She is accused of fatally shooting 55-year-old Michael Corrigan on Aug. 21 at his home in the 1800 block of Maple Lane in Beavercreek. Based on preliminary examination, Corrigan was shot once in the head with a .380 caliber bullet from 10 feet away while he was sitting in a living room chair, an affidavit stated.
A woman called 911 at approximately 9 p.m. Aug. 22 to report finding Corrigan’s body.
“It’s my fiancé's brother,” the woman told a dispatcher. “He didn’t call into work so we came by to make sure he was OK.”
Corrigan’s brother and fiancée found the garage door up to his house when they arrived to check on him after he did not show up for work nor respond to phone calls and texts from family members and his boss.
Nelson, most recently living with her husband in Thorp, Wisconsin, had been married several times and and is known to use aliases and variations on the spelling of her first name, including Jannelle Clark, Janel Rodriguez and Jannell Torres. Corrigan’s family said she and Corrigan were in an “off and on” relationship for the past 15 years, Beavercreek police Capt. Scott Molnar said.
A Beavercreek detective tracked Nelson to Omaha after a 30-year-old woman posted a selfie with Nelson on Facebook that read: “Seeing my mother Jannelle for the first time in 16 years.”
The detective contacted the woman, who said her mother showed up at her residence “out of the blue” and that she appeared disheveled and under the influence of drugs. She was curious why her mother randomly visited her after so much time passed, and “even had the thought she may be running from something,” the affidavit stated.
Nelson was using the alias Jannelle Rodriguez to stay at a women’s shelter, where in the parking lot Omaha police found the car she had been driving — a 2002 Lincoln Town Car with Wisconsin plates registered to her husband. The car was towed and Omaha police found a .380 caliber handgun and ammunition in the trunk during a search with a warrant.
Credit: Douglas County (Nebraska) Department of Corrections
Credit: Douglas County (Nebraska) Department of Corrections
A Beavercreek sergeant called Nelson’s husband, who said his wife told him she planned to visit family and friends in Ohio and that he gave her $6,000 to use on her trip. He said that Nelson has a .22 caliber handgun and a .380 caliber handgun, both missing along with ammunition from where she usually keeps them at home. He told police he had not talked to his wife since she left, the document stated.
Beavercreek police also were able to determine the Lincoln was in Beavercreek between Aug. 17 and Aug. 21 though a vehicle license plate camera system. The last local camera hits were around 2 and 2:30 p.m. near Interstate 70 in Huber Heights. Additional license plate readers on or near I-70 showed the car traveling west through Indiana, Illinois and Iowa over the next 24 hours, according to the affidavit.
During an interview with detectives in Omaha, Nelson admitted to visiting Corrigan in Beavercreek and described their relationship as “off and on,” the affidavit stated.
She said that during the early hours of Aug. 21 that Corrigan tried to force sexual activity and that she refused his advance. She said she later fell asleep and only remembers waking up and grabbing her purse and keys before driving on the highway. She denied having any firearms and denied injuring Corrigan, according to the document.
Detectives reported that Nelson showed little to no reaction or emotion when told the circumstances surrounding Corrigan’s death involving a gunshot and shortly after declined to answer further questions and requested an attorney, the affidavit stated.
Nelson is jailed in the Douglas County Department of Corrections in Omaha, awaiting extradition to Ohio.
Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes in a letter dated Tuesday to Fairborn Municipal Judges Beth Cappelli and Andrew Hunt requested that Nelson’s bond be set at $500,000.
Beavercreek detectives are continuing to investigate, and anyone with information can contact detective John Bondy at 937-427-5520.
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