Astronaut out on Bail

Astronaut charged with kidnap attempt By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer

A NASA astronaut charged with attempting to kidnap a romantic rival in a love triangle with another astronaut was allowed to go free on bail Tuesday on the condition that she not contact the alleged victim.

The judge told Lisa Marie Nowak she could be released on $15,500 bond, then asked if she understood the conditions. She responded "yes."

Nowak, a married mother of three, stood in a jail uniform, looking down during most of the hearing. She planned to return home to Houston, and the judge ordered her to wear a tracking device.

The 43-year-old robotics specialist faces charges including attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery.

Police said she drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, an unmarried fellow astronaut.

Nowak rode aboard Discovery in July. Oefelein, 41, piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. They trained together but never flew together.

Nowak told police that her relationship with Oefelein was "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to an arrest affidavit. Police found a love letter to Oefelein in her car.

According to authorities, Nowak believed another woman, Colleen Shipman, was romantically involved with Oefelein. When Nowak found out Shipman was flying to Orlando from Houston, Nowak decided to confront her early Monday, according to the arrest affidavit.

Nowak raced from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers in the car so she wouldn't have to stop to go to the bathroom, authorities said. Astronauts wear diapers during launch and re-entry.

Dressed in a wig and a trench coat, she waited for Shipman's plane to land and then boarded the same airport shuttle bus Shipman took to get to her car, police said. Shipman told police she noticed someone following her, hurried inside the car and locked the doors, according to the arrest affidavit.

Nowak rapped on the window, tried to open the car door and asked for a ride. Shipman refused but rolled down the car window a few inches when Nowak started crying, the statement said. Nowak then sprayed a chemical into Shipman's car, the affidavit said. Shipman drove to the parking lot booth and police were called.

An officer reported following Nowak and watching her throw away a bag containing the wig and BB gun. Police also found a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, rubber tubing, $600 and garbage bags inside a bag Nowak was carrying when she was arrested, authorities said.

Two other astronauts attended the hearing. Steve Lindsey, commander of Nowak's Discovery flight last July, testified that Nowak would obey the conditions of her release.

Chris Ferguson, a pilot on the mission, also attended the hearing. Asked afterward about Nowak's behavior, Ferguson said "perplexed is the word I'm sticking with."

Oefelein and Shipman, who the Houston Chronicle said worked at Patrick Air Force Base near the Kennedy Space Center, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

NASA spokesman James Hartsfield in Houston said that, as of Monday, Nowak's status with the astronaut corps remained unchanged. "What will happen beyond that, I will not speculate," he said.

Hartsfield said he couldn't recall the last time an astronaut was arrested and said there were no rules against fraternizing among astronauts.

Police said Nowak told them that she only wanted to scare Shipman into talking to her about her relationship with Oefelein and didn't want to harm her physically.

"If you were just going to talk to someone, I don't know that you would need a wig, a trench coat, an air cartridge BB gun and pepper spray," said Orlando police Sgt. Barbara Jones. "It's just really a very sad case."

According to NASA's official biography, Nowak is a Naval Academy graduate who has a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. She has a teenage son and younger twin girls.

Oefelein has two children and began his aviation career as a teenager flying floatplanes in Alaska, according to a NASA biography. He studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and later earned a master's degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. He has been an astronaut since 1998.

___

Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy and Jessica Gresko in Miami contributed to this report.



Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.


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OH wow ! Isn't Florida pretty tough on the bail companies and skips?

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

I am thinking that kidnapping is not what she had in mind..............

BY JOHN KELLY AND KIMBERLY MOORE
FLORIDA TODAY

A NASA astronaut was released from jail on $25,500 bond this evening after prosecutors say she plotted to kidnap and kill a Cape Canaveral woman she saw as a rival for another astronaut's attention.

Police say Lisa Marie Nowak drove 12 hours straight from Houston to Florida, wearing diapers to avoid stopping for restroom breaks, so she could catch Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman at the Orlando airport and confront her about her relationship with space shuttle pilot William Oefelein.

Donning a wig and trench coat to disguise herself, police say Nowak followed Shipman from the airport to a dark parking lot. Officers say Nowak rushed the woman's car, tried to get inside and attacked her with pepper spray before Shipman sped away to find help. They say they saw Nowak try to throw out a bag containing the wig and trench coat as well as a BB pistol, steel mallet, 4-inch knife, rubber tubes and several plastic garbage bags among other things.

Orlando police first said that they suspected Nowak planned to attack and maybe kidnap the woman. Authorities charged the 43-year old Navy captain with attempted kidnapping, attempted burglary of a vehicle, battery and destruction of evidence.

However, when a judge decided this morning to let Nowak out of jail on bond pending a trial, Orlando police filed an additional charge of attempted murder just before she was to be released.

At a 4 p.m. hearing, defense attorneys argued that police were acting inappropriately to add charges without adding any new evidence in an effort simply to keep Nowak in jail, even though the judge ordered her release earlier today. The judge ultimately decided to increase the bail to $25,500 and let her go until trial.

In a separate court filing Monday, after the parking lot incident, Shipman sought a restraining order and said Nowak has been stalking her for two months. Shipman also said Nowak was using government resources and computers to investigate information, including her flight information, in order to aid her stalking and Monday's attack.

Nowak, 43, told police she only planned to "entice" Shipman to talk with her about astronaut Oefelein, with whom she said both women had relationships. During a morning court hearing, prosecutors said that Nowak and Shipman were apparent rivals for Oefelein’s affections.Yet the two had never met each other before Monday, according to court testimony today.

However, prosecutors said that once Nowak learned of Shipman’s relationship with Oefelein, she carefully and meticulously planned her encounter with her rival, prosecutor Amanda Cowan said. Armed with Google maps to the airport and Shipman's Cape Canaveral home as well as e-mailed love letters between the three, Nowak drove all day and night to Florida. The circumstances of the confrontation, combined with other items police saw her dump in the parking lot and material found in a search of her car, painted a picture more sinister than what Nowak described to officers after her arrest.

“The state would say there’s probable cause,” Cowan said.

The police and prosecutor wanted Nowak held without bond, saying there was strong evidence she carefully planned her actions, enough to support a life sentence. When a listless Nowak heard that, she snapped her slumping head to attention. Her lawyer, Donald Lykkebak, said the facts would only suport a charge of battery, and “with a stretch this alleged vehicle battery.”

“I fail to see any attempt to kidnap,” Lykkebak said. “What these facts do give rise to is a battery and an attempt to speak to someone in their vehicle.”

He said it was a leap of the imagination for the arresting officers to suggest anything stronger than that.

Given her service to career and country, and her lack of a prior criminal history, Lykkebak said, she should be released.

“At times like this, one’s good works must count for something.”

Helping Nowak's case for release was Steve Lindsey, a U.S. Air Force colonel who was the commander of Nowak's July mission and is now head of the NASA's astronaut corps. Lindsey testified in support of the defense's contention that Nowak posed no threat to Shipman if released.

Lindsey testified Nowak and Shipman were strangers to each other before Monday.

He also said that they didn’t work together and that Shipman was not associated with the shuttle program. “They didn’t know each other prior to this,” Lykkebak reiterated.

Lindsey assured the court that Nowak and Shipman would not be running into each other and that wearing an electronic monitor would not interfere with Nowak’s duties. “She has no reason to be at Patrick or at KSC if that’s what the court rules,” Lindsey said.

Just as Nowak was about to be released, however, concerned Orlando police added another charge: attempted murder. That kept Nowak behind bars for several more hours. She was to be released Tuesday afternoon or evening, once paperwork was completed.

Orange County Judge Michael Murphy found probable cause on the charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted burglary of a vehicle and battery, but not destruction of evidence. He set bail at $15,500 and was ready to let Nowak out of jail under conditions that she not come in contact with Shipman or even travel east of Orange County. The judge went on to order Nowak, when released, to wear an electronic tracking device so police would know where she was at any time.

“No contact means no contact, directly or indirectly. That means no sending flowers to say you’re sorry,” the judge said.

The Monday morning incident became national news late Monday evening, when Orlando police released a detailed affidavit outlining the bizarre parking lot attack.

According to the police account, when Shipman arrived at the airport on a flight from Houston about 1 a.m., Nowak followed Shipman to her car in the long-term parking lot. Once there, police say the disguised Nowak rushed Shipman's car and began pounding on the window. When Shipman, an engineer for the 45th Launch Support Squadron at Patrick since May 2005, would not open the car door, Nowak burst into tears.

Shipman rolled the window down about two inches, and Nowak "sprayed some type of chemical spray" into the vehicle, police reports said. Shipman drove away and called police. As Orlando police arrived, officers say they saw Nowak place a black bag into a garbage can. Inside the bag they found a wig, trench coat, a BB pistol, a new steel mallet, a new folding knife with a 4-inch blade, three to four feet of rubber tubing, several plastic garbage bags and about $600 in cash. Also in the bag was a handwritten list of those items.

Police later searched Nowak's car, which was parked at the La Quinta Inn about two miles from the airport. In the car, they said they found six latex gloves, directions from Houston to the Orlando airport, e-mails from Shipman to Ofelein, a love letter from Nowak to Ofelein and handwritten directions to Shipman's house in Cape Canaveral.

Nowak told police she was "involved in a relationship" with Oefelein. She categorized it as "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to the police report.

Nowak is still employed as an astronaut, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said Monday night.

"Anything beyond that is just speculation," he said.

A married mother of three, Nowak flew her first mission into space in July, serving as a mission specialist. She is considered an expert shuttle robot arm operator, and logged 13 days in space during a mission that launched on the Fourth of July.

A U.S. Navy captain, Nowak was selected to NASA's astronaut corps in 1996 after serving as a military test pilot. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Nowak has logged more than 1,500 hours in 30 aircraft.

Oefelein, 41 and the father of two, piloted Discovery on a 13-day International Space Station assembly flight in December. From window perches inside the shuttle and the station, he orchestrated four spacewalks during one of the most complex outpost construction missions to date. Nicknamed "Billy O," Oefelein, a U.S. Navy commander, came to NASA in 1998.

Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and the wife of NASA astronaut Steve Hawley, said that she could not recall another incident in which a U.S. astronaut was arrested on felony charges.

"It's too early to speculate on what actions we'll take, but now her status with us is unchanged," she said Monday night.

"This is clearly going to be a very personal, tragic and unfortunate event, but we'll do what we can to help with her physical and emotional well-being. But that's about all we can do at this point."

Patrick Peterson, Todd Halvorson, Megan Downs, Steve Arnold, Craig Bailey and Jeff Schweers also contributed to this report.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Family releases statement - see www.wcz.com local stories

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

“I think she just snapped,” Nowak’s bail bondsman, John Vonachen, said.

Vonachen was among the people who escorted Nowak through the crowd of cameras and reporters awaiting her and spent hours beforehand talking with her.

He walked away with a sad impression.

“She just didn’t seem like she was there, you know. She filled out her paperwork. She was OK for a little while, and then it would be like she would go off into another world while we were all talking,” Vonachen said of Nowak.

Vonachen said he told Nowak’s astronaut friends to keep an eye on her. He doesn’t think she fully grasps what’s happened.

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Good thing NASA took her off the next space mission. I would like to see someone try to make that arrest.

_________________
Steve Hedrick
Hedrick & Associates INVESTIGATIVE GROUP
Nederland, TX
TX PI LIC #A-09665
(409) 284-1895
http://360.yahoo.com/ftachaser357
"For every DEFENDANT that fails to appear in Court, there is a VICTIM seeking Justice"

I just can't understand why she would go after another woman over a romantic relationship with someone she described as a "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," with especially since she is married herself. What is her husband saying about all of this? I can stand by my spouse through many things, but I just can't see this being one of them.

LuVonda, the link you posted redirects me to some computer sales site, so I can't read the family statement.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

Go Figure that the link would not work. It being a 'news' paper
I went back on my history and got it and TADA . . . glad I had not cleaned history yet

Kathy, not everybody has their moral values in tact anymore.

Statement Released By Lisa Nowak's Family
(AP) "The family will not be granting interviews at this time, but does want to issue the following statement in response to numerous media requests. We are naturally saddened and extremely concerned about the serious allegations being made against Lisa. We love her very much, and right now, our primary focus is on her health and well-being.

Lisa is a very intelligent, accomplished individual. As a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and in her professional career in the Navy and NASA's Space Shuttle program, she has served over 20 years with an unblemished record. Lisa attained the rank of Captain, and flew as a Mission Specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in July 2006.

Personally, Lisa is an extremely caring and dedicated mother to her three children. She has been married for 19 years, although she and her husband had separated a few weeks ago. Considering both her personal and professional life, these alleged events are completely out of character and have come as a tremendous shock to our family.

We are anxious to allow the facts to develop so that we can better understand what happened, and why. We hope that the public will keep an open mind about what the facts will eventually show and that the legal system will be allowed to run its course. Finally, we are very grateful for the expressions of love and support that we have received from family and friends, and we ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for our family."

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

People do snap for various reasons, and I think we have all witnessed that. Thank you LuVond for posting this. I have witnessed it as have most of us.

We all know that spammers can take over posts and sites within minutes of a serious post being made and in many instances, there is nothing any of us can do about it. That is why most of us post the content as well as the link to the site. I understand that some forums prefer just the link, but this is a prime example of why most of us post both. We post what we read, but it is up to the site owner to report the unauthorized redirections to the various spam sites.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

Astronaut Lisa Nowak fired from NASA By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 28 minutes ago



Astronaut Lisa Nowak was fired from NASA on Wednesday, a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman she regarded as her romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot.

Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence, NASA officials said. The agency said it lacked an administrative system to handle the allegations because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant.

If Nowak were a civil servant, NASA would have the choice of placing her on administrative leave, leave without pay or indefinite suspension until the charges are resolved, said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield in Houston. But because she is an officer, those options are not available.

Nowak, a Navy captain, instead will return to the military.

She will be assigned to the staff at the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christi, Texas, starting in two weeks, Navy Cmdr. Lydia Robertson said. Robertson said she didn't know what specific job Nowak would be doing.

The space shuttle pilot who was the object of Nowak's affections, Navy Cmdr. Bill Oefelein, remains on active duty while working for NASA. Robertson said she could not speculate whether his status is under review.

Chief astronaut Steve Lindsey notified Nowak late last month that she was to be fired from the astronaut corps. After her arrest, NASA placed Nowak on a 30-day leave, which was to end Thursday.

It was the first time NASA has publicly fired an astronaut, according to space historian Roger Launius of the Smithsonian Institution. She is also the first active astronaut to be charged with a felony, he said.

Nowak didn't respond to a call to her Houston home seeking comment, and a spokeswoman for her attorney said she didn't have any immediate comment.

Nowak, a mother of three, is accused of confronting Colleen Shipman, the woman who had become Oefelein's girlfriend, at the Orlando airport after driving from Houston. She wore an astronaut diaper so that she would not have to stop during her 900-mile trip, authorities said.

She allegedly pepper-sprayed Shipman through a partially lowered car window. Police found a BB gun, new steel mallet, a knife and rubber tubing in Nowak's possession.

Nowak, 43, pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping and burglary with assault. She was released on bail wearing a monitoring device on her ankle.

She received a commission from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985 and joined the astronaut corps in 1996. She flew on her first and only space shuttle mission last July during Discovery's 13-day trip to the international space station.

___

Associated Press writer Rasha Madkour in Houston and AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

(Corrects previous version to say that items including BB gun were found in Nowak's possession, not her vehicle.)




Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.


Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions or Comments
Privacy Policy -Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy - Ad Feedback

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club