Murder Victim Wanted a Divorce from her Husband
Debra Shanley was nurturing a lifelong dream when she purchased a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and joined a local motorcycle club. The New Jersey high school teacher was learning to ride and making friends in the Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.).
After a Saturday bike ride and dinner out with the group, she planned to go on another ride with them on Sunday. When Shanley did not show up for the Sunday ride, fellow members became concerned. There were apparently signs that they should have been. In the weeks previous, Debra’s husband of 35 years, Peter, had become enraged at her and taken a power saw to her Fat Boy motorcycle, destroying the bike.
The Sunday that she missed the ride, Debra’s friends in the motorcycle group called the police, reporting her as missing after she didn’t show up at the event and didn’t reply to numerous text messages and phone calls. Police cruisers were dispatched to the Shanley home, where they found Debra beaten to death and strangled in her bedroom, according to NorthJersey.com.
Husband Peter, who was found in the next room with a broken ankle and a cut neck, has been named by prosecutors as the primary suspect in the murder of his wife. The former public works employee was formally charged with murder on Monday, with bail set at a million and a half dollars.
In hindsight, Peter’s aggressive and angry treatment of Debra’s motorcycle should have been and was a red alert in her friends’ eyes. “I thought it was a tremendous amount of rage,” said biking friend John Bibas, who was in the motorcycle club with Debra. “I told her she should have the guy arrested and she should get a restraining order. I told her that numerous, numerous times. She apparently did not want to do that.”
Debra had taken her destroyed bike in to get worked on at a local motorcycle shop. While there, she had talked about how much she had wanted to take up riding, and that this was the fulfillment of a dream.
Also, according to friends, Debra had wanted a divorce from Peter. Debra’s mother also said that her daughter had told her in conversation that she wanted a divorce from him. According to those same sources, Peter was planning to move out of the home that the couple shared. Debra, apparently, had found an apartment for him to live in.
Debra Shanley had a reputation as a person passionately committed to education and to children. In addition to being a high school teacher, she served five terms on the Board of Education before she resigned in 2008, and she was running for another term this year. Over the years, she had gone from a concerned mom on the PTA to a crusader for technology and full-day kindergarten in the schools.
“She was just one who really wanted to make sure that every child had the opportunity for a strong education,” said former Dumont schools superintendent Jim Montesano. “She was just the consummate volunteer.”
