Shannon Paulk

Child Talks to Mystery Man and Disappears


From AMW:

Outgoing 11-year-old Shannon Paulk was used to wandering around her Candlestick Trailer Park neighborhood. She considered everyone in the community to be an extended part of her family, and would often go into her neighbor's trailers to watch TV, grab a snack, and wait to greet them when they got home. To Shannon, no one was a stranger and everyone was a friend.

On August 16, 2001 Shannon finally met a stranger. At around 2:30 p.m., two of Shannon's friends were on a walk through the trailer park, when they saw Shannon talking to an unfamiliar man. Nearby was a white, four-door car, with red clay mud on the back. They went up to talk to Shannon, but she didn't introduce them to the newcomer, so they figured she didn't really know him very well. The girls talked briefly, then parted ways. When Shannon's friends passed by again half an hour later, Shannon, the mysterious man, and the car were all gone. Shannon was never seen again

Local and federal police and neighbors formed "Shannon's Task Force," to help find Shannon. The two girls who saw the mysterious man talking to Shannon came forward and gave police the description of a man aged 35 to 45 years, about 5'11" to 6'0" tall, with a medium beer belly, muscular hairy arms, and blond hair with gray streaks. A huge characteristic was a large, protruding mole underneath his right eye. Two mole hairs were growing out of the mole towards his nose.

After weeks of searching, Det. Robert Furlong of the Prattville, Ala. police department still had no new leads. Then, two months later, Det. Furlong got the call he had been dreading. Shannon's body had been found in the woods, discovered by rabbit hunters.

The case had been upgraded from a missing child to a murdered child, and Det. Furlong was more determined than ever to find who did it. But a large amount of determination doesn't necessarily lead to results. After a while, the leads dried up, and Det. Furlong felt no closer to solving the case.

On August 19, 2003, only a few days after the two year anniversary of Shannon's disappearance, he sat down to watch the local news and became very alarmed. The newscast said that in Northport, Ala., only 45 minutes away from where Shannon disappeared, an 11 year-old girl went missing from her trailer park home. Heaven LaShae Ross left home after her older sister to walk the 100 yards to the bus stop. She never made it to the bus stop.

Heaven was a sweet little girl who loved to roam freely around the trailer park, and never knew a stranger.

New Hope, False Hope

Shortly after America's Most Wanted profiled the murder of Shannon Paulk, an AMW tipster came through with a great lead. She remembered an attempted abduction of a little 10-year-old girl from a trailer park in Lexington County, S.C. eight years ago: the man drove a grey pick-up truck with a toolbox, water cooler, and ladder in the back, and had a large mole under his right eye. Luckily, the little girl got away and was not harmed.

During this time, Shannon's mother, Marie Paulk, received a phone call from a man who admitted to murdering Shannon. The man then proceeded to give graphic details of the different ways he had violated Shannon, and then how he killed her. Luckily, Marie played it cool and contacted Det. Furlong so the call could be recorded.

Det. Furlong traced the call to a hospital in Lansing, Mich. and worked with police there to discover the identity of the mysterious caller. They determined that the man did not kill Shannon, but was merely having fun by causing Marie emotional pain. Unfortunately, harassing a victim is a misdemeanor, so it hasn't been determined yet how much of a punishment the man will get. Det. Furlong is in the process of lobbying for laws to be changed so that people cannot harass victims so freely.

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This case was sent to me by several different readers. Like the Heaven LeShea Ross case, to which this one is often compared, the Paulk case has both the body and a suspect. Since we know that Shannon is dead and we have a description of her killer, what more can Astrology offer in this case? I am thinking perhaps a description of her killer with details that may not be known and a comparison to a few other cases, to see if they match. I have seen the suspect drawings in the Paulk case and have already profiled the killer in the Ross case so comparisons can be made. Also, we can use this case to validate some of the findings in the charts.

For instance, the car that this man was driving was said to be a gray truck with a toolbox, ladder and water cooler in the back. In the first chart, which is for the time when Shannon was last seen, speaking to this man, in fact, you can see that the third house ruler is Uranus in Aquarius. Traditionally, Aquarius describes an ashy color with some bluing. An air sign like Aquarius would describe the ladder. Especially a fixed air sign, in fact. Now, this is a bit of stretch in my opinion but the placement of Neptune in Aquarius in the second house could describe the water cooler. Especially when you consider that the second is the twelfth from the third, which would mean the backseat, the trunk or the truck bed. Neptune would describe water and in the sign Aquarius, likely a cooling source like an air conditioner or a cooler, perhaps. This would really fit well if the cooler was run on battery power or another electrical source. This is not a necessary peice of information but it does help us validate the charts and determine their viability.




Right off the bat, when I look at this chart, I see an assault and murder that happens right then and very quickly. The charts do not show him taking her elsewhere or spending any time with her at all. Pluto and Mars are right at the Ascendant, showing a forceful attack. The chart co ruler, the Moon, is in the eighth house and is the ruler of the eighth house, as well. The first house ruler, Jupiter, is also in Cancer, in the seventh house conjoined the north node. This was a planned attack. It wasn't a random thing. He chose Shannon and had it all planned out. Saturn on the seventh house cusp shows us obsession, a constant thinking and planning. A strong focus on this type of thing with Saturn disposed of by Mercury, the traditional ruler of children, shows that his focus is on children. The Moon, the chart co ruler, is conjoined Venus, so he chooses girls. In fact, he stalked Shannon for quite some time before killing her. Pluto and Mars are disposed of by Jupiter, which, again, is conjoined the node. The blitz attack is part of his method of operation. He just attacks the girls and kills them quickly. Jupiter is disposed of the Moon, which rules the eighth house from the eighth house, so the whole point of this is to kill the girl. He wants to kill her and that's the whole reason he does it. I do not see rape or other activity, although I can't rule that out, but the true intent is murder.

Mercury, the traditional ruler of children and the ruler of the seventh house, is conjoined the Sun in the ninth house. Being under the Sun's beams, this describes a situation of grave danger. Shannon wasn't the only child in danger that day and perhaps she wasn't the first or the last. That brings me to the Heaven LaShea Ross case and the possibility that these girls were killed by the same man. There is nothing in charts that rules this out at this point but I will have to examine both charts together in order to draw a conclusion. In that case, the abductor was defined by Neptune in Aquarius and here, we see him defined by Mercury in Virgo. These is some degree of difference here but there are also similarities. I will get into that in a moment.




One of the similiarities that stands out for me is the fourth and tenth house descriptors. In this chart, Mercury in Virgo describes the abductors residence and Neptune in Aquarius describes Shannon's home. Neptune in Aquarius describes a fixed residence that is moveable. Uranus in Aquarius is actually placed in the fourth house, putting emphasis on the moveable aspects of the residence. Lots of people coming and going; residents changing on a regular basis; unsual people and transient people. This describes Shannon's home, which we know to be a trailer park. The abductor's home is described by Mercury in Virgo. Mercury defines a moveable structure, as well, and I usually see Mercury as a trailer or other moveable residence and it can even be an RV. The sign Virgo, though, describes something set on the ground, which most trailers are. His trailer would be smaller than hers, something like a studio or a small study if you were to compare it to an apartment in size.

Now I want to address the pervasive belief that these girls were killed by the same man. Despite the difference in the descriptors, this is not ruled out by the charts. Neptune in Aquarius does describe somewhat more attractive than Mercury in Virgo does but they do both describe someone with blond hair. They can also describe light brown hair but they do also indicate dark blond hair (as compared to very light hair) as well. The difference is that both of these placements describe curly, thick hair and I believe the suspect has lanky hair. Many of the descriptors simply cancel each other out. Such as Mercury in Virgo gives a bad complexion and Neptune in Aquarius gives a clear complexion, so that we probably would have someone with an average, unremarkable one. And I am not sure how this would apply to the mole that his man is reported to have on his face? Other interesting descriptors are here, too. For instance, Neptune in Aquarius shows an affinity for technology, things like cameras, ham radios, computers, spy gear, etc... This works fine with Mercury in Virgo, which shows an affinity for scientific gear, as well as medical and laboratory equipment. Both the planet Neptune and the sign Virgo can describe closets, boxes, cabinets, hiding places, etc.. It is very often the case that abducted children are kept, dead or alive, in these types of places.




In comparing both charts, I also note that the north node plays a big role in both. The Moon is conjoined the node in the Ross case and is conjoined the first house ruler, Jupiter, in the Paulk case. This shows planning in both cases and the strong probability that the abductor planned these murders out in great detail in advance. There is also a number of violent aspects in the both charts that stand out. In the Paulk case you have the placement of Mars and Pluto at the first house cusp, describing a violent assault on the person. In the Ross case you have the Moon and node in the eighth house conjoined Algol, the most violent fixed star in the heavens. Both charts describe a violent assault that ends in death.

This brings me to the fixed stars in the Paulk case. Right away, I have to note the placement of the Moon conjoined to the fixed star Pollux, which describes great misfortune or calamity. Venus is conjoined to the fixed star, Geidi Prima, which often means a rape has been committed. This is the first marker in this chart that defines sexual assault. I tend to dismiss it because the attack was so swift and the child was dead so shortly after she was last seen that it seems impossible. It would imply necrophilia and that affliction is very rare. But the real strong marker is Pluto in the first house conjoined the fixed star, Dschubba. This star always describes a murder. Saturn is also directly opposed to Dschubba. There are several other violent fixed stars hanging around Pluto and Mars, describing variously perversity, devious plots and obsessive lust, all of which seem to apply here. In the Heaven Ross case, you can see that the seventh house ruler, Neptune in Aquarius, is directly opposed to the fixed star, Asellus, which describes a deviant, criminal person. In the same chart, please note that Pluto, at the nadir, is directly opposed to the fixed star, Hoedus, which most often describes rape and sexual assault. Pluto is a strong indicator in both charts and is the placement that describes the violence of both attacks the most clearly.




There are, indeed, many similarities between these cases. Both young girls, around the same age, with similar appearances and in trailer parks. There are, however, many murders and abductions of girls in trailer parks nationwide and I have seen many of them in my work. In fact, trailer parks appear to be dangerous places for children, from predators and from parents, alike. I do not think that because these children both lived in trailer parks that this, alone, would link the cases. But there are a lot of people who beleive that the same man killed both girls. This is where I have to compare the descriptors for both abductors and come to a conclusion. In the Paulk case, a suspect has been fingered, he was the man last seen with the girl before she disappeared. They have a drawing of this person and a general description. I would like to make comparisons between this reported description and the markers in both cases. They generally describe him as heavy set but not fat, with a small beer belly, blond hair and a big mole on his face. He has the arms of a working man, muscular and thick and he is around 40 and average in height. In the charts for the Paulk case, we see that the abductor is described by Mercury in Virgo. This placement works with average descriptors in all events, including average height and average weight. But the descriptor in the Ross abduction is defined by Neptune in Aquarius, which gives above average height and thinness. There are traditional markers and I use them but I cannot testify to how well they work. This is our experiment, right here.

The most interesting thing about the description given in the Paulk case is the large mole on the face. There is an old method of linking Astrology to facial moles, I remember reading about it in Zolars Encyclopedia of Ancient and Forbidden Knowledge when was I was about 13 years old. I remember being curious because I had a mole on my chin, which I have since had removed. The book said that the face is divided up by the signs, with Aries at the forehead and Pisces at the chin. It also assigned planes on the face to the various planets. Mercury would be, of course, around the eyes. But Virgo would be the center plane of the face, around the cheeks and upper bridge of the nose. It is not a stretch to say that Mercury in Virgo could describe a mole on the upper plane of the cheek, near the nose, under the eyes. I beleive this is the area they say this man had the mole on his face. So whether or not you think Zolar is a bit of a sideshow event, you might want to give some thought to the areas of the body and face that are ruled or described by Astrology signs and planets.

But what else do the descriptors say? In the instance of the Shannon Paulk abduction, we are looking at Mercury in Virgo as a descriptor and so far the abductor is of average height with a small beer belly, which works with the descriptors traditionally given to Mercury in Virgo. He is also blond, another marker for Virgo. Saturn is at the seventh house cusp and is disposed of by Mercury, which will give age to the profile, and can explain the gray streaks in the hair. This man was, indeed, a bit older than average and was probably closer to 45 than 35, as witnesses claim. Mercury also rules the tenth house cusp so this man was familiar with children through work or family. Most likely work, considering the nature of the tenth house. And, if not work, then he must have been a father and had kids of his own. He emanated a fatherly, paternal energy towards Shannon that either made her feel safe enough to go along or so scared she was intimated into it. I do not beleive, though, when looking at the charts, that he wanted or needed her compliance. I beleive she was forced and assaulted so swiftly she never had a chance.




What else does Mercury in Virgo tell us about this person? He works with his hands, he has a fast walk, he likes to get things done, he isn't lazy, he appears to be modest and humble. He can be forgetful, fussy about food and personal care, easily irritated, critical and argumentative. All of these can apply. He is most likely a working man, as his big arms suggest, working with earth materials most likely. So he is a carpenter or other crafter of wood, a construction worker, a janitor, a mover, a landscaper or a street sweeper. He is most likely often on the move and Mercury always implies someone who moves often. He may be a transient, only in the area for a specific job or to finish a task. He definitely lived in a trailer park, if not the same one at the time. And he is good with kids, being very much like a big kid himself.

Looking at the Ross case again, we see that Neptune in Aquarius describes the abductor. Neptune would always give some degree of narcisism and therefor usually describes a nice body. This person would not allow themselves to get fat or ungainly. There would be charm and wit, and a ready use of it. They would be charismatic and give off a feeling of mystery and allure. They don't have to be sex kittens but they do have a certain mystical quality. Neptune is diametrically opposed to the descriptors given for Virgo. However, Neptune in the sign Aquarius creates an interest in things similar to those attributed to Virgo. They both like science, study, technology, gadgets, etc.. and Virgo loves to use the hands while Aquarius loves to tinker. They are both inclined to be builders, with Aquarius a bit more creative than Virgo and less likely to use earth materials like wood. But this could simply mean that both men, if not the same man, was a construction worker who liked gadgets.

Neptune in Aquarius tends to describe beauty. Being that beauty is a relative thing and in the eyes of each beholder, I usually eschew this type of characterization. No one would say outright that the man who took the Paulk child was beautiful. But I think it boils down to a concern over the appearance and both Virgo and Aquarius share this. They are both clean, orderly personalities who follow the rules. Aquarius can be rebellious but this depends on heavy aspects to Uranus and for the most part they settle in middle class married life and never get into a whit of trouble. So in this regard, both descriptors work fine together. And, overall, they all work together just fine if you toss aside the traditional profiles. No one knows or would bother to know some of those details. But in this case, I am thinking the difference between the signs has to do with what this man was doing at the time.

In the Paulk case, he was driving a car. This is supported by the Mercury in Virgo marker.

In the Ross case, he was up on the roof. This is described by the Neptune in Aquarius marker.

Which would mean, in both cases, this was a construction worker who was transient in the area and most likely lived or stayed in trailer parks. And from this much, I would dare to guess that it could very easily be the same man who took both of these children.

In fact, both children were killed swiftly. In the Paulk case, within minutes. In the Ross case, in less than an hour. Neptune in the fifth house in the Ross case made me believe he took photos of the child, dead or alive and had taken pictures of other children. Photography appeared to be a hobby. In the Paulk case, Neptune rules the fourth house, which is the same as the abductors' tenth house and is placed in the second house, which is the abductors eighth. It would not be a stretch to say that he photographed these events and sold them for money. In fact, he may have made money by selling images of death (eighth house).

Mercury in Virgo was a major player in both cases. Mercury is the natural, traditional marker for kids so this makes sense. Another similar feature is the Moon in the eighth house, showing these children to be dead.