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In November 2001, 28-year-old Andrew Bagby was in the midst of his medical residency, thriving in his role in family practice in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He had found his perfect fit in medicine as his warm presence & friendly personality easily put his patients at ease. However, only days after ending his relationship with fellow doctor, Shirley Turner, she suddenly showed up on his front porch & by that evening, Andrew was dead.
Sadly, the tragedy of his death didn’t end there as Andrew’s parents went on to be trapped in a nightmare that stretched across two countries, two court systems & more than three years of legal battles. Shirley, who was the number one suspect in the case, had fled to Canada & revealed that she was pregnant with Andrew’s child.
Their son, Zachary Turner, would become the center of a heartbreaking custody battle between Andrew’s devoted parents & their son’s accused killer. Despite clear evidence that Shirley was Andrew’s killer, paired with ongoing pleas from Andrew’s parents, the system failed to act, leaving Zachary unprotected.
Andrew David Bagby was born on September 25, 1973 in Sunnyvale, California as the only child to parents Kathleen “Kate” & David Bagby. Kate, who worked as a registered nurse & midwife, was from Chatham, England while David was a former US Navy serviceman & computer engineer.
While Andrew was raised in the suburbs of San Jose, California, he often acted in many of his close friend’s amateur movies. After Andrew’s death, his friend, Kurt Kuenne went on to write, produce, direct & edit a 2008 documentary that would not only honor Andrew’s life, but serve as a way for Zachary to get to know the father he never met.
In the making of the film, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, Kurt set out to interview everyone who knew & loved Andrew so they could share their memories of him in order to paint a clear picture of who Andrew had been in life. He also wanted to make one last movie with his best friend.
Based on the documentary, it was clear that Andrew had been incredibly loved & had made such an impact on so many people during his short life. Stories & laughter were shared as his friends & family fondly remembered him as a hilarious man who never wore pants, only shorts, someone who loved photography & hadn’t eaten anything green since starting college. He was a fantastic pool player, something he learned from his dad, he chronically bit his nails, he was short in stature & he was also a highly determined person.
Andrew, who had become an Eagle Scout at only 15-years-old (the average age is 17.3-years-old), decided he wanted to become a doctor after hearing all of his mom’s interesting stories about her patients & medical cases.
According to David, although his son’s confidence took a tough hit after he was turned down by every medical school in the country, he remained determined. In 1996, he was accepted to Memorial University Medical School in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
Andrew moved clear across Northern America, relocating nearly 5,000 miles from Sunnyvale, California to St. John’s, the capital & largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador. It’s an island that spans 446 square km (172 miles) & from the mainland, is only accessible by boat, plane or ferry.
When he made the long distance move, his fiance & fellow aspiring doctor, Heather, followed him to the easternmost portion of North America. However, after his first year of medical school, Heather broke off their engagement & although they remained friends, Andrew was left feeling crushed.
Moving forward three years to 1999, Andrew was a third-year med student when he dusted himself off & met a new woman who lived in Newfoundland, Dr. Shirley Turner. 12 years his senior, 40-year-old Shirley was in the midst of completing her third year of residency at the same school. By this time, she’d been divorced twice & was a mother of three, two girls & a boy, who were about 9, 14 & 17-years-old.
When Andrew met Shirley, he hadn’t been aware that six years earlier in 1993, she had been reported to the Department of Social Services after the man she was living with accused her of abusing two of her three children. However, about three months later, the report was closed without the Department ever talking to Shirley.
Her eldest son, TJ Shears, recalls that when his mom made the decision to attend medical school, he had been given no choice but to step up & begin taking care of himself because she was so often preoccupied with her studies. When she began her residency in St. John’s, she sent her children to live with their fathers over 500 km (310 miles) away on the other side of the island.
TJ carried a lot of anger toward his mom since she’d given him so little warning that he hadn’t even been able to say a proper goodbye to his friends before he went to live with his father. Although he recognized that she was focused on school, he also felt that she was using it as an excuse to live the college lifestyle again & be in the company of younger men, including Andrew Bagby, rather than focusing on her children.
For Andrew, his relationship with Shirley was something casual while he completed medical school. When his friends got the chance to meet her, they instantly saw how odd of a pair they were together. They weren’t bothered by the large age gap or difference in life circumstances, but it was Shirely herself who put them off. She often made sexually inappropriate comments that were in poor taste & just plain odd.
After graduating from med school in May 2000, Andrew came back to the States for a one-year surgical residency in Syracuse, New York. It was immediately clear that he wasn’t destined to be a surgeon & when the year was up, he moved to Latrobe, Pennsylvania to begin a family practice residency in July 2001. Almost immediately, he fell in love with this area of medicine. Being an incredibly warm person, he was able to quickly put his patients at Latrobe Area Hospital at ease.
Since Shirley had been born in the US, she had dual citizenship within both Canada as well as the U.S. In September 2000, she began working as a doctor in Sac City, Iowa about 1,000 miles from where Andrew was living in Pennsylvania. At the time of his death a year later, she was preparing to practice medicine at Alegent Health in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Kate & David recall the first time they interacted with Shirley. It was over the phone while their son had been staying with them in California during a rotation there. Kate found herself on the line with the woman for an hour, unable to end the conversation as she incessantly & bizarrely rambled on & on from one topic to the next.
As time went on, their gut instinct told them that their son needed to get out of the relationship. Although Andrew was working in Pennsylvania & Shirley in Iowa, it was still close enough to meet up on the occasional weekend. To David & Kate, it seemed that Shirley just wouldn’t go away despite the fact that their son was trying to ease out of the relationship altogether. Since he was such a kind, compassionate man, he was no doubt struggling to rip the bandaid off & firmly end things for once & for all.
Andrew’s home in Latrobe was situated directly across the street from Latrobe Area Hospital where he was completing his residency, making his commute a breeze. According to his colleagues, patients often requested Andrew by name when they were hospitalized. He was a fun, affable guy who easily made friends & was able to fit in in most any situation.
Only four months after he moved to the area, Kate & David’s life forever changed when the phone rang on Tuesday, November 6, 2001. They were told that their beloved only child had died under suspicious circumstances. Andrew’s body had been found lying facedown in the parking lot at Keystone State Park in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, about 5 miles north of his home. He was wearing hospital scrubs & he’d been shot five times, including once in the back of the head, execution style.
When David & Kate were given the heartbreaking task of going down to the morgue to identify their son’s body, they were able to kiss & hold him one last time. Feeling utterly broken & devastated, they couldn’t wrap their heads around who would have possibly wanted to harm Andrew, a person that charmed everyone he met. The couple found themselves in a deep depression, having lost their will to live after losing their beloved son, their only child.
After his friend’s death, Kurt Kuenne wanted to do something to honor his best friend’s life in the best way he knew how, so he decided to make a film. He set out on a mission to collect as many memories as possible of Andrew from his massive family & circle of friends. While everyone gushed about how much they loved Andrew, he came to realize that there wasn’t a single soul who had a positive word to say about Shirley Turner, Kate & David included.
About four months before Andrew’s death when the summer of 2001 was in full swing, Andrew was growing very weary of Shirley’s dramatic mood swings & obsessive behavior. When his friend got married in July 2001 & he decided not to take Shirley, she called him incessantly, leaving 30+ messages on his voicemail.
When he tried to make a clean break from her in October 2001, she showed up unexpectedly in Pennsylvania for another friend’s wedding. Andrew tried to make the most of their time, drinking & dancing together. His friends were disgusted by Shirley’s behavior that evening since she was all over Andrew on the dance floor in front of their family & friends.
Not long after the wedding, Shirley was back in Pennsylvania for a nine-day visit with Andrew between October 26-November 3, 2001. During this time, they got into a big argument when Andrew told her that he was planning on going on a date with a woman who worked as a radiology clerk at the hospital. Although they had a don’t ask, don’t tell arrangement, Shirley was livid. After Andrew’s death, investigators came to find that Shirley had made two anonymous phone calls to this woman on October 29 while she’d been staying with Andrew.
When he dropped Shirley off at Latrobe Airport on Saturday afternoon, November 3, they had lunch together & he told her that their relationship was over for good.
According to cell phone records, she was back at her Council Bluffs, Iowa home on Saturday evening at 6 pm. The following morning, Sunday, November 4, Shirley called Andrew very early, waking him up. When she called again during the afternoon & evening, he told her that he didn’t go on his date after all since the radiology clerk had fallen asleep.
Monday, November 5, 2001 was supposed to be a big day in Shirley’s career as she had been waiting for her medical license & hospital privileges to come through since October 1. She was finally set to start her career at Alegent Health in Council Bluffs on Monday morning. However, by 1 pm on Sunday afternoon, Shirley was in her SUV, making the 14+ hour, 941 mile drive back east to Latrobe, where she showed up on Andrew’s front porch, waking him at 5:30 am that Monday morning.
When Andrew came into work at 7:30 am, his colleagues could immediately see that the always cheerful guy was highly irritated. He told his close friend & supervisor, Dr. Clark Simpson, that Shirley had shown up out of the blue that morning, angry with him for ending their relationship.
While he spent the day at work, Shirley hung out at his house. Phone records prove that she contacted Alegent Health at 8:07 am, telling them that she wasn’t going to make it in for her first day of work as she was in bed with a migraine, but they could expect to see her the next morning.
When Andrew told Clark that he had plans to meet Shirley that evening to end things for good, Clark was not shy about sharing his feelings. He told his friend & mentor that a rational person doesn’t drive 16 hours to see the person who only just broke up with them, urging him not to meet with her. Andrew assured him that he would be fine & said that after he met Shirley at 6 pm, he would stop by his house afterwards, likely around 7:30 pm.
He left the Family Practice Clinic at 5 pm, he drove the 11 ½ miles to Keystone State Park to meet Shirley, arriving sometime between 5:27-6:10 pm.
When 7:30 pm came & went, Clark began to worry since Andrew was an extremely punctual person. When Andrew wasn’t at the hospital for the 8 am morning report on Tuesday, November 6, Clark called his house & cell phone, but there was no answer.
Clark had no way of knowing, but hours earlier, at about 5:50 am, a Latrobe resident was passing through the park as the sun was rising when he was shocked to see the frost-covered body of a man lying face down in the gravel. He immediately contacted a Park Ranger, who then contacted the Pennsylvania State Troopers.
Responding officers found Dr. Andrew Bagby lying face down, not far from his car. He wore hospital scrubs while his head was turned slightly to one side exposing part of his face. He was quickly identified by the wallet that was found in his pocket as well as his hospital identification card that hung from his neck.
On the ground beside his body was one live, unspent cartridge that had either been dropped or ejected from the gun used to kill him while the five bullets that entered his body were determined to be from a .22 caliber gun.
The autopsy, which was done the same day that Andrew’s body was found, determined that he had died from five gunshot wounds; one to the back of his head, another to the face, chest & two shots to the buttocks. He also sustained a blunt-force type injury to the top of the back of his head.
As soon as Andrew’s colleagues learned the devastating news of his murder, they immediately pointed investigators in the direction of Shirley Turner. They explained that she’d shown up unexpectedly on his doorstep early Monday morning after he broke up with her on Saturday afternoon. Dr. Clark Simpson went on to say that Andrew was meeting her on Monday evening at the very park where he’d been shot to death.
Investigators spoke with a man who lived in Derry who’d walked through the park on Monday evening after a hunting excursion at 6:10 pm. When he passed through, he noticed Andrew’s black Toyota Corolla parked next to an SUV. Not only was this within the timeframe of when Andrew was meeting Shirley, the SUV also matched the Toyota Rav4 that she drove. When this same man came back through the park on Tuesday morning at 4:30 am to go hunting again, this time, he only saw the Corolla parked there. Because it was still dark outside, he hadn’t noticed Andrew’s body lying there.
By the time police spoke with Shirley on Tuesday, she was back in Iowa, claiming that she had been home sick in bed with a migraine all day on Monday during the timeframe of Andrew’s murder. She claimed to have last seen him on Saturday & last spoken with him on Sunday. She said that when she left Latrobe on Saturday, they were on good terms, describing their relationship as passionate.
Investigators learned that Shirley had purchased a Phoenix Arms .22-caliber handgun on October 16 in Iowa that matched the bullets that killed Andrew. She told a police officer that she’d purchased the gun for her own protection.
Although she agreed to hand the gun over to her local police department, she soon claimed that she was unable to find it. By Wednesday her story had changed when she told investigators that she’d given the gun to Andrew, but she couldn’t remember when.
She was telling her friends & colleages another story, saying that she’d given Andrew the gun in person on the Monday he was murdered while they had been in the park together. She said he placed it in the trunk of his car, they said goodbye & when she pulled away from the park, he’d been alive. The gun in question has never been located.
Investigators spoke with a firearms instructor that Shirley had met with on three occasions. During the most recent occasion, her instructor indicated that she’d been using CCI .22-caliber ammunition. He hadn’t been impressed with her gun, describing it as of poor quality since it frequently malfunctioned, sometimes ejecting live rounds. This was consistent with what investigators found at the crime scene as one unspent bullet was lying near Andrew’s body. The firearms instructor indicated that although they had another lesson scheduled for the Monday that Andrew had been murdered, Shirley hadn’t shown up.
Since it was going to take two weeks for authorities to manually check the cell towers to confirm her whereabouts during the timeframe of the murder, there wasn’t yet enough evidence to make an arrest. In the meantime, Shirley remained a free woman & since her travel wasn’t restricted, she quietly left the U.S. & headed back to Canada on Monday, November 12, one week after Andrew’s murder.
At the time, Shirley’s eldest son, TJ Shears, was recovering at the hospital from a bad car accident & when his mom came back home, he assumed she was there to help take care of him. He was surprised, but touched to see her since oftentimes, she hadn’t been available, especially since starting med school when he had been in high school. He had no idea that his mom was actually there because she’d fled the U.S.
When TJ learned that his mom could potentially be a suspect in Andrew’s murder, he was convinced that investigators had it wrong.
When investigators were given the information from cell phone records two weeks after Andrew’s murder, it proved that Shirley had driven from Iowa to Pennsylvania, arriving in Andrew’s neighborhood on the morning of the murder. This confirmed that she hadn’t been home sick in bed all day with a migraine as she’d claimed.
According to Andrew’s cell phone records, he reached the park sometime between 5:27-6:10 pm on Monday, right around the same time as Shirley. After a witness saw their unoccupied cars parked side-by-side at 6:10 pm, Andrew was murdered close to his parked car, likely right around 8:30 pm.
Cell phone records proved that at 11:26 pm on Monday night, Shirley was driving westward toward the Cleveland area, about 172 miles away from the park. From this location, she called her employer, telling a nurse that she’d slept all day & would report in the following morning, but she wouldn’t be there at her expected time of 9 am.
When a nurse called her back at 9 am on Tuesday morning, she left Shirley a message, letting her know that her first patient was scheduled to see her at 10:30 am. Shirley called her back before 10 am, saying that she hadn’t slept all night & wouldn’t be there on time. She said she had to take her car to a carwash, then go home to shower & change her clothes. At this point, she was in Stuart, Iowa, about 90 miles east of Council Bluffs. When she did finally come in to work at 11 am to see her patient at 11:30 am, her hair was wet.
When presented with the cell phone records that placed her driving to & from Latrobe on Monday, Shirley suddenly changed her story about the gun, now claiming that she’d given it to Andrew in the parking lot while they had been at the park together, saying that she saw him put it in the trunk of his car.
Shirley Turner was formally charged with Andrew’s murder & arrested by Newfoundland police on December 12, 2001.
Before she could be extradited back to the U.S., despite the fact that she was being charged with first-degree murder, a judge deemed that she was neither dangerous nor a flight risk even though she’d left the country where she was wanted.
On the very same day as her arrest, she was released on a $75,000 bond, $65,00 of which was posted by a mentor from med school, a psychiatrist who she’d seen for treatment after Andrew’s murder, Dr. John Doucet.
Kate & David were appalled that she was allowed to go back to the comfort of her home while their son was dead. The surprises kept coming when in February 2002, three months after their son’s murder, they were told by investigators that Shirley was four months pregnant with Andrew’s child. Of course, this couldn’t be definitively proven until after the birth, but if the baby was Andrew’s, Kate & David planned to sue her for custody.
The Bagbys were growing frustrated by how long the extradition process was taking so they decided to quit their jobs in California to move 3,500 miles away to Newfoundland. They wanted to not only more closely monitor the extradition process, but they also wanted to be present when their grandchild was born.
They took some comfort in knowing that Shirley was pregnant since the child would be half Andrew’s & a way for him to live on. Filmmaker Kurt was further inspired to create the documentary in Andrew’s honor, now with the goal of using the footage as a way for his friend’s child to get to know the child who never had the chance to meet their father. News of Shirley’s pregnancy further inspired filmmaker Kurt to create Andrew’s documentary, now with the goal of using the footage as a way for his child to get to know the father they never had the chance of meeting. It was his mission to collect every memory before they had a chance to fade away.
Shirley gave birth to Zachary Andrew Turner eight months after his father’s murder on July 18, 2002 & although Kate & David were there to meet their grandson, Shirley forbade them from doing so. It wasn’t until one month later when they were finally able to meet him for the first time in family court where they negotiated a one-hour per week supervised visitation. They would have to be searched beforehand while Shirley waited in the next room. Seeing Zachary for the first time immediately touched their hearts as they saw just how much he resembled his father.
Shirley told the court that she feared that Kate & David would harm her child, but since they wanted to see Zachary at any cost, they planned to go along with whatever rules she demanded. As difficult as it was, they kept the peace with Shirley for the sake of their relationship with their grandson.
On November 14, 2002, one year after their son’s murder, a Canadian judge ruled that a properly instructed jury would likely find Shirley guilty of first-degree murder & ordered her incarceration while awaiting a decision from justice officials to surrender her to the US.
The Bagbys were thrilled with this decision & to add to their joy, Shirley asked if they would care for a then 4- month-old Zachary in her absence. Although Shirley described him as a cranky baby, Kate & David disagreed, noticing just how much he was like his father, including his calm, content personality. They were thrilled to have uninterrupted time with their grandson & were even able to celebrate Zachary’s first Christmas with him.
As part of their arrangement, they had to bring Zachary to visit his mom in jail once a week, a drive that took them two hours, many times in terribly rainy or snowy weather. They had to also accept daily phone calls from Shirley which they recorded each time.
Naturally, as Zachary spent time with his grandparents, their bond strengthened, something Shirley could easily see during their weekly visits to prison.
To their horror, two months later, in January 2003, after Shirley appealed to be released on bail, Kate & David were stunned when Judge Gale Welsh agreed. She went on to state that there was no indication of a psychological disorder that would deem Shirley dangerous to the public since the crime she was accused of was specific in nature.
Kate was sickened when the judge spoke to Shirley saying, I’m so sorry, Dr. Turner, your life is on hold & I know the law is slow. She wanted to scream out that her son’s life was on hold forever, but instead, she silently cried & bit her lip.
Once again, Shirley was allowed to leave prison while she awaited extradition for murder & she got custody of 6-month-old Zachary. Packing up his things & handing him over to the woman they knew killed their son was utterly gut wrenching for Kate & David. Despite what the judge said, they knew that she was a highly dangerous person & they feared that if Shirley felt backed into a corner, she might harm her son.
The court mandated that Kate & David spend time with Zachary, babysitting & sharing in joint activities with Shirley. They were constantly walking on eggshells, fearful they could say something to trigger her. As difficult as it was, for Zachary’s sake, they kept all drama out of their visits & never discussed the case or Andrew when they spent time together.
When Kurt Kuenne traveled to Newfoundland in July 2003 for the filming of his documentary, Zachary was 11-months-old. Kate was growing anxious for Shirley’s next extradition hearing that was scheduled for September, hoping & praying that she would be returned to the U.S. to face a murder trial.
They tried their best to put their worries aside, placing all of their love & focus onto Zachary. One week into Kurt’s visit, Shirley held Zachary’s first birthday party at McDonald’s. Kurt’s film depicted Kate & David with a smile on their faces that hid the despair they felt inside from being forced to spend time with a woman they believed murdered their son.
The party was going well until it was time to open presents. When Shirley pulled Zachary to her lap, he began to squirm, struggling to get down. Now able to walk, he was free to beeline to whomever he felt more comfortable with & he ran straight to Kate. Before she walked over to the corner to cry, Shirley told Kate, He loves you more than me. Why don’t you just take him? When Kate handed the baby back over to his mother, she could see the look of cold anger on Shirley’s face & believed this is likely what her son had last seen before he was shot dead.
David was so concerned for his grandson’s safety that he even contemplated killing Shirley himself. Although he knew this would land him in prison, Kate would be able to raise Zachary & at least he would know that his grandson was safe.
Shirley’s eldest son TJ couldn’t help but notice that as his mom’s extradition hearing was approaching, she began asking strange questions. She wanted to know that if something were to happen to her, would TJ & his girlfriend be willing to take care of Zachary. Being a young man himself, TJ told his mom that they were not the best choice, but it was obvious that she didn’t want Zachary to end up with his grandparents.
A few weeks after they celebrated Zachary’s first birthday, it was Sunday, August 17, 2003 when Kate, David & Shirley took Zachary to a local swimming pool. He normally loved swimming, but that day, Kate noticed that her grandson was getting frustrated by the fact that his mother insisted on keeping him in the deep end so he wasn’t able to freely move on his own. Shirley was growing impatient & handed her son over to Kate, asking her to take him out of the pool & get him dressed.
On their way home, Zachary fell asleep in his car seat & when they dropped Shirley & Zachary off at TJ’s house where they were living, Shirley woke her son up & told him to say goodbye to his grandparents. This was sadly the last time Kate & David ever saw their grandson.
When TJ came home that night after a long day at work, Shirley came downstairs at about 11:30 pm, asking if she could borrow his car. Although Zachary seemed happy, she told TJ that she wanted to drive the baby around to settle him down since he was fussy. Without giving it a second thought, he handed the keys to his mom, a moment that has haunted him since.
When TJ woke up the next morning, he began to panic, realizing that his mom & his 13-month-old baby brother were gone.
After Shirley had taken TJ’s car & left with Zachary, a security guard down by the Atlantic Ocean noticed a car that seemed out of place & reported hearing a baby cry at about 2:30 am in the early morning hours of Monday, August 18, 2003.
Hours later, when David & Kate returned home from shopping, they found a card from a police officer, asking them to call him. When they called Constable Walsh back, he explained that Shirley & Zachary were missing. Their minds raced with worry, speculating that maybe she was trying to escape with the baby before her extradition hearing.
Hours later, when there was a knock on their front door, an officer told them that the bodies of a woman & a baby had been found on the beach. A couple vacationing from Ontario had been walking their dog along Manuels Beach in Conception Bay South at about 7 pm when they came upon Shirley’s body. After police & Coast Guard officials were contacted, they found Zachary’s body only meters away from his mother’s.
Although authorities had yet to identify the bodies, it was obvious that it was Shirley & Zachary. Kate crumpled to the floor in grief as she & David felt they were reliving the nightmare of hearing the news of their son’s murder all over again.
They came to learn that 42-year-old Shirley Turner had walked out to the end of the pier at Conception Bay with 13-month-old Zachary strapped to her body with a sweater & jumped into the ocean. The autopsy found the anti-anxiety drug, Ativan, in both of their systems, a medication she had been prescribed by the very psychiatrist who had posted her bail. Kate & David could only hope that Zachary had been asleep as his little body hit the frigid ocean.
Just as they had to do with their son, Kate & David were tasked with going to the morgue to identify their bodies.
When TJ learned the news of what his mother had done, he instantly knew without a shred of doubt that she’d been the person to murder Andrew, something he hadn’t allowed himself to previously believe.
During the death investigation, authorities learned that Shirley tried to frame a man that she met in a bar in July 2003 for her & Zachary’s deaths. After going out with the man twice, he broke up with her after his friends showed him articles about her being accused of murdering her last boyfriend. She continued calling him, leaving more than 200 messages on his phone, including one when she lied & told him that she was pregnant.
On the night she killed herself & Zachary, she called her friend from her own apartment, lying that she was at this man’s house with Zachary. She then borrowed TJ’s car, parked behind his house & left a used tampon as well as photos of herself with Zachary on his property before walking down to the ocean.
After Zachary’s funeral, David & Kate took their grandson’s ashes with them to England & spread them with his dad’s.
During a press conference two weeks later, David & Kate voiced their opinions about how the legal system had failed their grandson, allowing him to remain with his mom who was accused of first-degree murder. It was their mission to make changes in laws so that something this devastating could never happen to anyone else.
Three years later, the Turner Review & Investigation concluded that 13-month-old Zachary’s death had been preventable & the Newfoundland & Labrador’s child welfare system had failed him.
When Judge Gale Welsh decided that there was no indication of a psychological disorder that would deem her a danger to the public, allowing her to leave prison, Shirley had eight restraining orders against her. A man who dated Shirley before Andrew contacted Pennsylvania police as when he broke up with her, he found her lying on his front porch after she attempted suicide by ingesting pills. She also threatened to kill him on multiple occasions.
During her two month stay in prison, she was highly disruptive, she was on suicide watch & even threatened to stab another inmate with a fork. The man who briefly dated Shirley in July 2003 also contacted authorities because she was essentially stalking him, but because he didn’t leave his name, nothing was done about it.
On May 3, 2006, when a disciplinary board met with the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Newfoundland & Labrador, they found John Doucet guilty of professional misconduct for his involvement in helping post Shirley’s $65,000 bail. He was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 covering one-third of the $30,000 cost by the college for the inquiry & he was also ordered to undergo psychiatric counseling. He later left Newfoundland & settled elsewhere in Canada.
David Bagby went on to publish a book in March 2007 about his son & grandson’s murders titled, Dance with the Devil: A Memoir of Murder & Loss. Its first printing sold out in four weeks & became a national bestseller. Two scholarships have also been established in honor of Andrew & Zachary.
Kurt’s documentary, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, was released in October 2008, & was named one of the top five documentaries that year by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
On October 23, 2009, Zachary’s Bill was introduced, something that would change the Criminal Code of Canada to allow the courts to justify refusing bail to those accused of serious crimes in the name of protecting their children. It was signed into law on December 16, 2010.
Kate & David Bagby are remarkable people who directed their grief & anger into advocacy, making changes that would protect innocent children as Zachary should have been protected. After losing their only child to violence at 28-years-old in 2001, less than two years later, they were faced with a second devastating tragedy when they lost their 13-month-old grandson, the one piece left of Andrew. Despite every red flag imaginable, little Zachary had been left unprotected & allowed to live with the woman accused of murdering the father he never got the chance to meet.
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