http://danaplatoforever.com/shanebugbeeqa.php

Now I know that some of you despise Shane Bugbee for the product he put out about Dana and I'm not exactly thrilled about it. However after reading the book and all, I only found a few things wrong with it. One mainly being the fake nudes of Dana's younger years. It doesn't seem right that a supposed factual book contain fake pics of something that Dana definitely didn't do in her teen years. Other than that, the book really just states the truth. I think we all know something happened that day and it wasn't Dana overdosing. The CD was really nothing wrong with it, but would have been nice with a tribute section or something. THE MAIN PROBLEM WAS IT ONLY SHOWED BAD PARTS OF DANA AND NO GOOD. Its just a shame it even had to be published since its just stating the obvious nobody wants to remember I guess.

Nevertheless I have this interview running on site for only one reason. Its an interesting read for any fans of Dana. It answers some questions that most know, but some don't.

Again, I know people despise him based on his book and CD , but I do feel he knows the truth to it all and if we can just get it to come out and all, maybe people will really find out Dana didn't committ suicide. You don't know how tired I am getting of people emailing me and saying "Nice site, but why don't you just let it go for what it is, a skanky whore who is a drug addict who OD'd a day before Mother's Day." I'm not quite sure this would be the way that Dana would want to remembered. So if the truth can come out it wouldn't hurt.

NOTE: Don't be expecting a Robert Menchaca Interview ever. Shane was nice enough to clear some things up so I ran it.

Jonathan Brown
DanaPlatoForever.com
"Gone But Never Forgotten"
Email: DanaPlatoForever@aol.com

I don't think his timeline is that clear. He was first in contact with her around the middle of March 1999. She had lots of family and friends. I'm pretty sure Johnny Whitaker is her son's Tyler's manager who may want to go into acting.

Here is an interview he once gave with another website a few weeks after her death:

CL: You provided us with the recording of the disturbing phone call you
made to Dana Plato the day after her appearance on the Howard Stern Show. In the recording, we hear Dana's fiance, Robert Menchaca, trying to wake her up. We hear him on the tape, saying "Dana! Wake up!"

Bugbee: You can actually hear Menchaca slapping her, trying to wake her up
on that recording.

CL: But it wasn't until several hours later that he called paramedics.
Naturally, the question arises, why didn't her fiance do something? Was there foul play?

Bugbee: Look, when Dana first mentioned Robert Menchaca to me, she said he
was her "manager." I asked, "manages what?" Until I started talking to her about emceeing the Expo, doing the book then getting her on Howard Stern, Dana didn't have a career to manage. The impression was that Menchaca was one of those dudes where the girl was his
meal ticket.

CL: Then there was the fight between Menchaca and Plato when she arrived
back from the Howard Stern show in New York. What was it about?

Bugbee: Both of them told me about the fight. It was a screwed up couple of
days, with a mystery about Dana's whereabouts and the missing money.

CL: Explain.

Bugbee: When I started doing business with Dana Plato my understanding was
that she and Robert were living in a mobile home in Oklahoma. They were conducting business on a cell phone.

CL: This is the actress who was reportedly earning $100,000 an episode when
she was starring on Diff'rent Strokes in the 1980's.

Bugbee: Correct. I flew Dana from Oklahoma to New York on Thursday, May
6th. That night she called from New York and said she needed $400 right away. In retrospect, she may have used the money to cop drugs.

CL: Did the police ever look into this?

Bugbee: As far as I know, no.

CL: You wired her the money. We have your Western Union receipts.

Bugbee: Right. The next morning she does the Howard Stern show. This is
Friday, May 7th. She was supposed to fly directly back to Oklahoma that night. Robert Menchaca, her fiance, was waiting for her in their "home." Instead of going on to Oklahoma, Dana called from Dallas. She said she had a layover, that she gave up her seat and would stay the night.
She asked for more money. I asked her what happened to the 400 dollars I'd
just sent her. She said it was in her suitcase. It was gone. I wasn't getting a straight story. I ended up paying for her hotel. It was suspicious to me that she happened to have a layover in Dallas. Although she and Robert were living in Oklahoma, the cell phone they were using had a Dallas area code. What was the Dallas connection, and why did she need more
money when she got there? I don't know. Again, it appears in retrospect that she might have been copping drugs.

CL: Is this what led to the fight between Dana and her fiance?

Bugbee: I thought it had something to do with the missing money. I know
that the next day, Saturday, May 8th, as Dana was getting ready to fly back to Oklahoma I spoke to both her and Robert. She was crying, and she said he was mad that she had stayed over in Dallas and not come right home. Robert then called me and said they were fighting because she'd lost the four hundred dollars I'd sent her in New York after being mugged. Dana had
not told me she was mugged. She didn't file a police report either.
Obviously, no one was telling a straight story. Robert called from the airport in Oklahoma, saying he couldn't find Dana. Then, he called back to say he'd found her, and they were getting into his Winnebago to drive to his parents' house. It's only a couple of hours later that you have that
recorded phone call in which I speak to Robert in their Winnebago where
they were sleeping, and he can't wake her up.

CL: And then a few hours after that we hear the recording of the phone call
in which Robert calls from the hospital to tell you she's dead. So, the question
remains, what was Robert's role?

Bugbee: Maybe Dana came home cocky. She'd come off her success on Howard Stern. How long had it been since anyone threw down money and plane tickets for her? Maybe she didn't have the same use for Robert after Howard that she'd had before. Suddenly, she was making it again. People around her said that Robert was a control freak. If you look at the contract I gave her for the appearances I was giving her $5,000 for,
Robert Menchaca signed. Why did Menchaca sign contracts for Dana Plato?

CL: Did Dana say anything about trouble between her and Robert?

Bugbee: She had told me that Robert didn't accept her for who she was. She
had told me a couple of times that he wasn't happy with her lesbian past.

CL: Is there any evidence you have that he was involved in her overdose?

Bugbee: All I have is what's on the tapes of our conversations and the
knowledge that they'd had a fight prior to her death. Plus, you have to look at it this way: if someone falls by the way side and passes out when you're partying with them, you walk 'em around a little bit, don't you? Maybe check their breathing?

CL: True.

First off let me say this, I don't think what Shane said about Dana's family is entirely false. It seemed to me that she didn't have much outside of her son, Johnny Whitaker, and Robert. However I'm sure she may have had more friends than that. As you actually mentioned Johnny Whitaker was actually her agent before she died and honestly I think Johnny was like her closest "relative" outside of her son. I know for a fact that he did funeral plans and handled everything afterwords. However, its hard to say what went on behind closed doors. Maybe she had family or maybe they didn't like Dana because of all of the mess that she got involved in. Nevertheless, I know there were other people out in this world who loved Dana very much, somevery well on this board. It wasn't as bad as Shane made it out to be. I hope.

Well the interview is a little different than mine since there were different questions. Some things in that interview don't even sound like him. I have actually compared my interview with a few others and the answers almost match hand and hand. PLus I've been talking to him for the past 4 months and really his story never changes. However, we are talking about SHANE BUGBEE. We don't exactly know what went on. He may change his answers up from time to time to still keep public guessing. Point is we all know something happened between Dana and Robert the night she died. I do think there is more to the story and that possibly Shane may be jumping around certain questions because he does know what really happened. Who knows.

Nevertheless, you bring up a good point on timeline thing. I'll ask him about it next time I talk to him.

Jonathan