By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-18 18:53:45 | Updated at 2024-12-18 22:24:14
3 hours ago
The daughter of a Texas mom who plotted to kill the mother of a cheerleading rival has spoken out for the first time in decades.
In 1991 Shanna Widner, then 13, had narrowly missed out on a spot on her junior high school cheerleading team for a second year running.
Irate, her mom Wanda Holloway, from Channelview, started plotting to have the mother of the 14-year-old who she believed beat her daughter to the position.
Holloway believed that by killing Vera Heath, her daughter Amber would be too upset to continue cheerleading and increase her daughter's chances of making the team.
Shanna and Amber had been best friends growing up and their mother's were also close, with Widner saying Verna frequently helped her mom.
Speaking with ABC News ahead of a new documentary by Discovery titled 'The Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot', Widner spoke of the impact the case had on her.
She said: 'I didn't know what was going on, I knew she had mentioned what if something happened to Verna and Amber.
'For a second it was kind of funny then I really thought of it, I remember telling her for sure it would be easier but it was not okay.'
In 1991 Shanna Widner, then 13, had narrowly missed out on a spot on her junior high school cheerleading team for a second year running
Her mom Wanda Holloway, from Channelview, started plotting to have the mother of the 14-year-old who she believed beat her daughter to the position
Holloway had consulted with her former brother-in-law Terry Harper about having a hitman take out Verna.
Shanna, seen here, and Amber had been best friends growing up and their mother's were also close
She then handed over $2,000 worth of jewelry so he could organize a hitman to carry out the killings.
Unbeknownst to Holloway, Harper had gone to the police after her initial request and had the whole exchange on tape.
In a trailer for the new documentary that exchange is played out, with Harper and Holloway heard discussing the fee.
Harper confirms it would cost $7,500 for them both to be killed, explaining it as '$5,000 for the girl, $2,500 for the mother.'
Holloway is heard laughing as she responds: 'The mother, she ain't worth crap is she?'
After hearing the infamous phone call between her mother and uncle, Widner said: 'I was devastated, I thought she's for sure going away for a long time.
'I think she was guilty of going to my uncle and even having this conversation, as far as do I think it was ever going to happen. No I don't.
'I know my mom tried to get out of the situation she had put herself in, but was told that the hitman would be sent after her and her family'.
The next day, Shanna, who was oblivious to her mom's plot, was practicing in the garage, when two police officers came to the door.
High school cheerleader Amber Heath, left, and her mother Verna Heath enter a courtroom in Houston, Sept. 3, 1991
Shanna is seen here leaving a court room in her mother's case in March 1991
Rather than face a second trial, Holloway pleaded no contest, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years. She served only six months before being handed probation
Holloway was convicted of solicitation of capital murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but the conviction was overturned because a juror was on probation.
Rather than face a second trial, Holloway pleaded no contest, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years. She served only six months before being handed probation.
Widner also revealed that she broke down one day over the case, saying she had tried to suppress it for years.
She said: 'I didn't deal with things from the get go I just stuffed them down. I found myself on the floor of my kitchen, I missed several days of work.
'I just didn't see the reason of being here anymore. I was suffering, and I mean that wholeheartedly. Suffering. It was painful just to be awake.
'I figured if I hadn't existed or done better and actually made the team, none of this would have happened.'
Archive footage unearthed by the documentary makers also shows the lengths Holloway went to in order to provide for her daughter.
She says: 'I've always played a very active role in my children's lives. I mean that's what parents are for.'
'If wanting something good for your kid is greedy, then I guess they can label me as being greedy.'
