122. Lisa Nowak - The Love Triangle From Space
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- Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Morland. - And I'm Garrett Morland. - And he's the husband. - And I'm the husband. - This week is our live. I'm freaking out. It is this weekend, July 31st, a live episode, virtual. You get on your computer, you buy a ticket, and then you tune in. There's a live comment feed.

and it's going to be so fun it's going to come up fast so get tickets if you want to watch we're really really excited because the last one was amazing this one we are covering the casey anthony case it will be garrett's first time hearing it and then also i thought that would be a fun one because everyone can kind of chime in on the comments as we're telling it because it is a more popular case this reminder is exclusive to the live show only so it's not going to be posted on youtube or anything else

Um, there's going to be links everywhere if you're interested and you want to come and we love you all. Then also no worries if you can't tune in exactly at that time and date because maybe you're out of the country or you just have something else. If you buy a ticket, it stays up for a week afterwards. It just wouldn't technically be live, but you could still watch the live.

for a week after with your ticket you can replay it if you watched it and want to re-watch it so we made that an option kind of for our people who are out of country and might not be able to tune in at 3 a.m when we're doing the live but anyways i know we've been harping on it but we're really just so excited for the live because last one was such a hit so yeah tune in this weekend i can't wait okay i guess that pushes us right into your 10 seconds my 10 seconds

So this week, well a couple days ago, if you're not in the cars, you won't understand this, so I am sorry. But a truck called the Raptor R just got announced, well revealed would be a better word because they announced it a while ago. We'll see if it ever gets made. Not hating on it.

Kind of sounds like you are a bit. I'm not hating on it. Anyways, I currently have a truck that might or might not directly compete with it. So, you know, we'll see what happens. I'm not going to say anything bad because honestly, as far as like cars go in general, I'm not a very, oh, it has to be this brand or this brand or this brand. I'm very just kind of open-minded. Like to me, all cars are cool.

whether it's a Ford or a Ram, for example. Anyways, for those who don't know, I do currently have a Ram TRX. I probably won't make the switch.

to Raptor. But hey, I don't know if there's any Ford dealerships out there that want to sponsor MWMH. Shut up. We're here. That's all I'm trying to say. I would make Peyton drive that car for a year. I couldn't drive a truck. I know. It wouldn't go well. Speaking of that, I did curb our rims the other day when we were driving. It was a couple weeks ago. The other day? That's like your favorite pastime to do to our cars. I do it quite a bit.

What was I doing again? Just turning. Oh, you were reaching for hand sanitizer this time. I was reaching for hand sanitizer. The last time he was frantically looking for his sunglasses that were on his head. But we didn't find him until after he had rammed the car into the curb. Oh my gosh.

Anyways, that is why I drive a truck. So I don't have to worry about this. I think it's so funny because there's all those stereotypes online about girls who just like hit curbs all the time and then go on like life like it didn't happen and like nothing big deal. But that's literally you. I mean, I've only done it twice, but I'm just too I'm too scared to crash. So I'm like very aware on the road. So I don't think I'd ever do it. But yeah, I try to post more about cars on my stories on Instagram. It just never happens.

But I'll try to be better at it, I promise. It's still hot here. If you're wondering why we're both wearing long sleeves, if you're watching on video, it's because we're in the basement and it's freezing in our basement. Yeah, it's actually cold in our whole house. I don't know. Our air just is not accurate, but... Yeah, we got some. I mean, at least it's cold rather than hot. Right, right. It could be worse. It could be way worse. But yeah, it's 105 degrees outside and we're inside. I have fuzzy socks on. We're both in long sleeves. Garrett's got a jacket. Our air is working. That's all I can say. Yeah.

And if you're like, well, why don't you guys just turn it down? The second we turn it down, it stops working. So it's kind of like we just have to bear with it. Yeah. All right. That's my 10 seconds. I feel like I can't communicate today. So I'm going to have to, I need to take a shot of an energy drink or something and let's go. People don't realize sometimes how hard it is to talk into a microphone. I just feel like I'm,

I'm all over the place right now. Same. I feel like I'm talking, but I feel like I'm over my body just watching myself talk. You're having an out-of-body experience? Yeah, yeah, 100%. Sometimes my brain and my mouth are just not connected and I just can't get a good sentence out. Yeah, I need to connect them and let's hop into the true crime. Our case sources are the New York Times, abcnews.go.com, houstoniamag.com, biography.com, people.com, space.com, texasmonthly.com, texastandard.org, Google Maps, and Wikipedia. Google Maps. Oh, because...

you know, one of your favorite questions is, well, how far drive is it between those two places? So I got to be looking now in my research. Google maps.

So our episode begins on May 10th, 1963, when Lisa Marie Caputo was born to Alfredo and Jane Caputo. Now, growing up, Lisa was always interested in outer space and astronauts. Literally, from when she was only five or six years old, she wanted to be an astronaut. And didn't you as well? Didn't you always want to be an astronaut? I feel like I remember you telling me that. And sorry to get sidetracked, but I started watching the show on Apple TV called For All Mankind. And is it about space? Yeah, it's good.

So Lisa was actually inspired to become an astronaut from watching the historic Apollo 11 moon landing on television in 1969. And basically after that, she was hooked. Lisa graduated from Charles H. Woodward High School in 1981 and was a highly accomplished student in high school. She was named Student Athlete of the Year, an award that was granted to the student who excelled most in both academics and athletics.

She graduated as co-valedictorian, and despite her great efforts, Lisa actually turned down the Ivy League. She'd been accepted to college at Brown University, but instead, she pursued her dream of becoming an astronaut by enrolling at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Lisa graduated from Annapolis in 1985, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering.

And note here, women at this time were vastly in the minority at Annapolis, making up only 6% of the student body. And women were only first admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1976, just nine years before Lisa was. During her time at Annapolis and while chasing her dreams, Lisa married Richard T. Nowak, a classmate of hers, and they were married on April 6, 1988.

By 1990, a married and newlywed Lisa Nowak went on to enroll in and later complete her master's degree in aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. She's just very smart. That's the point I'm trying to make is that she is extremely smart, a hard worker.

By 1992, four years after marriage, Lisa becomes a mom to the first of her three children. And while being a mom, Lisa was admitted to the United States Naval Test Pilot School in Maryland on her sixth attempt.

She graduated from that program in 1994 when she became a naval flying officer and flight test engineer. And according to most sources, Lisa's hobbies around this time were cycling, collecting rubber stamps, and growing African violets. Rubber stamps.

So at this point in her life, from an outside perspective, Lisa is just succeeding. She's excelling in her career. She's chasing her dream of becoming an astronaut, hopefully, eventually. And she has a family. And it was during this time that Lisa met William Bill O'Falline while they were stationed together in a naval air station located in Maryland. So she meets Bill. Bill

was born on March 29th, 1965 in Virginia. His family moved to Alaska where Bill actually grew up. He graduated from West Anchorage High School and then pursued a degree in electrical engineering in college and then he later earned a Master of Science in Aviation Systems.

In 1988, Bill joined the United States Navy and in 1990 he became a Naval aviation officer. By 1995, Bill was married and had two children and had just met Lisa at work, essentially. A year after working together, Lisa was selected by NASA to become an astronaut candidate. So this is basically, she has now just hit the point that she's been working so hard for since high school.

This is obviously an extremely competitive process and a highly prized position. Lisa underwent psychological screening in order to qualify to become a member of NASA's astronauts. She went on through the process to become a full-blown astronaut, and this astronaut training was grueling and intense by any standards.

Two years later, in June 1998, when Bill was 33 years old, NASA also selected him to be an astronaut candidate. So they were working together before this. She gets selected. Two years later, he gets selected.

He trained for two years in this capacity and was elevated to the position of astronaut, earning the qualification to become a space shuttle pilot for NASA. Three years later, Lisa somehow gave birth to twin girls all while being a full-blown astronaut. Like she hasn't gone up to space per se, but she's working as an astronaut.

The next year, Lisa's husband, Richard, was deployed overseas, leaving Lisa home with her three young children, plus her holding down her job as a NASA astronaut. So we have Lisa, who is a full-time mom. Her husband has just been deployed, and she is working as an astronaut as

And then we also have Bill who has a family of his own and just got accepted to be an astronaut as well. And now it's February 1st, 2003 and the space shuttle Columbia disaster occurs killing all astronauts on board, including three astronauts who were from Lisa's 1996 astronaut class. They were friends of hers. - That was in 2003? - Yeah, so this tragedy hit Lisa very hard.

Not only was she home alone trying to be a mom and an astronaut at the same time, she now just had a tragedy strike her field, losing friends in the process. That's crazy because I feel like I've heard more about the Apollo 1 disaster than... Right.

I think you just said there's actually been three. Yeah. Right. And I feel like we if you were to ask any of us, we would all be like, oh, no, there was just that one that blew up on takeoff. Yeah. But no, there have been three tragedies. Because I know the Apollo one and then this one. Yeah. I don't I can't recall off the top of my head the other one, though.

So because of this, Lisa served as what is called a personal casualty assistance officer for the family of her close friend, Laurel Clark, who was one of the astronauts killed in this disaster. Lisa even helped Clark's widower with Clark's son. I mean, she was basically assigned to help take care of this fellow comrade's family.

This was reportedly very stressful on Lisa, who had her own three young children she was spending time away from to help her deceased friend's family.

The following year, 2004, both Lisa and Bill, the man who she met through this process and now is also an astronaut, were assigned together along with several other astronauts on what sounds like an intensely difficult cold weather survival training course in Canada for NASA. And as part of the training, the group was dropped off in the wilderness and had to make their way out on foot.

covering many miles and several days. And this training took place in January of 2004. It was during the Canada training that Lisa and Bill began working together to get out of the wilderness and getting just a little too close. They both have families. Her husband is deployed, but he has children as well. He has a wife and their work

They've known each other for years. Begins to blur the lines a little bit. When they returned to Houston, Texas, this relationship turned full-blown romantic relationship and an affair began between the two astronauts. For obvious reasons, they kept their affair a secret. Their behavior would have violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We just talked about this in a different case.

But basically they could get discharged for doing this. Come on, everyone. No affairs. Right. Both had been married for 16 years at the time they started their affair. Bill was married to his first wife and Lisa was married to Richard. Bill had a 14 year old son and a 10 year old daughter. And Lisa's son was 12 at the time the affair started. And her twin girls were three.

Lisa and Bill enjoyed cycling and working out together. So it wasn't all just, you know, getting freaky with it. Like they also did dates. Getting freaky with it. Yeah, on the side of that. In 2005, after a year of sneaking around, Bill's wife comes across some spicy emails between her husband and Lisa, both astronauts.

Because of this, Bill confesses to the year-long affair that had been going on and they decide to get a divorce. Bill moves out of his home and into an apartment in Houston, but he doesn't stop loving Lisa just because their secret had imploded his marriage. In fact, he actually gave Lisa a key

and she becomes a frequent visitor at his new home. So even though his marriage is over, he continues this relationship with Lisa and Lisa's husband has no idea still that it's going on. And did he not get into any trouble with? His wife or ex-wife, I guess, did not report it. She just kept it a secret. They just said we're getting a divorce? Yep. Got it. So in July 2006, both Bill and Lisa were finally called to space on separate missions and

These would be the one and only missions they would ever go on as astronauts. She would serve as a mission specialist on space shuttle Discovery in July. She would be operating the spacecraft's robotic arm both during its flight and while it was docked at the International Space Station. And Bill would serve as the pilot in a December mission. Two separate missions, but the same ship. And this is like all they've worked for. They're finally going to go up in space.

Lisa's mission was the third flight of the shuttle Discovery and was only the second space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster. And so Lisa goes on her mission. It's a success. And she comes back home. Four months later in November of 2006, while training for his big space trip and in the heat of his and Lisa's romance, Bill is spending time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. So he's doing his training away from Texas where they both currently work.

in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. This is different than the Johnson Space Center in Texas where they're working. Okay, let me guess. Your medicine cabinet is crammed with stuff that does not work. You still aren't sleeping, you still hurt, and you're stressed out.

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While in Florida, Bill meets a woman at a house party. That woman was named Colleen Shipman, and she would go on to change Bill's life. Colleen Shipman was 29 years old when she met 41-year-old astronaut and Bill at the house party. She had previously graduated from Penn State with majors in German and chemical engineering.

Colleen was a captain in the United States Air Force and worked as an engineer at Patrick Air Force Base, also called Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, just south of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, which is why they end up at the same house party.

She tested hardware for space flights. She was well-liked by people. She was actually called little general. Like that's what everyone called her, but she was high up and she was smart. But when Colleen and Bill met at this house party, they bonded instantly. And despite his relationship with Lisa that had been going on for two years now,

Bill and Colleen were flirting a lot at this party. - Bill's just, Bill's homie hopping at this point. - Okay, I know it was homie hopping, but kind of, I mean, they're all serving. - Yeah, I guess. Okay, maybe not homie hopping, but he's hopping. - So after this house party and while still training in Florida, Bill continues to see Colleen. Like they say, "Oh, let's go on a date. Let's go on another date. Come over to my apartment."

all of this while continuing his relationship back home with Lisa, who is cheating on her husband with him. I just feel like this is when things are going to start to go south. Right.

So Bill dates both women, both of them unaware of the other. In December 2006, a month after meeting Colleen, Bill is sent off to space and he is piloting his only space mission. Colleen and Bill's relationship at this point had progressed so much in the last month that she actually goes with Bill's family to watch as his space shuttle launches from Cape Canaveral. So he has a girlfriend, Lisa, who's an astronaut as well, back home in Texas. And she's

And then his new girlfriend, Colleen, goes with his family to watch him take off into space, essentially. How was he hiding Colleen from Lisa? Yeah, so I think he told Colleen that he had been dating Lisa, but they were broken up now. Okay. Despite his new relationship with Colleen, one that has progressed enough that she joins his family to see them take off,

Bill and Lisa exchange intimate, sexy emails while he's up in space. So they're emailing back and forth as he's in space and she's in Texas. And they're sending some really cute emails.

But Bill also exchanges racy emails with Colleen during the shuttle mission. So it's not just Lisa. It's also Colleen. So with all of that typing, it leaves me to wondering who was actually flying the ship because he is the pilot. Yes. According to an article in ABC News dot go dot com, Colleen joked with Bill.

asking him if she had to worry about a scorned lover showing up to her house. I mean, he had just gotten divorced and now he'd just broken up with his girlfriend that he had cheated on his wife with. She makes the joke and he says, no, definitely not. It's over. Like I'm here, I'm in Florida. I'm going up to space. I'm in space. We're fine. These love triangles never, ever, ever, ever work out. Never. And because we know the context of this podcast, we know that Bill was wrong.

Yep.

At some point in early 2007, after 19 years of marriage and while basically when Bill is getting coming home from space, Lisa and her husband Richard split up officially. In January 2007, Lisa, who is now 43 years old, writes Bill's mother a letter expressing her love for Bill, who's now 41 years old, and expressing gratitude for

to his mom for accepting her and Bill's relationship, especially given the circumstances that they had both cheated on their spouses to get together. And Bill's mom is like, wait, but Colleen...

Oh, no. Just like was that like just sent off. But she doesn't say anything. She's just kind of like, hey, Bill, son, you need to get your stuff in order. Like why? Why? What's with these women? They both think they're dating you. They both think they're in love with you. So Lisa wrote, Bill is absolutely the best person I've ever known. And I love him more than I knew possible. She writes that she is completing all of her divorce paperwork because she is fully looking forward to her life with Bill.

So she's making it seem like the reason her and her husband got divorced wasn't necessarily because he found out about the affair, but because she was leaving her husband for Bill. Okay. However, a very short time later in mid January, 2007, Bill decides to break it off with Lisa, deciding that Colleen was his true love. Oh,

So he finally makes a decision to choose between the two. He had spent enough time up in space, dating both of them, riding both of them, and now he had finally made his decision. Now, I don't know how or if Lisa just knew that there was another reason that Bill was breaking it off, but...

But Bill eventually makes a tragic mistake of admitting to Lisa that, okay, yes, there is another woman that I am dating. He doesn't say I was cheating on you with her, but he, you know, she's like, why are you breaking up with me? I'm just getting divorced. We can finally be together for real. And he's like, okay, well, there's also another girl. Okay. This is a mess. So he tells Lisa about Colleen who's back.

in Florida. She's going to be pissed. Yes. And because she was extremely in love with him, she had just left her husband for him. Bill was like, okay, Lisa's extremely upset. Like she's not taking this news well, she's not taking the breakup well. And so he decides that he's going to kind of let her down softly. So because of this, they continue to ride bikes together. They were still talking on the phone, despite the fact that they were

officially broken up. I think he hoped that it could eventually fade out and, um, or maybe he just honestly still liked getting her attention either way. It seems to me like he's kind of giving her hope saying like, well, let's break up, but, or maybe we can just see how things go. He's still giving her hope when in reality, he's a hundred percent chosen Colleen.

Either way, Lisa continues to call Bill every day, even after the breakup. Her bike was even still at his place. And all of this did not sit well with Colleen. I mean, come on. Colleen assumed that Bill and Lisa had been broken up for a lot longer than what they really had. And so she didn't understand why he still needed to spend so much time with her, talk on the phone with her. She's like, if you guys have been broken up for months...

why are you still talking to her all the time and he's like can't tell her can't tell Colleen that he's over here trying to let Lisa down slowly because he's just dropped a bomb on her so sometime in January 2007 after the breakup Lisa actually uses the key that she still possesses to secretly gain access to Bill's apartment essentially breaking into his place and

And another source would say that this break-in actually occurred in December while Bill was still up in space. So I'm not sure, but most sources said January. So that's the timeline I'm going with. Apparently, she wants to dig for information about this other woman that he was talking about. She gets onto Bill's computer and reads his emails. And she is heartbroken to see emails with Colleen that are racy and that prove

that they are having a romantic relationship and were having a romantic relationship while Lisa and him were still together. So this officially proves to Lisa that he did cheat on her and this pisses her off.

It's kind of ironic to me that emails were the reason Bill got caught in his first affair on his wife with Lisa. And now here again, history is repeating itself because he's getting caught in his second affair on Lisa with Colleen. I was going to say, it's also kind of ironic because Lisa is pissed at the same thing she just did with him.

to his wife yeah so she just did to her husband it's all just a big full circle and just the icing on on the cake is the fact that they're both astronauts that have just been up in space like to think that that is actually going on while you when you look at an astronaut you're like oh my gosh they are yeah and they are but to think that there's this whole love triangle going on in the back is what makes this case it's like a reality tv show for astronauts right

So during this snooping session, Lisa also learns specifics about Colleen's life. She learns that Colleen has upcoming travel plans to visit Bill in Houston where they live. So keep in mind, remember, Colleen is back in Florida. And now that Bill is home from his space trip, he's moved back to Houston where him and Lisa work.

together lisa learns that colleen will be coming down to visit bill from thursday february 1st through sunday february 4th 2007 and because love seems to make people do stupid things a scorned and and livid lisa begins devising a plan bill was hers and she needed to make sure that he stayed that way

Armed with Colleen's travel plans, Lisa comes up with the beginning of her plan. She decides that she'll make the long drive to Orlando to confront her romantic rival at the Orlando airport when Colleen returns home from her visit to Houston. So she was going to go and claim her territory. And I think that Lisa chooses Orlando instead of the obvious Houston, like Houston.

Colleen is coming to Houston where Lisa lives. Why is Lisa going to drive all the way to Orlando to confront her after the visit? And I think she's doing this to avoid suspicion because if she confronts her in Houston, she looks more guilty if they leave it up to like, well, who did this? So right now, the plan of her confronting her, was it always just a plan to confront her? Because obviously-

This is going to turn into something bigger. But was the plan at first always to just confront her? According to Lisa, yes. But that's why I'm laying these stepping stones. If it was always just to confront, then why are you driving all the way to Orlando? Correct. So Lisa now knows exactly when Colleen will be arriving in Orlando on her flight back from Houston. And this flight was scheduled to get in about 1 a.m. on February 5th, 2007. Lisa then makes detailed plans for how to carry this confrontation out.

and even makes a handwritten list of items to bring with her, a list that would later be used against her in the court of law. On the weekend of Thursday, February 1st through Sunday, February 4th, Colleen is spending the weekend at Bill's place in Houston, just like she planned. Colleen is uncomfortable that his ex-girlfriend's bike is still at his place, and she's even more uncomfortable when during this weekend visit, Bill mistakenly calls her Lisa in bed. Oh.

Dude, that mistake, rookie, rookie, rookie mistake. RIP. So on Saturday, two days into the visit, according to TexasMonthly.com, Lisa sets off on her 950-mile drive.

According to Google Maps, the 950 mile trip is about a 14 hour car ride when there's little traffic. So while Colleen is in bed being called the wrong name by Bill, Lisa is in a car driving to Orlando. She's always. She spent the night of February 3rd at a hotel in Florida using an alias. Again, if this is just a confrontation. Yeah. Wow.

why are you using a fake name? Yeah. If you have no plans to hurt someone, what exactly, why are you using a fake name? So on Sunday nights, while Lisa is speeding in her ex-husband's BMW, by the way, that's the car she's driving to Florida. Colleen is saying goodbye to bill and boarding her plane home from Houston to Orlando, a weekend well spent besides the name debacle that happened.

So I'm thinking maybe her plan was to just confront her because I can't believe that she would just kill her in public. Right. Because she's driving to the airport. Yes, because she didn't go to the house. She's going to the airport. Right.

So she parks and begins waiting inside the airport for Colleen's plane to land. So not only is she just like waiting in the parking lot, like she parks her car and then her husband's BMW and then walks in basically to baggage claim to wait for Colleen. She's wearing a hooded trench coat, a black wig and round red glasses. All right. Maybe I'm going to recant my last statement because why is she in disguise? What in the world is she doing? Right. So,

So Colleen's plane finally lands at 1 a.m., just like it was scheduled to, but her luggage was delayed and never made it on the plane. So she spends two hours waiting for her luggage to arrive on the next flight in. Lisa, who's at the airport as well, lays in waits.

Like she waits the two hours as well. Doesn't make contact, just sits there and waits as well. She's watching her. Yes. She's just sitting there watching. Yes. And Colleen has no idea. Inside the airport. Yes. Okay. Once her luggage finally arrives, Colleen walks out with it and boards a shuttle bus shortly before 3.30 AM to where she'd left her car basically in an airport parking lot. Okay.

Lisa, stalking Colleen, quickly jumps on the same bus at the last second. Oh my, what a freak. Police later release surveillance footage that shows Lisa at the airport waiting near the baggage claim, putting on the trench coat, and following Colleen out and onto that bus.

Colleen first noticed Lisa on the bus, but didn't realize who she was. Well, yeah, she was dressed up like it was Halloween. Right. The two had never met before, but Colleen noted that Lisa's attire was so odd that it made her look out of place. Like everyone on the bus was like, what are you wearing? Why is this girl clearly in a wig, a trench coat and glasses? Yeah.

Now I'm picturing like a taller Edna from the Incredibles. Edna mode. Yes. Yeah. Like full trench coat, short bob wig, huge glasses. But like a five foot seven version. Right. I don't know how tall she is, but. So now in the wee hours in an airport parking lot, Colleen, a little spooked by the woman, obviously in a wig who kept staring at her the whole time on the bus, says,

gets off the shuttle and hurries to the safety of her car in a rush. Like she grabs her bags and sprints to her car because this woman in the wig keeps staring at her.

And she still doesn't know who it is, but she's a little freaked out. It's 3.30 a.m. It's dark outside. She's just nervous. And then the oddly dressed woman gets off at the same stop as well in this parking lot. And there's probably 20 stops, 10 stops in this parking lot. And she gets off at the same one. All right. Probably not expecting me to start this ad, but I'm going to start this ad. The Skims ad. And let me tell you about something that Peyton's been wearing. The Skims soft loungewear is amazing. Feels great.

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In the safety of her car, Colleen watches in her rearview mirror as the trench coat stranger stands around until the bus leaves. Suddenly, the stranger begins running through the parking lot to the driver's side of Colleen's car. Holy crap. And eventually stops and begins slapping on the car door.

Yeah. Imagine how scary that is. Cause you still don't know who that is. I'd be freaking out. Right. Alarmed. Colleen immediately locks her doors and Lisa, who she doesn't know it's Lisa, but it's, we know it's Lisa begins crying and putting on an act and trying avidly to get into the car, making up a story about how her boyfriend hadn't shown up like he was supposed to, to pick her up and asking if she could give her a ride or anything.

Colleen understandably refused to let the strange woman into her car. So Lisa asks to borrow Colleen's phone, but Colleen said her phone was dead. And all of this is being yelled through a rolled up window at almost 4 a.m. in a parking lot. Oh, I would have been gone. So Lisa begins yelling to Colleen through the window that she can't hear her. Can you please roll your window down a little bit? I can't hear you. I can't hear what you're saying. Please give me your phone.

Colleen is feeling spooked, but also is feeling the strange woman's distress. So she's like, okay, well, this woman is obviously freaking out. So they, and she keeps saying she can't hear her. So Colleen decides to crack her window. No, don't do it. Just the smallest little bit, roll her window down just a crack to ease the communication between the two. So she can tell the woman, listen, I'm not letting you in my car and I don't have a phone.

Once the window was cracked just the tiniest bit, Lisa lifted up her hand to the crack holding pepper spray. She manically sprays through the cracked window, effectively hitting Colleen's eyes. Oh no. Okay. Despite being unable to see, literally being pepper sprayed, Colleen was able to put it in reverse and drive away. She gets out of the parking lot despite the fact that she can barely even open her eyes.

She makes it to the parking lot booth and calls for the police. She's like, I need help. This woman just attacked me. I don't know who it is, but I need help. Officers from the Orlando Police Department arrived quickly on scene. After explaining what had happened, police begin searching the parking lot for this strange trench coat woman who

who Colleen still did not know was Lisa. The first officer on the scene easily finds Lisa throwing away a bag into the trash can in the airport parking lot. This bag contained a loaded BB gun and a black curly wig. A loaded BB gun? What was she going to do with a BB gun? Shoot her with a BB gun? I guess.

Weird. I don't know. Lisa was also carrying another bag containing a steel mallet. So basically a hammer. Oh. And a knife. I know what she was going to do. The police arrested Lisa, who said she was only trying to scare Colleen into talking to her.

In all, police found that steel mallet, a knife with a four inch blade, a BB gun with ammunition, four feet of rubber tubing, garbage bags, a flashlight and the pepper spray. Oh, my God. They also found a map to Colleen's Cape Canaveral neighborhood with Lisa. OK, so she did have her house as well.

She also had in her possession a floppy disk, which contained photos and drawings of a woman in various stages of undress and in bondage, plus bondage instructions. So basically a tutorial of how to find someone. Law enforcement also found hundreds of dollars in cash, a handwritten note with Colleen's flight information, as well as printouts of emails between Bill and Colleen.

So it's not clear exactly which items were found in Lisa's bags versus which were found in her car. But all of these weapons and suspicious items were found in various places in her possession in Florida, which, okay, so maybe she wasn't attempting to kill her, but she was definitely attempting to torture her.

Like everything she brought was to hurt her. And honestly, I think just my opinion, she probably would have ended up killing her. Right. Because look at all she had. Look at the steps she already made. I know we talk about how, or at least I always say how killing is like a, seems like a very different step than killing.

punching somebody or, you know, some other sort of violence, but maybe not. Yeah. I don't know. Because I mean, like you just said, she's already gone to this extent. Exactly. The major part of this case and truly the sole reason it would blow up in the national media was

is this next part I'm going to tell you. So everything that's happened up to now was not even the part that was focused on, on this case. The part that made this case blow up was the fact that there were diapers found in Lisa's car. And it has been very widely reported that Lisa wore diapers on her drive from Houston to Orlando so that she wouldn't have to waste time to go to the bathroom. - You are freaking kidding me. - No, I'm not.

According to Houston IAMag.com, Lisa wore maximum absorbent garments, government-issued astronaut diapers during the 950-mile drive. Why? Just because she didn't want to pull over and go to the bathroom? Yeah, she had a mission.

She was on a mission, Garrett. She was on a freaking mission. Okay, so I know this could all be speculation, right? Like you could be like, well, how do you know? She was an astronaut. She was given those diapers. Like every astronaut is given those diapers for space. Maybe she just had them in the car. No, they found them on her, huh? Well, police reports from that night state that Lisa wore the diapers during her drive. That's where we got this theory from.

But Lisa and her attorney would later deny that this was true. The only confusing part about this is I don't think police would have reported it if they hadn't asked Lisa in the moment what the diapers were for and she explained to them. They're not just going to make it up. They're not just going to write in their report that she wore diapers on the drive. Do you think she made it up? No. Weird. I don't know. I mean... I think... Because when she got caught... Look, I don't think wearing diapers is weird. Medical purposes, you know. Right, right. People need diapers, but...

If you're wearing diapers because... You need to go kill someone. Because you kill someone, then that's a little freaky. And you can't get sidetracked. Correct. That's a little weird. Yes. And also, the thing about it is, is like when Lisa got caught, when police caught Lisa, keep in mind, this is not a...

This is not someone who has committed a ton of crimes in the past. I mean, she's an astronaut. So when she got caught, she was like, okay, my name's Lisa and I was coming here because I just wanted to scare her. I wasn't trying to kill her, but she's seeing my boyfriend. She vomited out the mouth and told police everything, including the fact that here's this still mallet and here's this bondage and here's this. Oh, and those diapers. Yeah, I just wore those so I didn't have to stop and go to the bathroom type thing because I don't think police just...

made that up. If they, if she didn't say what they were worn for, they would have just said, we found adult diapers. They wouldn't have put in the report what they use, what she used the adult diapers for. This news about the diapers turns Lisa into a national punchline. Obviously an astronaut whose mission was so intense to confront her ex's new lover that she didn't even have time to stop and go to the bathroom. And okay. Karma. Okay. Karma. Like you just said, there's nothing wrong with wearing a diaper, but

But if you're going to go and almost try to kill someone, karma. Astronauts do wear maximum absorbency garments or mags or adult diapers at various times while they're in space, such as during liftoffs, landings, spacewalks, and sometimes just while aboard the International Space Station. So it makes sense why she would have them, but not necessarily why they were in her car or that the police reported the usage of them. The police then charged Lisa with attempted kidnapping and other charges.

Law enforcement gets a hold of Lisa's ID and mentions Lisa's name to Colleen to see if Colleen knew her attacker. And oh, did Colleen know that name? She had just been called it in bed days earlier. Colleen calls Bill to confirm that Lisa was his ex so she and the police can piece together who had just attempted to attack her in the airport parking lot.

Now imagine how this phone call went. Hey, is your ex Lisa? Because she just stalked me through the airport in a trench coat and a wig and pepper sprayed me through my cracked window. She also had a knife and bondage instructions with her. At a court hearing, which was the arraignment on the morning of February 6th, 2007, the judge set Lisa's bond at 15,000. Two senior NASA officers appear in court on Lisa's behalf.

On the afternoon of February 6th, the police file additional charges against Lisa, including a charge for attempted murder.

So it's no longer just kidnapping. They do charge her with attempted murder. So that's what my next question was going to be, if she got attempted murder. Right. So with this additional more serious charge, the judge increased her bond from $10,000 to $25,000. Which still doesn't seem like a lot. No. However, this amount was still low enough that it would allow Lisa to meet her bond and be released from custody. The judge ordered that Lisa wear an electronic tracking device on her ankle and further ordered her to stay away from Colleen. Okay.

Lisa posted her bond and was released from custody. And on that day, Lisa was the first astronaut to ever be charged with a felony. Attempted murder, nonetheless. The same day, NASA placed Lisa on leave for 30 days as they conducted their own investigation.

After serving two days in jail, Lisa flew back to Houston on a commercial flight where she was taken straight to the Johnson Space Center by NASA for a psychiatric evaluation. On March 7th, 2007, NASA told Lisa that she would no longer be an astronaut. She was still at this point with the Navy.

May 23rd, 2007, Bill was discharged by NASA for the affair. So now Bill and Lisa have both been discharged from NASA.

Various hearings before her upcoming trial were held along the way relating to Lisa's mental state and whether her statements to police and the search of her car were admissible. Lisa's defense claimed that she would be permitted to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing that she was suffering from OCD, insomnia, and depression at the time of the crime. On November 2nd, 2007, the court ruled that Lisa wasn't properly advised of her constitutional rights at the time the police interviewed her.

and that her statements to police were inadmissible in court. Because they were too busy thinking about the diapers. 100%. The trial court suppressed these statements eventually, but did actually allow the evidence from the car to be used in trial. So they said, okay, we'll take out everything you told the cops, but everything they found is still admissible.

In June 2008, Lisa and her husband officially get divorced. They had only filed. Now it goes through. After much back and forth, Lisa eventually gave in and entered into a plea deal and ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges on November 10th, 2009. The judge sentenced Lisa to...

One year of probation, community service, and ordered Lisa to write an apology to Colleen. For some reason, I figured that this was going to happen just because, I don't know. There's multiple reasons this will happen. This is her only criminal charge, right?

So it's her first offense. She's a woman. She didn't actually ever even lay a hand on Colleen. She did pepper spray someone. She did pepper spray her. Isn't that a felony in general? Pepper spray someone? Yes, yes. Which she was charged with a felony. She was just given probation. Colleen was very unhappy about this sentence. I guess I'd be unhappy because if that happened to me, I'd be worried that she was going to come back and

Right. Try to hurt me again. Correct. Well, and also Colleen's like not even a little prison time. Like she doesn't even have to go to prison at all. Not even for a week. If I didn't reverse the car, there's a good chance I could be dead. Right. That's how she feels. Yeah. So as she says to the court, this is what Colleen said to the court of sentencing. It was in her eyes, a blood chilling expression of limitless rage and glee.

Lisa and Bill were the first astronauts ever to be terminated by NASA. And afterwards, NASA wrote a code of conduct for the NASA astronaut corps following its termination of the two. So they changed rules around. According to an ABC News article dated April 2007, NASA was forming a commission to look into what it could be doing to better keep track of and deal with the astronauts' mental health.

There are reportedly many stressors to being in the astronaut corps, resulting in many affairs and divorces. So it's common for astronauts to be feeling so much stress and the tax it takes on their mental health that because of this case, they kind of shifted things. Colleen suffered much anguish, anxiety, and stress in the aftermath of the crime. According to an article in abcnews.com, Colleen said, I really thought for sure that she was going to murder me.

Despite this, she and Bill continued dating. And in 2008, they moved together to Alaska to get as far away from Texas, Houston, Florida, and essentially Lisa as well. On July 10th, 2009, they got engaged and were married in 2010. And they have since had a son together and they still are married. Yes.

Colleen took to writing to help her process the anxiety and trauma of the attack. She released her first novel in December 2015 titled Eerie. And according to People.com, it's a paranormal romance that takes off with monsters who emerge from the dark to upend the world that the heroine thought she knew. She says, I'm finally folding the tell of the crazy astronaut, she writes, into the pages of my story.

According to HoustonMag.com, she says, I still have anxiety. I'm always looking over my shoulder. Lisa's whereabouts are currently unknown, but one thing is certain. That's scary. Her name is still the first thing to pop up when you Google astronaut diapers. A fun fact, Bill was actually in a plane crash in 2011, but he survived. Wow.

But how did any of this happen? I mean, how could someone be smart enough to be in space one day and then exhibiting this kind of behavior the next? According to biography.com, astronaut candidates must undergo an extensive battery of psychological tests in order to qualify to become an astronaut. However, the many psychological tests Lisa had undergone to join the program had been back in 1996 with no regular follow-ups afterwards.

There are various reasons why Lisa would have hidden her mental health struggles. She knew that admitting she needed help would mean that she would most likely lose her coveted space in the astronaut program. So NASA now requires annual psychological testing for its astronauts. And I am most definitely not giving her an excuse, but I think it's hard for us to understand the unique stressors involved in being an astronaut.

In his book, Return to Earth, the famous astronaut Buzz Aldrin wrote about his excessive drinking and the mental health issues he suffered from after becoming the second man to walk on the moon and how stressful that was. Many believe that Lisa's one space flight in 2006 may have affected her well-being. She knew even at the time that she was unlikely ever to return to space as there were so many astronauts waiting a turn.

And as Natalie Portman's character says in Lucy in the Sky, which is slightly based off of this story,

I just feel a little off. You go up there, you see the whole universe and everyone here looks so small. And that is the story of Lisa, Noak, the love triangle from space. And no one knows where your sources didn't say where Lisa is right now. No. I'm sure someone could find her. Right. But I think just out of like she's served her time or done her probation. That is kind of scary for Colleen. Yes. Yeah.

- Which is why they're in Alaska or, you know, last known. - Because I think I'd be looking over my shoulder as well. - Right. And going back to like, I think it seems so little to be like, oh, they're an astronaut. They went to space, they came home. How could that have messed with their head? But like, think about actually what being in space would do mentally to you because you look out and you're like, wow, that little speck I live on doesn't even matter. And you spend so much time up there and you're not even a part of the world.

Still, I just, to stalk someone and then pepper spray them. Oh yeah, I'm not giving you an excuse. That's pretty nuts. I mean, it's scary. Yeah. It's completely scary. I think it, yeah, the whole story is. You know, at least you wore diapers. At least you wore diapers. It's all that matters. And at least Colleen's alive. I mean, I don't want to say at least, but like we see so many of these stories where it ends, you know, they do roll their window down. Colleen was so smart and she was, I'm

I'm sure terrified and I'm sure to this day she's still terrified, but she got away. She's a survivor. You know what I mean? Two weeks in a row that no one has...

Died? Has died in these episodes. Lightens up the mood a little bit, you know? It makes it a little easier to talk about when someone's dying, I will say. All right, you guys. Well, that is our episode for today. A reminder about our live show. Please check it out. It's going to be so fun. We want as many of you there as possible. And I guess we'll see you then. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.