Debra Kay Shelden

1958 - 2025

Debra Kay Shelden

May 23, 1958 - May 5, 2025

Debra Kay Shelden, beloved child of God, left this world on May 5, 2025 as a result of bilateral breast cancer. She was 66 years old. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Deb grew up in and near Beatrice. She graduated from high school, and gave birth to daughter Rebecca. She later met Clifford Shelden. They were married at the Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach Center. They welcomed their daughter Fantasia Shelden (Brown) into their lives in 1986.

Deb's defining personality traits were her loving and forgiving disposition, and her absolute trust in humanity. Unfortunately, that latter trait did not always serve Deb well. Because of Deb's limited intellectual function and her schizoaffective disorder, she was vulnerable throughout her life to people who could and did take advantage of her.

In 1989, the Gage County Sheriff's Office took Deb into custody and interrogated her for hours about the 1985 murder and rape of Mrs. Helen Wilson. This happened after the Sheriff's Office received a tip that was, on its face, patently false. Deb had nothing whatsoever to do with Mrs. Wilson's murder. A Deputy Sheriff told Deb that she was present during the crime, which was a false bluff. Another Deputy Sheriff, who was also a licensed psychologist, told Deb that if she returned to her cell and got some sleep, memories of the crime would come back to her. Deb trusted and believed the deputies (especially the psychologist-deputy, who knew Deb from evaluating her years before). That night, she had dreams about a murder. The next day, the Deputy Sheriff led Deb to give a false confession. Because of the pressure and influence of the Gage County Sheriff's Office, Deb really believed she was involved in this terrible crime.

Deb also trusted her court-appointed attorney, who also knew of Deb's limited intellectual function and mental illness. That attorney put only a few hours of work into the complicated murder case before reaching an agreement with the Gage County Attorney for Deb to plead guilty to accessory to murder. The agreement required Deb to testify on behalf of the prosecution against any of the five other innocent men and women who went to trial. Because the Gage County Sheriff's Office had convinced Deb she was guilty, she agreed to plead out to avoid the death penalty.

From her attorney's advice, Deb believed she would be sentenced to probation for this crime she did not commit. The Gage County District Court sentenced her to ten years in prison. Deb served just under five years, locked up and away from her daughter, for a crime she had nothing to do with. After her release, she could not work as a caregiver for a disabled friend because of the false perception that she was a murderer. She and her husband Cliff suffered homelessness many times.

For the rest of her days, Deb continued to believe the lie that the Gage County Sheriff's Office told her: that she was involved with Mrs. Wilson's murder. She continued to believe she was a person capable of murder, even when the Nebraska Board of Pardons exonerated her and declared conclusively that she was not. Even after a federal jury determined that Deb was wrongfully convicted and ordered Gage County to pay damages, it was still very difficult for Deb to reject the false beliefs that the Gage County Sheriff's Office planted inextricably into her mind.

The jury's damages verdict, managed by a caring trustee, gave Deb stability and comfort. She lived in a modest house with her husband, Cliff. They had the frequent company of their daughter, Fantasia. Deb loved spending time with her grandchildren. Simple pleasures of life brought Deb joy, until doctors diagnosed her with cancer one month before her death.

Debra Kay Shelden is survived by husband Clifford, whom Deb said was "the best man I ever knew," her daughter Fantasia, and her dear grandchildren. She will be missed by her attorney and caregiver Matthew Kosmicki and her civil rights attorney, Maren Chaloupka. Matt and Maren cared strongly for Deb and sought to protect her from those who might take advantage of Deb's sweet and trusting nature. It is their hope that in the next world, Deb will finally understand in her heart what the facts and the science, the Board of Pardons and a federal jury agreed is true: that she is, and always was, innocent of the murder of Mrs. Wilson.