Until Tuesday, high school classmates of Beaver County native Colleen Shipman remembered her as a sweet, quiet girl who earned good grades and competed in track and gymnastics.
Today, they find it hard to believe that Shipman, 30, of Cape Canaveral, Fla., is the victim of an alleged kidnapping and murder plot in a love triangle involving two NASA astronauts.
"It's bizarre. It gives me chills," said Kelly Moskal Miloszewski. "Luckily, they caught it in time before anything happened to her."
Police said Shipman, an Air Force officer stationed at Patrick Air Force Base near the Kennedy Space Center, managed to escape Monday morning after she was attacked by astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, in a parking area at Orlando International Airport.
Police said Nowak drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted Shipman, whom she believed was a competitor for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, an unmarried fellow astronaut.
Oefelein, 41, who piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December, trained with Nowak but never flew a mission with her. 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.
Inside Nowak's vehicle, which was parked at a nearby motel, authorities found a pepper spray package, an unused BB-gun cartridge, latex gloves and e-mails between Shipman and Oefelein.
They found a letter "that indicated how much Mrs. Nowak loved Mr. Oefelein," an opened package for a buck knife, Shipman's home address and handwritten directions to an address, the arrest affidavit said.
Nowak, of Houston, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery. She posted $25,000 bail and was released from jail yesterday.
As a condition of her release, the Navy captain and married mother of three -- who flew to the International Space Station in July aboard the space shuttle Discovery -- is required to wear an ankle bracelet to would track her whereabouts.
"Oh, my, I was really shocked to see that it was her," said Susan Rogers, of Aliquippa, a teacher who remembers Shipman and her older sister, Sherry, from their years at Todd Lane Elementary School. "From what I can remember, she was a good student."
Raeann Brocklebank Grivna, who graduated with Shipman in 1995 from Center Area High School in Center Township, said Shipman was involved in various activities. She was a member of the yearbook staff and student council, competed in track and intramural volleyball and participated in the All-America flag team with the high school band. In 1993, she was named "Most Important Gymnast."
"We weren't a huge class, so you know everyone," said Grivna, of Darlington. "She was an honors graduate and got good grades. She was a quiet, good girl."
Jamie MacFarlane attended high school and Penn State University with Shipman, who participated in the ROTC program and earned two bachelor's degrees in 2002 in chemical engineering and German. She last heard from Shipman a few months ago.
"I didn't get the impression she was seeing anybody seriously," said MacFarlane, of Center Township, who was on the high school track team when Shipman competed as a hurdler.
Shipman's father, Richard Shipman, declined to comment when approached by a reporter yesterday afternoon at his Monaca home. Sherry Shipman Anderson declined comment.
The Tribune-Review was unable to determine the year Colleen Shipman joined the Air Force. However, in her personal profile posted on the Web site Classmates.com, she said she joined the military "to see the world" and touted the military as a great career.
Shipman, in her profile, described herself as childless and "single and loving it." She noted that she has not kept in touch with friends from her 142-member high school class.
Angela Rogers Fazio, who helped to organize their 10-year reunion in 2005, said Shipman did not attend.
"I heard she was dating an astronaut. I thought that was pretty cool," said Fazio, of Robinson. "I cannot believe this happened to her -- Colleen is the sweetest person."
Police said Nowak told them that she only wanted to scare Shipman into talking to her about her relationship with Oefelein.
"The intent was there to do serious bodily injury or death," said Orlando Police Sgt. Barbara Jones. "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. It's just really a very sad case."
According to authorities, Nowak found Shipman's flight itinerary from Houston to Orlando on Oefelein's computer and decided to confront her early Monday. Nowak raced from Houston to Orlando wearing adult diapers in the car so she wouldn't have to stop to go to the bathroom, authorities said.
Dressed in a wig and a trench coat, she waited for Shipman's plane to land and then followed Shipman to her car.
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. After Nowak sprayed a chemical into her car, Shipman sped away and summoned help from a parking attendant, police said.
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.
Oefelein and Shipman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
"The mood at NASA is we're stunned," agency spokesman James Hartsfield said from Houston. There has been no change in Nowak's astronaut status, he said.
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, an astronaut since 1998, 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.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
