Husband on Trial for Planning 2012 Murder of SLHS Graduate

The murder-for-hire trial in the death of a South Lakes High School graduate got underway in Las Vegas on Monday.

Shauna Castleton Tiaffay, a 1984 SLHS grad, was beaten to death with a hammer in her Las Vegas-area home in September of 2012. Prosecutors said her husband, George Tiaffay, a former firefighter, paid a drifter $600 to kill her.

The Tiaffays were separated and the parents of an 8-year-old daughter at the time of Shauna’s death.

George Tiaffay, a 1994 West Point graduate, was arrested within weeks of his wife’s death. In the meantime, he had driven his truck into a wall in a suicide attempt when it was clear he was becoming the prime suspect, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Also arrested on murder charges at that time was Noel “Greyhound” Stevens. Police said Stevens, who lived at campsites around Las Vegas, was the hitman Tiaffay hired.

Stevens at first denied any involvement in Shauna Tiaffay’s death. But Shauna Tiaffay’s clothes were found in one of Stevens’ tents, and Stevens attempted to pawn on of her rings, police said.

George Tiaffay and Stevens were linked to the crime using cellphone records that indicated the men met a few hours after the killing, police said. They were also seen on a store surveillance camera together buying a hammer, knife and gloves.

Stevens later pled guilty to six charges, including first-degree murder. He testified to a grand jury that he hit Shauna, a cocktail waitress at The Palms in Las Vegas, in the head 17 times with a hammer. He will be sentenced after he testifies for the prosecution at the trial.

George Tiaffay’s lawyer, Robert Langford, has told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Stevens’s testimony is the ranting of a “crazy homeless guy.”

Shauna Tiaffay’s friends and family have had a “Justice4Shauna” Facebook page since 2012.

“Shauna was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside,” the page organizers said. “She was kind, generous and caring, and her life revolved around her daughter. Our hearts ache over this senseless tragedy. Although nothing in this world will ever replace Shauna in our lives, we will work together to make sure the MONSTERS who took her from us pay dearly for this horrific crime.”