Eva Schoen: Tragedy in Telluride

Telluride is a resort town to which people go to escape the hectic pace of everyday life. Its few thousand residents enjoy a low-key way of life that is a far cry from its years as a freewheeling Wild West silver mining town. The downtown area has been designated a national historic landmark to preserve the historic buildings that date back to the late 1800s.

Now primarily a ski resort, Telluride attracts its share of celebrities but fewer than its high-profile neighbor, Aspen. Telluride hosts annual film and music festivals, but then reverts to a more sedate off-season. When Eva Shoen died, it was the first time a crime in Telluride had received national attention since Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch had robbed a bank there in 1889.

Sam Shoen had moved his family from Phoenix to Telluride to escape the battles with his siblings over Sam's support for L.S.'s efforts to regain control of his business. For two years Sam and his family lived a quiet life on Skunk Creek Road in a two-story log home bordered by aspen and spruce trees. The street is private: its homes have no numbers on them, and no streetlights illuminate the area at night.

On Aug. 5, 1990, Sam made a last-minute decision to depart on a business trip to Phoenix. Eva remained home with their two young daughters and a friend of theirs who had been invited to spend the night. The girls went to bed on the first floor, and the family's six dogs were in the basement. Eva went to sleep in her second-floor bedroom.

Between midnight and 2:00 a.m., someone entered the home and shot Eva as she slept. No one heard the shooting, and the dogs didn't bark, leading authorities to suspect that a silencer had been attached to the weapon, a .25-caliber pistol.

The death made national news, and everyone wondered about a motive because Eva had no known enemies. The house wasn't ransacked, and she hadn't been sexually assaulted. Although they didn't come out and say so, both L.S. and Sam hinted that the estranged side of their family might have been responsible. It was possible that Sam had been the real target because no one knew he was leaving for a trip that day.