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Astronaut charged with attempted murder
2007-02-06
She was the Robochick. He was Billy-O. According to police, her obsession with him led her to drive 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, bringing with her a trenchcoat and wig, armed with a BB gun and pepper spray, and wearing a diaper to avoid bathroom breaks on the arduous drive. Muzi.com News 10035435-0 (muzi.com)Once in Florida, Lisa "Robochick" Nowak apparently confronted the woman she believed was her rival for the affections of William "Billy-O" Oefelein. And this tawdry love triangle has one more twist -- it involves two astronauts. Muzi.com News 10035435-1 (muzi.com) Nowak, 43, a married mother of three who flew on a space shuttle in July, was charged with attempted murder, accused of hatching an extraordinary plot to kidnap Colleen Shipman, who she believed was romantically involved with Oefelein, a space shuttle pilot. Muzi.com News 10035435-2 (muzi.com) Specifically, police said Nowak confronted Shipman, who was in her car at the Orlando airport, and sprayed something at her, possibly pepper spray. Muzi.com News 10035435-3 (muzi.com) At first the astronaut was charged with attempted kidnapping and other counts, and a judge had permitted her release on bail. Then, in a surprise move, prosecutors upped the charge to attempted murder, basing it on the weapons and other items they said they had found with Nowak or in her car: a pepper spray package, an unused BB-gun cartridge, a new steel mallet, knife, rubber tubing and large garbage bags. Muzi.com News 10035435-4 (muzi.com) Nowak's lawyer, Donald Lykkebak, disputed that upgraded charge, which allowed police to keep the astronaut in jail. "In the imaginations of the police officers, they extend these facts out into areas where the facts can't be supported," said Lykkebak. Muzi.com News 10035435-5 (muzi.com) As the hearings on charges and bail played out on TV, the astonishing details about the case were repeatedly broadcast and quickly made the rounds of office e-mails and Internet blogs. Muzi.com News 10035435-6 (muzi.com) The details of the relationships of all three were unclear. Nowak and Oefelein, who both live in the Houston area, had trained together as astronauts, but never flew into space together. Shipman, 30, works at Patrick Air Force Base near Kennedy Space Center. Muzi.com News 10035435-7 (muzi.com) Earlier, Nowak was quoted by police as saying she and Oefelein had something "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship." Muzi.com News 10035435-8 (muzi.com) Neither Oefelein nor Shipman could be reached for comment Tuesday, nor could Nowak's husband be found. Muzi.com News 10035435-9 (muzi.com) But police found a letter in Nowak's car that "indicated how much Mrs. Nowak loved Mr. Oefelein," the arrest affidavit said. And Nowak had copies of e-mails between Shipman and Oefelein. Muzi.com News 10035435-10 (muzi.com) Police said Nowak, believing Shipman was romantically involved with Oefelein, had driven 900 miles from Houston -- wearing diapers in the car so she would not have to make bathroom stops -- to confront Shipman as she arrived in Orlando on a flight from Houston. Muzi.com News 10035435-11 (muzi.com) There, police said, Nowak donned a wig and trench coat, boarded an airport shuttle bus with Shipman and followed her to her car. Then, crying, Nowak sprayed a chemical into the car. Muzi.com News 10035435-12 (muzi.com) Shipman drove to a parking lot booth and sought help. Muzi.com News 10035435-13 (muzi.com) Inside Nowak's car, which was parked at a nearby motel, authorities copies of e-mails between Shipman and Oefelein, along with the BB-gun cartridge and other items. Muzi.com News 10035435-14 (muzi.com) A police affidavit made public Tuesday noted Nowak had "urinated in a diaper so that she did not need to stop," and "stealthily followed the victim while in disguise and possessed multiple deadly weapons." Muzi.com News 10035435-15 (muzi.com) The affidavit said the circumstances of the case "create a well-founded fear" and gave investigators "probable cause to believe that Mrs. Nowak intended to murder Ms. Shipman." Muzi.com News 10035435-16 (muzi.com) The judge initially had set bail at $15,500 and ordered Nowak to stay away from Shipman and wear an electronic monitoring device upon returning to her home in Houston. Muzi.com News 10035435-17 (muzi.com) "I guess they didn't like the ruling in the court this morning, did they?" Lykkebak said. Muzi.com News 10035435-18 (muzi.com) He said that Nowak only wanted to talk to Shipman. Asked about the weapons, he said, "You can sit and speculate all day." Muzi.com News 10035435-19 (muzi.com) Saying he was surprised by the case, NASA spokesman John Ira Petty at Johnson Space Center in Houston said he was concerned about the people involved and their families. But, he added, "We try not to concern ourselves with our employees' personal lives." Muzi.com News 10035435-20 (muzi.com) A vague profile began to emerge of Nowak, who was graduated from high school in Maryland in 1981 and the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985. She has won various Navy service awards. Muzi.com News 10035435-21 (muzi.com) In a September interview with Ladies' Home Journal, Nowak said her husband, Richard, "works in Mission Control, so he's part of the whole space business, too. And supportive also." Muzi.com News 10035435-22 (muzi.com) On Tuesday, a Houston neighbor, Bryan Lam, told The Associated Press that in November he heard the sounds of dishes being thrown inside the house and the police came. Muzi.com News 10035435-23 (muzi.com) "I've seen them arguing before," he said. Muzi.com News 10035435-24 (muzi.com) Nowak, in a NASA interview last year, before her mission aboard Discovery, as well as in an interview with ABC News, spoke about the strain her career placed on her family. She has twin 5-year-old girls and a son who is 14 or 15. Muzi.com News 10035435-25 (muzi.com) "It's a sacrifice for our own personal time and our families and the people around us," she said in the NASA interview. "But I do think it's worth it because if you don't explore and take risks and go do all these things they everything will stay the same." Muzi.com News 10035435-26 (muzi.com) In an in-flight news conference aboard Discovery last summer, she talked about waiting nearly 10 years for her first space flight. "It's been a long wait, but it's worth the wait," she said. Muzi.com News 10035435-27 (muzi.com) NASA astronauts often have nicknames, at least among their crewmates and Mission Control. Aboard Discovery last July, Nowak and crewmate Stephanie Wilson were known as "the Robochicks" because they operated the shuttle's robotic arm that checked the spacecraft for damage. Muzi.com News 10035435-28 (muzi.com) While on the international space station, Nowak's crewmates sometimes had to duck to avoid her ponytail, which floated out during weightlessness. Muzi.com News 10035435-29 (muzi.com) In court early Tuesday, looking downcast, Nowak spoke only to respond, "Yes," when asked whether she understood the conditions of her release. Muzi.com News 10035435-30 (muzi.com) A smiling, put-together woman in her NASA photos, her police mug shot showed a fatigued, haggard face with scraggly hair, seemingly destined to become the object of public ridicule. On Tuesday morning, it was shown on MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning" next to the oft-posted mug shot of actor Nick Nolte after his DUI arrest. Muzi.com News 10035435-31 (muzi.com) Oefelein, a 41-year-old Navy commander nicknamed "Billy-O" by his comrades, trained with Nowak but never flew with her. He piloted a Discovery mission in December to the space station where astronauts rewired the outpost, installed a new $11 million section and dropped off a new American crew member. Muzi.com News 10035435-32 (muzi.com) Oefelein is unmarried but has two children. He began his aviation career as a teenager, flying floatplanes in Alaska. Muzi.com News 10035435-33 (muzi.com) As a child, he and his brother spent hours flying model plans with their father and attending air shows. And old photo taken of him at age 8 shows him standing next to a NASA jet. Muzi.com News 10035435-34 (muzi.com) "I love my time flying," he told The Associated Press last year before his Discovery mission in December. "This is another fortunate opportunity I've been blessed with." Muzi.com News 10035435-35 (muzi.com) The Orlando Sentinel reported Shipman, 30, is an engineer assigned to the 45th Launch Support Squadron at Patrick air base, and a Federal Aviation Administration pilot directory indicates she is certified as a student pilot. Muzi.com News 10035435-36 (muzi.com) Nowak spent much of the day in glass-fronted cell of about 80 square feet, by herself and under constant observation, said Allen Moore, a spokesman for the Orange County jail. Muzi.com News 10035435-37 (muzi.com) Chief astronaut Steve Lindsey, who flew with Nowak to the space station last July aboard Discovery, and fellow astronaut Chris Ferguson attended the hearing. Muzi.com News 10035435-38 (muzi.com) "Our primary concern is her health and well-being and that she get through this," Lindsey told reporters afterward. "Her status (with the astronaut corps) has not changed." Muzi.com News 10035435-39 (muzi.com)
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