Illinois man dies in crash; wife(Tanya Shannon) leaves car, vanishes(BODYFOUND)

[Fanny Mae]

I am so thankful Tanya was found. I am also so sorry for the family having gone through the holidays not knowing what happened to her. The not knowing must have been awful.

I am wondering if Tanya could see a light way off in the distance and was trying to get to it. The land is very flat there, and you can see for miles. It is sometimes deceptive how far something really is.

Rest in peace Tanya and Dan. 

[SuzieQ]

Templeton speculated that given where Tanya’s body was found in comparison to the crash site that she may have been injured in the accident causing her to be disoriented. Also, as she began walking in the freezing temperatures, hypothermia would have set in causing further disorientation.

You think? I have known for years that we have some idiots in the media, now I am wondering about LE. A wreck so brutal that the driver is killed and they expect someone else in the car to escape injuries and just walk away. I guess if someone was really lucky, it could happen. But come on. The middle of the night, 5 degrees, snow, barefoot. I don't think so.
 Sorry for the rant.

[yuknomenot]

I, too, was wrong about this case in that I truly believed she'd gone off with someone else.   At least the families now have answers as they try to deal with the horror and sorrow. 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.newstrib.com/articles/news/nci/default.asp?article=25178&aname=Details+on+%27strange+search%27+emerge+after+body+found
Details on 'strange search' emerge after body found
January 4, 2010

La Salle County Sheriff Tom Templeton described the Tanya Shannon search as “strange” as he explained details and his own speculation as to what transpired.
The search for Tanya Shannon, 40, of Ransom ended Monday morning after a news helicopter crew spotted “something red” in the middle of a field about one mile southeast of Brookfield Township Hall.
La Salle County Sheriff Tom Templeton said the news crew notified him shortly before the official search got under way at about 9:30 a.m. Monday. Immediately, two state police helicopter search teams took flight and confirmed there was a red object in a field. Ground personnel on scene confirmed it was the body of Tanya Shannon.
“It’s still strange to me why Tanya would have walked there,” Templeton said.
Tanya Shannon’s body was found barefoot, clad in the same red dress and gray hooded jacket she was last seen wearing on Dec. 4. Her purse was also nearby. She and her husband, Dale Shannon, 41, had attended a party on that night in Streator.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 5, police found Dale Shannon had crashed their car and died behind the wheel several hundred feet east of the entrance to the Exelon nuclear power plant in rural eastern La Salle County. A toxicology report revealed Dale had a blood alcohol level of .266, three times the legal limit.
Tanya Shannon, however, had left the scene and could not be found after dozens of search and rescue personnel searched for two days in blistering cold temperatures and deep snow.
On Monday, thanks to recent unseasonably warm temperatures and rain, Tanya Shannon’s body was found more than one mile southeast of the crash in a field bordered by East 27th and North 20th roads, which is in the opposite direction of the nuclear power plant.
Templeton speculated that given where Tanya’s body was found in comparison to the crash site that she may have been injured in the accident causing her to be disoriented. Also, as she began walking in the freezing temperatures, hypothermia would have set in causing further disorientation.
An autopsy will be performed later this week to determine cause of death.
Templeton explained that search efforts focused mostly on ditches near roadways, and not fields far from roadways, because people experiencing hypothermia naturally try to burrow into low-lying areas in search of cover from the elements.
Snow and wind did its part to cover Tanya’s body and her footprints, which prevented helicopter search crews from finding her.
“Tanya was way beyond where anyone thought she would be — she walked a long way and all I can speculate is that she was trying to get home,” Templeton said. “Our efforts focused on ditches and nearby fields. Once we had rain and a significant amount of snow was washed away it was much easier to find her.”
At about the same time as the news helicopter discovered Tanya’s body, so did 10-year-old Ashlyn Thomas, a fourth-grader at Deer Park Elementary School.
Thomas was riding with her grandfather, Bill Durdan, and their family in the area when she pointed out that there was something red in the field.
“She said, ‘Grandpa, there’s something red over there,’” Durdan recalled, “and at about the same time a helicopter began hovering over the spot and then some more.”
A press release from Templeton’s office stated “The Shannon family would like to express their appreciation to everyone for their efforts to locate Tanya, and would like to request that their privacy be respected at this time.”
Templeton said he was “satisfied” that the “whole thing was what we always thought it was … an alcohol and weather-related traffic accident.”
“All we could talk about around the office was how terrible it must be for her four children to lose their father, and not know for sure about their mother, during the holidays,” Templeton said. “We hoped to bring closure to this family, which is all we could do.”

[melisb]

I also have to apologize for being wrong and jumping to conclusions about this poor woman.  After reading about impending divorce and what I had concocted in my own crazy mind I thought she must've done something wrong and she was just an innocent victim, prolly disoriented looking for help and freezing to death.  My apologies to Tanya and God rest your soul.  Now your family and you may have peace.

[Nut44x4]

Autopsy: Woman found in field died from exposure
January 6, 2011 12:00 PM | No Comments
A rural LaSalle County mother of four whose body was found Monday after disappearing nearly a month ago died from exposure to the cold, according to preliminary autopsy results released today from the LaSalle County coroner's office.
 
Tanya Shannon, 40, of tiny Ransom, about 50 miles southwest of Joliet, did not have any signs of trauma, coroner Jody Bernard said. Results from toxicology tests are pending and likely won't be available for a few weeks.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2011/01/autopsy-woman-found-in-field-died-from-exposure.html

[akmom]

This is so indescribably sad.....I am so sorry that she died alone like this....
prayers for the family.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.newstrib.com/articles/news/local/default.asp?article=25311&aname=County+emergency+director+explains+search%2C+rescue+procedures
January 11, 2011

La Salle County Emergency Management Agency director Mike Jobst offered some explanations regarding some unanswered questions involving the search effort for Tanya Shannon’s body.
Questions and criticism from laymen and bloggers have surfaced ever since the search for Shannon took place in late November. Some have expressed displeasure with apparently not being allowed to volunteer in the search while others have played “armchair quarterback” after her body was found.
Shannon had been missing since a one-car crash on Dec. 5 that took the life of her husband, Dale Shannon. Inclement weather, including deep snow, delayed search efforts to find Tanya Shannon until the morning of Jan. 3, when her body was found in an open field in Brookfield Township, approximately ¾ of a mile southeast of the location of the crash.
Jobst explained that the more than 60 search and rescue personnel that took part in the search during the three days after the crash were trained and certified professionals, not lay people who, if allowed to assist, could unwittingly cause additional problems.
“Generally, we don’t accept spontaneous volunteers in cases like this because the people we have are trained in how to read a compass, know how to conduct a grid search,” Jobst said. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s more than just going out and kicking snowdrifts around.”
Untrained volunteers could find themselves lost in blizzard conditions or fall into exceptionally deep snow drifts or ditches and become lost, Jobst said. The search conditions immediately following the crash were difficult for trained searchers who sometimes had to deal with snow drifts as deep as 5 feet.
Additionally, the search was a law enforcement matter, as opposed to a search-and-rescue matter. If an untrained volunteer happened to come across Shannon’s body or even evidence such as a missing slipper, authorities could not take the chance that the crime scene would become tainted due to something a volunteer unwittingly did, such as pick up the slipper or move the body.
Jobst also said there were other difficulties in the search such as monitoring the health of rescue teams and getting air support when the snow melted.
“At the first snow melt, we couldn’t get any air support because it was too foggy,” Jobst said. “Air crews wouldn’t risk flying at low levels in fog.”
Jobst said the talk about authorities turning away spontaneous volunteers has been greatly overblown. He estimated only one or two volunteers were turned away immediately following the announcement of Shannon’s disappearance.
However, for anyone interested in becoming a trained search and rescue volunteer, Jobst said they can certainly go through the training courses.
For more information on training courses, Jobst invited people to contact his office at (815) 433-5622.

[MuffyBee]

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=421871
EMA chief: Trained volunteers were best for Shannon search
January 10, 2011

The decision to stick with trained volunteers in the search for the formerly missing Tanya Shannon is backed by Mike Jobst, coordinator of the county's Emergency Management Agency.

Jobst discussed the controversial decision during Monday's meeting of the La Salle County Board's Public Safety II Committee.

The Ransom woman's body was discovered Jan. 3 in a Brookfield Township field about three-quarters of a mile southeast of the site where her and her husband's car crashed Dec. 5.

"It's more than just going out and kicking snowbanks around," Jobst said.

The searchers who were out had training in working search grids and how to use equipment like a compass and global positioning system devices, he said.

Plus, Jobst said, there was a discipline factor to consider.

"The difference between dealing with spontaneous volunteers as opposed to trained volunteers is the discipline involved," Jobst said. "These people trained together."

Jobst said there were few spontaneous volunteers.

"It was only, I think, one or two people who said, 'We tried and they turned us away.'

"From what I saw out at the Brookfield Township hall those people that came in came in from a certified search organization. I don't think I saw a name on a sign-in sheet that did not have an organization.

Deep snow and bitter cold weather plagued the search. In some cases searchers plunged into ditches that turned out to be chest high with snow, Jobst said.

"In the kind of weather conditions we had we were having to rotate our teams about every 20 minutes," said Jobst. "I mean, you couldn't put people out there longer than that.

"That first day the weather conditions were such it was bad enough having trained people out there," said Jobst. "And it didn't really get any better until the day she was located."

Although in the days before Shannon was found the weather warmed up and rain dissolved much of the snow, conditions still were not favorable, Jobst said.

"It was so foggy we couldn't put aircraft up," Jobst said. "We tried and they refused to go up. Where the aircraft was located was socked in so they weren't going to put aircraft up under those conditions. We had a window of probably an hour and a half or so where we had clear weather."

County Board Member Randy Freeman, R-Lostant, recounted his own experiences as a search volunteer. He backed the decision to stick with trained searchers.

"You couldn't afford to have a guy out there wandering around looking for something and getting disoriented," said Freeman. "Then you'd have a second search going on."

Jobst and La Salle County Coroner Jody Bernard also noted that during searches connected with law enforcement that preservation of evidence also is a concern.

"Once they come upon evidence that's pretty important in this type of situation," Bernard said.

Freeman complimented the searchers.

"They did everything I think possible as to a positive conclusion," he said. "I can't see anybody criticizing anyone that was involved in that because they don't know, they don't understand."

Jobst said people were welcome to sign up to take the training to become certified to do ground searches.

Classes typically take a full weekend, running Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon. The sessions include both indoor and outdoor training in daylight and at night.

Those who successfully finish are awarded a certificate of completion from the Illinois Search and Rescue Council, the recognized search-and-rescue coordinator of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

No classes are currently scheduled, but to be contacted when they are, or for additional information, call the county EMA at 815-433-5622 or e-mail lasallecogsar@yahoo.com.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2011/01/10/38623777/index.xml





Tanya M. Shannon
RANSOM, Ill. — Mrs. Tanya M. Shannon, 40, of Ransom, Ill., passed away Monday, Dec. 5, 2010,  after an automobile accident in Brookfield Township, La Salle County, Ill.

Born July 23, 1970, in Los Angeles, Calif., Tanya was the daughter of Carol Hoeg. She was educated in the schools in Nevada, and she graduated from Joliet Junior College with an associate's degree in computer science.

Tanya married Dale E. Shannon on May 20, 1992 in Las Vegas, Nev.

She was employed with Turtle's Tap in Morris for several years.

She treasured the time spent with friends and her family.

Survivors include her four daughters, Brittany, MacKenzie, Emileigh and Sammie, at home in Seneca, two sisters, Corinne Johnson of Ottawa, Ill., and Jeanette Sandavol of Las Vegas; one brother, Michael Bixby of Dickson, Tenn.; two sisters-in-law, Cynthia (Leonard) Ferrell of Elgin, Ill., and Donna (Chadd) Baker of Seneca; one brother-in-law, Duane (Laura) Shannon of Chatsworth, Ill.; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her mother and her husband, Dale E. Shannon.

The family will have a private family gathering at a later date.

Cremation rites were accorded.

Preferred form of remembrance would be donations to an educational trust fund that has been established for her daughters with Bakelite Credit Union, 311 E. Joliet St., Ottawa, Ill.

Online condolences can be extended at the website www.ucdavisandsons.com.

Arrangements were entrusted to U. C. Davis & Sons Funeral Home Ltd., 301 W. Washington St., Morris. For more information, call (815) 942-0084.

[SuzieQ]

http://www.mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=422935

Tanya Shannon had low alcohol level
01/25/2011, 12:53 pm   


 Tanya Shannon, the Ransom woman who went missing following a single-car crash that killed her husband in early December, had a blood alcohol content of .053, well below the state's legal definition of intoxication of .08, according to a toxicology report released today.

The report, issued by the La Salle County Coroner's Office, also again confirmed the cause of death as exposure to cold temperatures.

A coroner spokesman said an exact time of death could not be determined in Tanya's death because of the length of time before she was found, and the continuous breakdown of alcohol in her system "would have been a factor in the determined BAC level."

Tanya was the object of a massive search for weeks by dozens of rescue crews with aircraft and K-9 units from across North-Central Illinois after she wandered away from an early morning automobile accident Dec. 5 east of Grand Ridge.

A La Salle County deputy found 41-year-old Dale Shannon dead behind the wheel of the smashed Dodge Neon with a BAC of .266 or more than three times the legal limit.

Why she left the scene of the accident on her own power to walk into a field in darkness and sub-freezing temperatures remains a mystery to local authorities.

The couple, parents of four daughters, was coming from a company holiday party at the Knights of Columbus in Streator on their way to a relative's house in Seneca at the time of the crash off the ice-packed blacktop.

Following weeks of speculation and rumors, Tanya, dressed in a red evening gown and barefooted, was spotted by a Chicago television station's helicopter crew Jan. 3 in a soybean field less than a mile from the crash site.

Tanya's bizarre disappearance made national headlines as professional search teams and volunteers braved frigid temperatures on and off for nearly a month looking for her across miles of frozen farmlands. Snows hampered their efforts until an unseasonable thaw hit the area during the New Year's weekend.

A memorial service for the Shannons will be held at Turtle's Tap in Morris Feb. 6. Doors open at 3 p.m. and the service will start promptly at 3:30 p.m. Tanya was an employee of the popular restaurant. The public is welcome.





 

[Fanny Mae]

May they both rest in peace. 

[MuffyBee]

May they both rest in peace. 

It's very sad there are the four sisters without their mom and dad now.  I'm glad there were relatives that could help with their care and money being collected for their care and their education.
http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2011/01/10/38623777/index.xml
(snip)Survivors include her four daughters, Brittany, MacKenzie, Emileigh and Sammie, at home in Seneca(snip)
(snip)Preferred form of remembrance would be donations to an educational trust fund that has been established for her daughters with Bakelite Credit Union, 311 E. Joliet St., Ottawa, Ill. (snip)

http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2010/12/28/85772886/index.xml
(snip)
Those who wish to contribute toward the welfare of the four daughters, who are being cared for by relatives, may do so at Jerry's Tap in Ransom. (snip)

[AmandaReckonwith]

Case archive album

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm166/crankycrankerson/Tanya%20Shannon%20%20-IL-/

[MuffyBee]

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=427544
Shannon benefit attracts hundreds to Ransom
March 28, 2011

In a show of community support, both financially and spiritually, hundreds of people attended a benefit Sunday for the children of a Ransom couple killed following a single-vehicle accident in Brookfield Township in December.

The benefit for Dale and Tanya Shannon's children was held at Jerry's Tap in the heart of the small village.
 ::snipping2::
Sponsors of Sunday's event wanted to show the community continues pulling together to help provide assistance for the late Ransom couple's four daughters, ages 5 to 15.
 ::snipping2::
As for the Shannon children who were guests of honor at the benefit, their lives are slowly returning to "as normal as can be expected," said their aunt, Donna. "The oldest girl has just been asked to prom (at Seneca High School) and that's the best indication that all is going well at our house. They are adapting very well to their new lives."
 ::snipping2::

[Sister]

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=427544
Shannon benefit attracts hundreds to Ransom
March 28, 2011

In a show of community support, both financially and spiritually, hundreds of people attended a benefit Sunday for the children of a Ransom couple killed following a single-vehicle accident in Brookfield Township in December.

The benefit for Dale and Tanya Shannon's children was held at Jerry's Tap in the heart of the small village.
 ::snipping2::
Sponsors of Sunday's event wanted to show the community continues pulling together to help provide assistance for the late Ransom couple's four daughters, ages 5 to 15.
 ::snipping2::
As for the Shannon children who were guests of honor at the benefit, their lives are slowly returning to "as normal as can be expected," said their aunt, Donna. "The oldest girl has just been asked to prom (at Seneca High School) and that's the best indication that all is going well at our house. They are adapting very well to their new lives."
 ::snipping2::

Well done community . . . well done.

[MuffyBee]

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=427835
Ask The Times: Donations to Shannon family
March 31, 2011