someone couldn't pay for their glasses, he would help them out or give people things for free all the time. So before his business turned, he was known to be very kind and generous in the community. Three weeks after Perry's disappearance, Laurie remember Laurie. Laurie is his youngest daughter. Laurie was now married and she wanted to come help look for her father. Sharon wrote her a letter dissuading her. It said, quote, this is such unusual circumstances that even the friends in rocky Ford are having a difficult time knowing what to do or say. At the point where his body does surface, people will be able to see the reality of the nightmare I have experienced for the last month. Laurie. I want him found more than anyone, but I also know I couldn't handle being the one to find him. At this point.

35:37 Your dad lives in my heart wherever his body is Another person will be the best one to find him, for no one loves him would be able to emotionally handle the situation. End quote strange strange note She's a piece of work. What happened on that June night when Gary and Perry were on their way home from Denver. Gary told Perry to stop the car so he could pee. When he returned to the car, he told Parry he'd lost his wallet down a rocky embankment and asked him to help look for it. Parry grabbed a flashlight to help his friend. When they got to the dark embankment, Gary picked up a large rock and repeatedly bashed Parry in the head, but Parry wasn't dead. He tumbled down the rocky hill and fell into ice cold water. He sprang up and lunged at Gary. Gary was able to overpower Parry again and tried to drown him. Parry proved stronger and more tenacious than Gary had anticipated. The two men fought for a few minutes before Parry fell into the water and was washed away by the current of the creek. Gary wasn't sure if he was dead. He then pushed the VW off the road and into the creek. So I have a couple of questions. Okay, So did no one knew that Gary was on this trip with other than Sharon?

36:52 No one knew Gary was with Parry like Kerry and Sharon didn't tell anyone. And how did Gary get back home? He called a friend and a friend came and picked him up. Okay, so I guess that person knew. But yeah, yeah, no one else did. Okay. Two months into their new living arrangement, Gary moved back with his wife. He told Sharon that she was too difficult to live with. She didn't mind. She loved Gary, but she had rekindled her relationship with Buzz and his wallet was much bigger than Gary's. However, Sharon and Gary always found their way back to each other among Sharon's never ending string of lovers. Part of that they're linked by this murder too. And I think they probably, you know, they both knew the secret between them, right, so they kind of had to be together. I would think, Yeah, Gary seemed like, you know, kind of like that cowboy type guy, and I like a secret would die with him. He seemed like that kind of like he wouldn't turn on Sharon less than a year after Perry disappeared, Sharon had his wedding ring melted down and had a gold and diamond pendant made for Gary. It's crazy.

38:00 That is crazy. And they still hadn't found Perry. They hadn't found Perry. So her, you know, just days after he went missing, Gary moves in. She's selling his stuff, just no regard to Crazen. In the weeks before Perry's death, Sharon had taken out three life insurance policies on her husband, because of course she did, valued at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which would be almost seven hundred and fifty thousand today. However, the insurance companies informed Sharon they wouldn't pay out until Perry's body was found. Days after Sharon had received the notification from the insurance company, on August fourteenth, nineteen eighty four, a man's body was found in a creek bed not far from the crash site. The body was estimated to be that of a thirty year old man. Perry was fifty and said to be in remarkably good condition for being exposed to the elements. A friend of Perry's, a doctor, offered to identify the body surely a gruesome task for a widow, he thought, But Sharon had had already identified the body and sent it to the crematorium immediately. His death was ruled an accidental drowning. Do you see what she did there? I mean kind of so it sounds like it was not his body, probably not his body, but she just said that it was. Yeah, she identified his body and she said, yep, that's my husband. That's Perry. Wow, that's crazy. Perry had been gone for over a year. That area had been searched exhaustively, and hikers I think went through that area frequently. And then his body shows up and

39:31 it's in good condition. And I didn't mention this earlier, but the body had clothing on it, and it even had socks on it, and just seems very unlikely that a year later. Yeah, yeah, but I can't tell you if anyone had gone missing, or who's that body that body could have been. I'm really surprised they didn't do like DNA testing or something. It was in the nineteen eighties. Oh yeah, I guess so, I don't think that was, but yeah, they could have done media something. Sharon said it was too painful to have a memorial service. She sent Perry's remains to his family in Michigan, and they had a service for him there. Sharon and Gary realized they were better as friends with benefits than a real relationship. They agreed to split the insurance money. Sharon deposited some money into high interest earning accounts at the bank, but she also went on a spending spree. She bought a new Mustang, two fur coats, and an expensive wardrobe. She bought Gary a motorcycle. Rochelle, now fifteen, came to live with Sharon in Colorado after years of living in Ohio with her father and younger sister. Sharon didn't mind having her there, but had no interest in parenting another child. She treated Rochelle as a drinking buddy and friend. She introduced her to a much older man, whom she married when she turned eighteen.

40:52 Sharon continued her flip flopping relationships with Buzz and Gary. Buzz asked her to marry him. Sharon said yes. Her parents and sisters came for the wedding and found her in bed with Gary. Her parents had been tolerant and even supportive of her antics, but that was the final straw for them. They left Sharon's house and never returned. Although the marriage between Sharon and Buzz was probably just for show, there's no official record of it, so they weren't actually married legally. I don't think so, no, okay, which is kind of If the marriage had been real, Buzz probably would have not lived, okay. Sharon was heartbroken that Gary wouldn't marry her. The marriage quote unquote between Sharon and Buzz was short lived. She decided to rent an apartment in Denver where she could live without everyone knowing about her checkered past.

41:43 Glenn Harrelson and his wife Andrea or Andy lived in Des Moines, Iowa, but after they had vacationed in Colorado, they fell in love with the mountains and clean air and moved there. The couple had two children, a son Todd and a daughter, Tara. The Harrelsons had a good marriage. Glenn loved working as a firefighter. He was also a great asset to the firehouse with his easygoing personality. He entertained his coworkers with his singing, guitar playing, and practical jokes. He was a beloved squad member, respectful, hard working, loyal, and dedicated like a lot of firefighters. Glenn had several side hustles. He and his friend Jim owned a carpet business and a car wash. After twenty two years together, he and Andy split up but remained close friends. Glenn hated to be alone. Feeling insecure and middle aged with a receding hairline, he made the bold decision to get a two pay.

42:36 Not many men get two pays anymore, No, they don't. Soon after, Glenn met forty three year old widower Sharon Nelson through an ad in the newspaper. He was instantly smitten. So back in the nineteen eighties, tinder and all those things didn't exist, so sometimes people would place ads in newspapers. Oh yes, what do you remember that? Did you place that? I never did, but I do remember those ads? Okay. So Glenn was instantly smitten with Sharon. He thought she was the bee's knees. She made him feel loved and secure. She even liked his bald head and he gave up the tupei. But his children and friends found Sharon abrasive and rude.

43:19 They didn't like being around her at all, but Glenn didn't care. One time though. Glenn was so sick with Mono that he needed to go to the hospital. It wasn't Sharon that he called. He called his ex wife Andy. Well. He was in the hospital, he found out that Sharon had been seeing an ex boyfriend and he ended the relationship. When they broke up, Glenn's friends and family couldn't hide their happiness, but it was short lived. Like so many other men in Sharon's life, Glenn just couldn't quit Sharon, and he took her back. Can you like all these times like people are just you know, back and forth, back and forth. It's exhausting. He soon asked Sharon and her children to move in with him.

44:00 She declined she wasn't ready to give up her freedom and her beloved roundhouse. But when Glenn asked Sharon to marry him, she said yes. Soon after, Glenn changed the beneficiary on his life insurance policy. Bad idea Glenn. On a summer day in June nineteen eighty eight, Glenn suggested that they go to the courthouse and get married. He didn't want to wait any longer. Sharon agreed. She wore shorts of tank top and sandals to the spur of the moment wedding. Sharon was adamant that she wouldn't move to Glenn's home in Thornton, near Denver. She didn't want to move her children, and Glenn didn't want to leave the fire station. On his days off, Glenn would make the nearly four hour drive to Sharon. It was an odd arrangement, but it was the best compromise that they could make. I think they had met when Sharon was renting the apartment in Denver, and Denver and Thornton were close to each other. And then Sharon moved back to the roundhouse in the mountains and it was a four hour drive. Okay. By Novem, Sharon and Gary were plotting to get rid of Glenn. You didn't think we were done with Gary, did you. Of course, it had worked so well the first time. She told Gary quote, I want it done before.

45:09 I want it done before Thanksgiving. Glenn's mother is coming from Des Moines, and I don't want to spend the holiday with her. I can't stand her. Wow, that is a reason to schedule your murder. I guess she's a brutal woman, I'll say. One day, Glenn called his best friend Jim Schindler at the firehouse. He told him he had to talk to him about something important. Jim told him to call him back on the non business line in five minutes so he could get to a secure location. Glenn had recently confided in Jim that his marriage was already in trouble and he thought he'd made a mistake. He'd found cigarette butts outside of the roundhouse that didn't belong to him, and he was pretty sure he knew where they came from.

45:49 Glenn had even called Judy, Sharon's sister, to ask her if she knew if Sharon and Gary were still seeing each other. Judy assured Glenn that Sharon was happy with him and that she was done with Gary, and Judy did think that Jim waited by the phone, but Glenn never called him back. He never talked to his friend again. On Friday evening, November eighteenth, nineteen eighty eight, Sharon, Danny, and Misty decided to pay a visit to their neighbors, the Brownings, down the mountain. It was an unexpected, but not unwanted visit. Diane Browning had rented some movies earlier that day, so she invited Sharon and the kids to stay for dinner. Snow started to fall, which made their steep road dangerous. But Sharon accepted the invitation and they didn't leave it till about nine pm. Diane later said that it was unlike Sharon, like Sharon didn't like to drive when it was snowing, but Sharon was like, oh, it's okay, I'll stay. Meanwhile, Gary Adams drove the four hours to Thornton. Sharon had drawn him a map to one two three seven zero Columbine Court Glenn's house. She told him she needed proof that he had done the deed. She wanted Glenn's wedding ring.

46:58 Gary arrived at the house just before any pm, as Sharon had told him to do. He lay in wait with a lead pipe in his hand. When Glenn entered the house, Gary smacked him with the pipe, but Glenn fought back. Gary would have to go with Plan B. Plan B was the gun in his back pocket. He was hoping not to have to use the gun, but Gary show Glenn twice in the face. Gary removed the grade over the basement window to make it look as if a burglar had entered there. He tried to make the house look as if it had been robbed, emptying drawers of their contents. He threw coins throughout the room, but he forgot to take any valuables from Glenn's house other than his wedding ring. No one knows how to make a burglary look stage. No. Gary poured gas throughout the house, lit a match, and walked out the door.

47:46 Sharon and Glenn knew the two best ways to destroy evidence were fire and water. They had used water the last time, so they decided to go with fire this time. Gary returned to Sharon at four am in and gave her Glenn's wedding ring, Poor Glenn. First responders at Glenn's house didn't know what to think. A firefighter wouldn't die in a fire. Could it have been suicide? Poor Sharon, Glenn's friend's thought she'd already lost one husband. Then they said she'd already lost one husband. Wait a minute. The roundhouse didn't have a telephone. There was no easy way to inform Sharon of her husband's death. Officers would need to drive to her remote mountain sign home and tell her face to face. Glenn's mother was informed of her son's death.

48:34 She was devastated, but she was kind enough to reach out to Rochelle she knew that Sharon didn't have a phone. She asked Rochelle to tell her mother about Glenn's death. Rochelle raced to the roundhouse. She made the thirty minute drive in fifteen minutes. Rochelle consoled her devastated mother. She had no idea that Sharon was play acting. The officers arrived to break the news to Sharon. They were relieved her daughter had already told her. Sharon was brought into the police station for questioning. She was forthcoming and talkative until the questions became tougher and more direct. She lied to officers and claimed she'd never had an extramarital affair. She said she was in love with Glenn three over. Her children were with her at the police station, which was really awkward. I'm not sure why she brought them. After a couple of hours, Sharon became paranoid and said she would only continue the questioning if they continued at a neutral location. She said, these walls have ears. They drove around for forty minutes until they came upon a pizza hut and Sharon said, let's stop there, perfect neutral location. Yeah, pizza huts used to be pretty magical.

49:43 Yeah, did you ever go to Pizzahut. Oh. I remember going Red Cups and there was video games in a jukebox, and yeah, I remember going when I was young. My mom my family never went there, but my friend did and I went with my friend and it was like so special. I was like, oh, man, like when we were in high school. I think we would go like after a game or whatever, and you know, they would always move the tables and they could see like twelve people or whatever. It was was a fun place to hang out. Yeah. Sharon was read her rights and placed under arrest at the Pizza Hut, but the officers let Sharon sit there and tell her story. At the restaurant with her children eating pizza in a booth nearby, She confessed to the officers that she and Gary Adams were responsible for the deaths of Parry Nelson and Glenn Harlson. She told them that the irs had a two hundred and sixty five thousand dollars lean on her house and she felt like she had no other choice.

50:34 One day, while Sharon was in the county jail awaiting sentencing, she had an unexpected visitor. Laurie Nelson, now married Perry's youngest daughter came to see her. Sharon was happy to see her, but Laurie had no interest in polite greetings. She said, quote, I want you to know that you not only killed my father, you also killed my children's grandfather and my grandparents' son. You killed your own children's father, and they said you paid a man to do it. I hate you, and I will hate you forever. End quote. That's crazy to me that Sharon was happy that Laurie was coming to visit her, and like she thought, Laurie was going to be happy to see her too. When you're in jail, you're probably happy to see about anyone that's going to visit you. I guess. So what was Sharon's motive for all these crimes? Agreed? Right, I would say so. So by killing Glenn, she would have owned his house, and he had over one hundred thousand dollars in equity in his house, he had a life insurance policy of thirty thousand dollars, and he had his businesses too that she would have gotten a part of, and his pension would have paid her twelve hundred dollars a month for the rest of her life. That's a lot of money. Yeah. On November twentieth, nineteen eighty eight, Sharon and Gary were both arrested. They were each charged with two counts of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. Sharon said she pleaded guilty to say spare her children from a lengthy trial, but in all likelihood it was to avoid the death penalty. Yeah, we know how

52:05 much care Sharon cares about her children. So Gary maintained his innocence, but when Sharon planned to testify against him, he too pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. They both received two life sentences without the possibility of parole. So that is the story of Sharon Lynne Douglas Fuller, Nelson Harlson. I have a few things to wrap up here. Danny and Misty were raised by their older sisters. All of Perry's children, including Danny and Misty, sued the life insurance company that had paid Sharon years before after Perry's death. In Colorado, there's something called a slayer statute which says that a person who murders someone cannot collect in the victim's life insurance, which I think a lot of states must have something similar Yeah. The lawsuit alleged that the insurance company had investigated Perry's death and they discovered so several pieces of evidence and failed to inform the police. Among the evidence was that Perry had not left Frinidad alone the night he disappeared, Sharon had purchased five life insurance policies less than six weeks before his death, and that within days of Parry's disappearance, Gary moved in with Sharon, and Sharon almost immediately began selling Parry's possessions and assets. It's a lot of red flags. Well was it that they the insurance company found these things out and didn't really inform the police, Which is kind of wild that their investigation was more thorough than the police. But I guess the police weren't really investigating Perry's death as suspicious, assuming it was an accident. Yeah,

53:39 Perry's children won a settlement plus ten years of interest, and they won five hundred and sixty five thousand dollars. I believe good for them, and they split it amongst themselves. Sharon died in prison in twenty seventeen, and I'm not sure about Gary, but I think he might still be alive. Do we know how Sharon died. I think she died of being a horrible person. Well that makes sense. Yeah. Sharon's daughter said that her favorite movie was Black Widow. She would watch it over and over. It was a movie from nineteen eighty seven with Deborah Winger and Dennis Hopper and yeah, Sharon just she really loved that movie. You know, we talk about this a lot, but like every every woman killer seems to be labeled the black widow, it seems to fit in this case because she had multiple She was a double black widow. If you kill one person or you still considered a black writer. I think there's got to be a pattern there before you call somebody a black widow. But you know, I don't make the rules.

54:40 Rest in peace, Perry and Glenn. I'm sorry that you met Sharon, and I bet you are too. Yeah. Why do you think Sharon was the way she was? It sounds like she had a pretty bad upbringing, but I don't know, there's no excuse really. Yeah, she was always seeking out that love that she didn't eve when she was a child. I think it drove Sharon crazy that Gary didn't want to marry her. He remained married to his wife the whole time. He wasn't loyal to her, but he was loyal to her and in the aspect that he didn't want to divorce her. And I think Sharon really wanted to marry him. Yeah, he was the one man that she couldn't get to marry her. Right. I feel like I really wore you out today. I have been worn out since I woke up this morning. So it's not your fault. Yeah, we had the time change, so that was he lost an hour of sleep.

55:34 I know, it's always a little disruptive. I think we owe the people of Colorado anthology, or do we owe the people of Colorado an apology? I don't know. I mean if someone if someone mispronounces Illinois, I mean I go after them. So we have this thing sometimes where I'll say a word, I'm like, I don't think that's right, and then you'll say it. I'm like, I don't decided to go with Colorado Colorado. But then we listened to some pronunciation. Yeah they said Colorado, And I apologize if you're not listening to this podcast because we pronounced English flawlessly. How do people most commonly mispronounce Illinois? They say the US Illinois. They don't say Illinois. Maybe, I mean, that's kind of a nice pronunciation, but yeah, I don't really hear people's mispronounced Michigan because you're Midwest. You're very familiar with Illinois because you grew up in the Midwest and I grew up in the Midwest. So yeah, Colorado, we think it's Colorado. I know you're gonna let us know. And the other one that we were talking about is Nevada. Nevada. Yeah, I think same thing as Nevada. Well, I think sometimes I flip flop and I shouldn't do that. I should stick with oneiation Harrelson, Harlson, I'm a mess, I admit it.

57:02 No wonder I get one star review. The last case we did was set in France, and so we had a really good excuse me France for mispronouncing those names, but this one, being in America, you would think you'd be better. Thank you all so much for listening, for your friendship and your support. It means so much to us, It really does. There's a lot of podcasts out there, and if you're still listening to us, by golly, we really appreciate you. We do. Please rate review, follow and subscribe, find us on social media, or send us an email at Lovemarykill at gmail dot com, and please consider supporting us on Patreon dot com slash Love Mary Kill one tier five dollars a month, ad free access and a monthly bonus episode until next time. Don't kill your wife and Don't Kill your husband. M h And said to be in remarkably good condition for

58:39 being exposed to the elephant at Elephants. This is a good