The Murder of Joel Shanbrom

For this case, I watched an episode of Killer Couples. It’s season 13 episode 9.

Background

Joel Shanbrom grew up in Northridge, California. He was very active as a kid and loved to roller skate. Joel met his future wife, Jennifer, while he was working as a DJ at the skate land in Northridge.

Joel and Jennifer got married in 1991, and had a son, Jacob. In 1993, Joel began working for the LAPD as a school resource officer. Joel loved his job and serving his community. He and Jennifer were described as having a good relationship, but as we all know, we never know what’s going on behind closed doors.

The Crime Scene

On March 18, 1998, the police received a phone call from Jennifer’s mom, Diane Bates. Diane was living with her daughter and son-in-law, and had returned home around 9:15pm. Diane told the dispatcher that she walked inside, and found Joel bleeding on the living room couch.

When the police arrived, Diane met them outside, and it was clear she was upset. Diane told them that she believed it could’ve been a suicide, but when the police found Joel it was clear it wasn’t. Joel had been shot 3 times in the head.

The police searched the rest of the house. The entire upstairs had been ransacked. There were drawers pulled out, and clothes all over the floor.

Inside the master bathroom, the police heard a noise. The police identified themselves as police. The woman on the other side told them she didn’t believe them. One of the officers was able to slide their badge under the door. Jennifer and her son, Jacob, came out of the bathroom.

Jennifer’s Story

The police asked Jennifer to walk them through that evening. Jennifer said she was giving Jacob a bath around 7pm. She said she heard a noise downstairs, and then a gunshot. Jennifer said she grabbed Jacob and ran into the master bathroom.

Jennifer asked if Joel was dead, but the police didn’t notify her right away until their backup arrived. Jennifer, Jacob and Diane were all escorted down to the police station.

At first, the police believed Jennifer’s story of it being a possible robbery. There had been multiple home invasion robberies in the area over the previous weeks. But, the police soon found that jewelry, coins, and other valuables in the home hadn’t been taken. There was also no sign of forced entry.

The morning after the murder, Jennifer gave the police the same story. This time, she added that she heard Joel tell the intruders that he was a cop before he was shot. Jennifer also added that after she and Jacob ran into the bathroom, she heard two sets of footprints upstairs.

The Autopsy

The police interviewed Diane again as well. Diane said she left the house in the mid afternoon to go to the movies and dinner. Diane said she was giving Jennifer and Joel some alone time. Diane said she returned home around 9:15pm and found Joel on the couch. She also mentioned that she had noticed the blinds in the living room were closed, which was unusual.

On March 20, Joel’s autopsy report came back. The first shot to Joel’s head was a superficial wound to back of his head. The second was to his cheek, and the final shot was the one that killed him. The final shot had gone through his eye, which severed his brain stem.

The police learned that Joel had been shot with a .410 shotgun, which was a very unusual type of gun. Joel’s time of death was put between 8-10pm, which contradicted Jennifer’s story. The autopsy was also able to determine that Joel had never confronted anyone, but had been asleep or lying on the couch at the time he was shot.

A Love Triangle

The police spoke to Joel’s loved ones to get more information on his marriage to Jennifer. Joel’s family said that their marriage had been rocky mostly due to financial reasons.

Joel’s sister, Barbara, said that Joel would often work 2-3 jobs while Jennifer just stayed at home. Joel wanted to go into marriage counseling, but Jennifer refused to go. Joel and Jennifer had been renting the house they were living in after their previous home had been foreclosed on.

Joel had taken a second job at Primerica as a insurance salesman. Jennifer also started working for the same company. It was there that they met a co-worker named Matthew Fletcher. Jennifer had introduced the two men, but soon it was clear to everyone that Jennifer and Matthew had something more going on. Joel became very suspicious of it too.

At first, Joel didn’t want to divorce Jennifer because of their son. But, by 1997, he was talking about divorcing her. He discussed his future plans with his sister after the divorce was finalized. This ended up being their final conversation.

The Alibi

On March 23, Joel was laid to rest. Jennifer and Matthew attended the funeral, and showed absolutely no emotion. After the funeral, Jennifer and Matthew went to a hotel and threw a party.

A week after the murder, Jennifer and Matthew were interviewed at the police station. They both denied that they were having an affair.

Matthew was asked where he was during the time of the murder. He said at 7pm, he went to a client’s home in the San Fernando Valley. After that, he went to visit his sister at the hospital where she worked.

A small part of Matthew’s story was confirmed, but the police learned that he was unaccounted for from 8:30-10pm. There was no evidence that could place Jennifer or Matthew at the scene, so they were released.

The Motive

On April 27, the police discovered that Joel had a $300,000 life insurance policy from his job as a police officer. He also had a second policy for about $500,000. Joel had decided he hadn’t needed this policy, so he had canceled it.

In January 1998, Jennifer had attempted to reopen this policy and had forged Joel’s signature. Joel found out shortly before his death. In February 1998, the policy had been reinstated in Atlanta, Georgia. Joel had never been there, but Jennifer and Matthew had.

The evidence was circumstantial, so the police continued to build their case, re-interviewed witnesses and looked through the case file.

In October 1998, Jennifer received the $300,000 from Joel’s policy. She deposited a large amount of that into an account for Matthew. The two officially started dating, got engaged and married in February 1999. Jennifer also became pregnant.

Justice For Joel

In 2002, the police decided to circle back to Diane, who they believed had never been honest with them. Over the years, she had contradicted herself and changed her stories. She also had unaccounted time from when she found Joel to when she made her 911 call.

Diane denied being involved. But, the police decided to grant her immunity and have her testify before a grand jury. Diane was still very evasive.

Jennifer and Matthew were eventually arrested after the circumstantial evidence was presented at the grand jury hearing. Jennifer was pregnant with their second child at the time. She gave birth in jail, and her sister was given custody of all 3 children.

In March 2004, Matthew represented himself, but Jennifer had an attorney. They were tried together. The prosecution said that they were greedy killers who killed Joel in cold blood.

The prosecution’s theory was that Jennifer had let Matthew into the house. It’s believed that Jennifer had actually fired the first two shots, and Matthew fired the fatal shot. They did all of this while Jacob was upstairs in the bathtub. They then staged the upstairs, and Matthew took the gun when he left.

Matthew and Jennifer both testified in their defense and claimed they had alibis. Jennifer used hiding in the bathroom with her son as her alibi. Matthew still claimed his alibi was airtight.

The jury deliberated for 6 days before finding them guilty. They were both sentenced to life without parole.

They have since exhausted all their appeals and are still married.

*Sadly, I couldn’t find mugshots of Jennifer or Matthew*

FINAL THOUGHTS

They are both sick individuals. It was clear to everyone that they were having an affair. Joel was about to divorce Jennifer, but instead of her divorcing him, she killed him. Jennifer was so desperate for money that murder was her only choice. Now, her children are growing up without their parents. Matthew is just as much to blame as Jennifer is, but Jennifer is clearly the ringleader.

Sources

https://www.oxygen.com/killer-couples/crime-news/jay-sallee-murder-cold-case-oregon

https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2004/08/10/44859.htm

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-04-me-briefs4.2-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-10-me-fletcher10-story.html

https://casetext.com/case/people-v-fletcher-220