Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - What happened to Shauna Tiaffay?

On September 29, 2012, 46-year-old Shauna Tiaffay was found beaten to death with a claw hammer inside her suburban Las Vegas home. The following morning, her estranged husband, George Tiaffay, and eight-year-old daughter discovered the scene and dialed 911.

Finally, in 2015, the husband's was convicted of hiring a homeless man named Noel Stevens, aka the Greyhound, to carry out the attack. Noel pleaded guilty earlier in 2013 and agreed to testify at George's trial, who was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is scheduled to revisit Shauna Tiaffay's brutal murder from 2012 in an episode titled Under a Full Moon. The episode will re-air this Thursday, February 2, 2023, at 7 pm ET on Oxygen.

The synopsis states:

"When detectives track down the killer of a Las Vegas cocktail waitress and mother, it becomes clear that the investigation has just begun."

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Cocktail waitress and mother-of-one Shauna Tiaffay was beaten to death at her Summerlin apartment

Shauna Tiaffay worked as a cocktail waitress at the famous Palms Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas strip. She first met her firefighter husband at the casino. The two fell in love and married in Hawaii, eventually having a daughter called Madison. In the years that followed, Shauna juggled between her work and being a mother until 2012, when the seemingly perfect couple's marriage became strained.

According to reports, an incident that occurred in early September 2012 left her shaken when someone broke into her apartment, located in the Summerlin suburb of Las Vegas, and stole her wedding ring.

A few weeks later, on 29 September, Shauna was spotted on surveillance footage leaving work at 3 in the morning. She then drove 30 minutes home and entered her apartment, where a man, who was already waiting inside the apartment for her to arrive, attacked her with a hammer. She broke her fingers as she attempted to defend herself, but the man didn't stop until she was dead.

Her daughter Madison, who was eight at the time, was reportedly staying the night at her grandmother's. The following morning, Shauna's estranged husband, George, picked up their daughter and stopped by her house, where they discovered her badly beaten, lifeless body at the grisly crime scene. He then called 911.

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Shauna Tiaffay's estranged husband hired a homeless man to commit the murder

Initially, the estranged husband, George Tiaffay, was the prime suspect, but he had an ironclad alibi, given that he was on a 24-hour shift at the fire station before picking up their daughter. Authorities then received a crucial tip from a man who claimed that his friend Noel Stevens, an ex-con who lived in a tent outside the city, confessed to murdering a woman (Shauna Tiaffay) with a hammer.

Noel was immediately arrested. Moreover, officials found a pair of his trousers that were covered in Shauna Tiaffay's blood. He eventually confessed and told authorities all about his firefighter friend George Tiaffay, whose contact they found on his phone. Phone records revealed that the two had been in constant touch in the days leading up to the murder. Authorities concluded that George persuaded Noel to murder his wife.

In addition, the police found CCTV footage of both the suspects shopping together for the murder weapon - a hammer. While authorities were closing in on George, nine days after the murder, he attempted to flee only to get into a car accident, which authorities determined was likely a suicide attempt. He was arrested at the hospital, and both were charged with murder.

In 2013, the hitman in the case, Noel Stevens, pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and even agreed to testify against George Tiaffay, who maintained his innocence. He was tried about three years later in 2015 and was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. George received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.