(Tribune News Service) — Everyone agrees that Shannon Dabbs shot his wife.

He says it was self-defense during an argument over their impending divorce in 2020 and that his wife, Susan Dabbs, pulled a gun on him first, right after lighting their bed on fire.

Prosecutors argued at a probable cause hearing last month that Dabbs' story doesn't match the evidence.

An autopsy found that Susan Dabbs had no smoke in her lungs, that Shannon Dabbs' description of how quickly the blaze grew was implausible and that Dabbs clothes when confronted by police on the evening of Sept. 22, 2020 didn't smell like smoke. Those reasons were cited by Boundary County Magistrate Judge Justin Julian when he found probable cause to arrest Dabbs last month.

Dabbs was arrested in mid-July at a military base in Virginia, according to Boundary County Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid.

Pluid, who was elected prosecutor in 2020, said the delay in charging Dabbs was due to the complex nature of the case and her desire to be able to conduct a trial quickly.

"With this case, there was a great deal of investigation that was needed to prove or disprove the defendant's version of events that he had given to law enforcement," Pluid said.

Pluid laid out the case against Dabbs at a probable cause hearing on July 7. The Spokesman-Review obtained an audio recording of the hearing early this week.

Self-defense claim

Dabbs called 911 at about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22, 2020. He reported he had shot his wife in self-defense and that there was a fire in the cabin.

Deputies arrived about 20 minutes later to the cabin largely engulfed in flames. The arriving deputies quickly arrested Dabbs.

Nearly a month later, Dabbs sat down for an interview with his attorney and investigators.

He spent much of the interview discussing his time in the Marine Corps, Deputy Dave McClelland said during the hearing.

"He pretty much told me his life story," McClelland said.

Dabbs said that on the day of the shooting, he returned home from the hardware store at about 5:20 p.m. to find his wife in the shop sweeping.

The couple finished some chores then began talking about their divorce, Dabbs told investigators. They headed back up to the cabin at about 6:50 p.m.

Dabbs was getting ready to leave the house and return to the shop, where he had been sleeping, when he said his wife threw the key to their flammable locker at him, then lit a piece of paper on fire and set it on their bed.

He went to get a blanket to put the fire out but was confronted by his wife with a gun, Dabbs said.

That's when Dabbs pulled his handgun out of his back pocket and shot his wife in the chest, he told police.

Dabbs called 911 at 8:32 p.m. The call lasted about 3 minutes.

He told dispatchers that he had shot his wife and that there was a fire in their bedroom. He then asked dispatchers if he should pull his wife out of the building.

Dabbs said he placed the 911 call immediately after the shooting, and that following the call he ran out of the cabin to get a hose and fire extinguisher.

Moments later, when Dabbs said he returned to the house, smoke was hovering about 2 feet off the floor. Susan Dabbs was on her hands and knees puking, Dabbs said.

When he tried to help, Susan Dabbs told him to "get the (expletive) off," Shannon Dabbs told police.

He then went to leave the cabin but, as he exited, a shot whizzed by his head, Dabbs told police. He fired a round in return and left.

At 8:41 p.m., Dabbs called his stepdaughter for about a minute, according to his phone records. Six minutes passed, then Dabbs called the United States Concealed Carry Association Delta Defense team for less then three minutes.

The team helps people "face the justice system" in self-defense shooting situations, according to its website.

Dabbs then placed a second call to his stepdaughter, at about the same time the first Boundary County Sheriff's deputies arrived.

He was arrested at gunpoint by 8:55 p.m.

Conflicting evidence

Dabbs' description of the fire does not match evidence collected by fire officials, Jason Blubaum, deputy state fire marshall, testified last month.

"She died before the fire started," Blubaum said of Susan Dabbs.

An autopsy of the portions of her body that survived the fire showed no soot around her nose or mouth, or in her trachea and larynx. A toxicology report showed normal levels of carbon monoxide, inconsistent with how long her husband described her as being alive during the blaze.

Blubaum, along with officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Fire Research Laboratory, did experiments to recreate the fire as described by Dabbs.

None of the testing was able to match Dabbs' story.

Within five minutes of the flaming piece of paper being set on the bed, flames would have only been approximately 18 to 24 inches in diameter and about 2 or 3 inches high, not spreading to the entire room, Blubaum said.

Dabbs did have soot under his nose when he was arrested, but his clothes were largely clean, which did not fit with his claim that he was in the house when smoke hovered above the floor.

If there was smoke 2 feet off the floor, Dabbs' skin likely would have started blistering and splitting.

"People will do everything they can in their physical capability to get away from it," Blubaum said.

The judge agreed that prosecutors had probable cause to charge Dabbs and set his bond at $1 million. That bond was reduced to $300,000 on Aug. 2.

Dabbs' attorney, Joseph Sullivan, declined to answer questions about his client or the case.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 22, the three-year anniversary of Susan Dabbs' death.

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