I started by speaking with Investigator Kim. Kim informed me that she was presently with Cindy Shook at her home and has spoken to Cindy at length about events and conversation that occurred between her and Michael Schiavo when the two of them were dating.
I asked Kim if Cindy would speak to me. Kim informed me that Cindy would but that she is not going to come forward because of her existing fear she has for Michael.
Cindy then came to the phone. I initially thanked her for taking the time to speak with Kim. I asked if she would speak to our lawyers regarding this information. She told me absolutely not! I asked her why? She told me that Michael is insane and she is so scared that if she did speak about this, that he would cause harm to her husband and kids. I said to her, “Cindy, if you have information that will save my sister’s life, then it is your responsibility to come forward.” She said that she understood why we were asking her to do this and understood our love for Terri but her children’s safety was more important than what would happen to Terri.
Cindy then went on to briefly tell me about their relationship when her and Michael were dating. “He was insane,” she told me. (Cindy stated this several times throughout our conversation) After we broke up, “He stalked me,” Cindy said. She had to get her husband (boyfriend at the time) involved so Michael would stop stalking her. She told me that Michael had tried to run her off the road on one occasion. She also included that at one time she thought the only way he was going to stop harassing her was by getting a restraining order against Michael.
I said to her that we would do anything we could so that Michael would not go near her and her family if she agreed to testify. She said that no one could ever guarantee that Michael, at some point, would not do something to her family, particularly her children. She continually stated that, ‘You have no idea the person (Michael) you’re dealing with.” She explained to me that if she were single she would be there for my family but because of all the money involved, she was convinced, that Michael would retaliate against her family.
I asked Cindy, “what is it I could say that would convince you that you need to testify.” I tried to explain to her that by knowing what you know and letting him get away with it that she was essentially letting Michael get away with murdering my sister. She told me there was nothing that I can say that would ever convince her otherwise and she would not testify to any of this, no matter what my family did to try and get her to testify. In fact, she vowed to forget everything if we subpoenaed her. She apologized and said she felt awful but her family meant more to her than anything, even my sister dying. At that point I sensed Cindy was getting upset. I said that I hope she would change her mind and asked her to put Kim back on the phone.
When I spoke to Kim, I told her that I could not believe how scared Cindy was of Michael. It was frightening. Kim agreed.