Okay this is a two point message:

I'm putting together a tape for Fuji and happened on this case again - It's not one of the most memorable ones but here goes:

Shelly Malone - On 10/18/92 Shelly Malone and several friends went out horseback riding in the Plains, Virginia. According to her friends on that day Shelly was the victim of a tragic accident and was trampled to death by her horse. Shelly's family however claims she was murdered.

So UM did there whole accident or murder sort of plotline and there are some points which point to murder. Shelly's family seems to think Shelly's boyfriend found out she was having an affair and killed her and they have some stuff about her on the PACC site. I was wondering what all your thoughts were.

To Pretty In Pink: have you ever seen this segment? - The reason I ask is the character of Erica Stumvoll who went out riding with Shelly I initially thought was portrayed by a very young Lauren Graham. I'm not sure about this now for two reasons: one their voices sound different and two there is no mention of Ms. Graham's involvement with the show at any time so I'm pretty much convinced it's not her. Still the actress who plays Erica Stumvoll really could be Ms. Graham's twin and I've noticed your "Gilmore Girls" icons or whatnot so was wondering if you ever saw this segment.

Later.

Okay this is a two point message:

I'm putting together a tape for Fuji and happened on this case again - It's not one of the most memorable ones but here goes:

Shelly Malone - On 10/18/92 Shelly Malone and several friends went out horseback riding in the Plains, Virginia. According to her friends on that day Shelly was the victim of a tragic accident and was trampled to death by her horse. Shelly's family however claims she was murdered.

So UM did there whole accident or murder sort of plotline and there are some points which point to murder. Shelly's family seems to think Shelly's boyfriend found out she was having an affair and killed her and they have some stuff about her on the PACC site. I was wondering what all your thoughts were.


To Pretty In Pink: have you ever seen this segment? - The reason I ask is the character of Erica Stumvoll who went out riding with Shelly I initially thought was portrayed by a very young Lauren Graham. I'm not sure about this now for two reasons: one their voices sound different and two there is no mention of Ms. Graham's involvement with the show at any time so I'm pretty much convinced it's not her. Still the actress who plays Erica Stumvoll really could be Ms. Graham's twin and I've noticed your "Gilmore Girls" icons or whatnot so was wondering if you ever saw this segment.

Later.

Hey!
Thanks for telling me about that. No I haven't seen that segment, but I will certainly look out for it. Thanks, Dark Dante! :) It could very well have been her, I mean Matthew McConnehey (sp?) was on Unsolved Mysteries before he hit it big. I'll keep a heads up.

This has to be one of UM's lesser known cases. About Shelly's death, I suspect her boyfriend might have done something to her. I've heard of horses being flighty and hurting the owners by accident. But a horse killing it's owner by stomping on them multiple times? That's seems strange.

Does anyone have anymore information on this case?

Yes extremely fishy if you ask me. A horse tramples on their owner twice on the same spot? Why? It doesn't make sense for even a horse to do that to someone they trust.

This is made all the more suspicious when NONE of her friends come on UM to defend themselves. If you ask me the parents of Shelly are not overreacting and have just cause to believe there was foul play

The most fishy aspect is that of her friend Erica taking an hour and a half to get help because she got "lost" getting back to the ranch. Hmmm.

The most fishy aspect is that of her friend Erica taking an hour and a half to get help because she got "lost" getting back to the ranch. Hmmm.


This is veerrrry strange. It just played again yesterday. They suspect the boyfriend, but what about Erica's story? Why would she help cover this up? She is just as guilty.

saw this case once before many years ago and now I got to see it again today. There are some seriously fishy things going on here. First off a horse will stomp on its rider numerous times in an open field? Her friend and riding partner made one statement and one statement only and she says she saw the horse stomp on Shelly multiple times and ran off plus it took her almost an hour to find her way back. There was blood in Shelly's truck that the detective tested and indeed turned out to be human blood. The parents left her truck with the police so they could run some more tests yet they claim they do not have a budget for that. I understand that in smaller towns they do not have the budget to run any test but to simply dismiss the case as closed and not even do anymore investigation is sketchy at best. I know they want a closed case and they can easily believe that it is indeed a riding accident but there is enough evidence to look into it. Looking online quickly yielded a few articles but nothing major about this case so I am assuming this case will remain closed and will not be reopened at any point in the future.

Bumping ANOTHER one that didn’t get a ton of attention. Thoughts? I still lean foul play...

I don't know how you can stage a horse attack. Seems pretty cut and dried to me. The wounds were consistent with being trampled by a horse, IIRC.

Recently saw the SM segment for the first time. I definitely believe that there was foul play involved here, and that this was not a simple case of SM getting trampled by a horse:

1) The injuries to her body were more consistent with a beating.

2) Unlikely that she would fall of a horse & that it would trample her, given that she was an experienced rider.

3) The blood in SM's truck; though this wasn't tested, it was definitely suspicious.

4) SM's "riding partner" taking 1 1/2 hours to contact authorities because she got "lost" riding back to the house/ranch?! Smells like B.S. to me.

It sounds like SM's family's suspicions were correct, and that she was killed - possibly in the heat of the moment (maybe), and the rest of the scene was just a cover-up.

It's unfortunate that this case wasn't investigated more thoroughly by the authorities. I guess we'll never know happened here. Sad.

To answer the original question, that is not Lauren Graham!

Recently saw the SM segment for the first time. I definitely believe that there was foul play involved here, and that this was not a simple case of SM getting trampled by a horse:

1) The injuries to her body were more consistent with a beating.

2) Unlikely that she would fall of a horse & that it would trample her, given that she was an experienced rider.

3) The blood in SM's truck; though this wasn't tested, it was definitely suspicious.

4) SM's "riding partner" taking 1 1/2 hours to contact authorities because she got "lost" riding back to the house/ranch?! Smells like B.S. to me.

It sounds like SM's family's suspicions were correct, and that she was killed - possibly in the heat of the moment (maybe), and the rest of the scene was just a cover-up.

It's unfortunate that this case wasn't investigated more thoroughly by the authorities. I guess we'll never know happened here. Sad.

Usually, I'd go with Occam's Razor here, but too many things nag at me.

Start with the allegations, relayed by her mother, that Shelly was planning to end her relationship with her boyfriend. If that's all that there was to this, then yeah, I would take this as mere coincidence and call it a riding accident.

Her friend getting "lost" though and taking a whole hour and a half to get home? Yeah, this is where the whole 'accident' theory starts to unravel for me. The fact UM couldn't even get this friend to go on camera (when people like Tim McClure and Mark Nichols had no qualms about doing so) is definitely suspicious.

Then there's the whole bit about the boyfriend packing up Shelly's belongings & his claim that she had hocked her jewelry. If this was an accident, then yeah, the boyfriend could've been acting like a dick and however strange it would seem, Shelly could've indeed pawned her jewelry.

The cherry on top here is the blood. If this was an accident, if Shelly was thrown from her horse and trampled right there in that field, then where did the blood in her truck come from??

Any one of these alone isn't enough to make the accident theory disintegrate. Taken together though, it strains credulity to think that all these things happened the way they did and there was no foul play involved whatsoever.

I believe this was an accident.

I believe this was an accident.

And I'm a 3000 year old pharaoh

And I'm a 3000 year old pharaoh

That would explain a lot...

I believe this was an accident.

Why do you believe it was an accident? What facts lead you to that conclusion?

I'm just not convinced of a strong motive for anyone to have murdered Shelley Malone.

I think she had crappy friends and a crappy boyfriend, though.