fitted with a monitoring device and ordered to stay away from rival
Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/spa ... -headlines
Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted February 6, 2007, 10:40 PM EST
NASA astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak stalked her romantic rival for two months before attacking her in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport Monday morning, a hand-written statement by the victim reveals.
Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, stated that Nowak was an acquaintance of her "boyfriend" but the two had not met until the astronaut doused her with pepper spray.
Nowak drove from Houston to Orlando to "physically confront and assult (sic) me," Shipman wrote when applying for a restraining order against Nowak.
On Tuesday, a haggard Nowak appeared in court twice in Orlando to face a bevy of charges, including attempted first degree murder.
Late in the day, the Navy captain posted $25,500 bail at the Orange County Jail and was fitted with a ankle monitoring device. Nowak who left the bail bond office accompanied by two astronauts who flew in from Houston to help her, pulled a dark jacket over her head as a shield from the media glare that surrounded her.
Nowak, a mother of three who recently separated from her husband of 19 years, faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree attempted murder.
"What we have is a desperate woman who wanted to have a conversation with the other woman," Nowak's attorney Donald Lykkebak said in court. "What they have charged her with is premeditated, attempted murder."
But police said Nowak intended to kill Shipman, 30, when she bought a knife, BB Gun, and other supplies, got in her car in Houston, and made the 12-hour drive to Orlando, wearing diapers so she would not have to stop along the way.
"Mrs. Nowak admitted that she had obtained a victim's flight plans to Orlando without authorization from the computer of the man, with whom she and the victim had a common interest," according to a police affidavit in support of the attempted murder charge.
Space Shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, with whom Nowak said she was involved, flew to Florida on Monday.
In seeking the restraining order, Shipman said the astronaut followed her from the Orlando International Airport terminal to the blue satellite parking lot. Nowak approached Shipman's car and pounded on the window.
"I opened my window about 2 [inches] and she sprayed me with a mace or pepper spray. I threw the car in gear and drove to the parking office, where we called the police," she wrote. She said the spray burned her "head, face, eyes, nose and left hand and forearm."
In a statement to police, Shipman wrote: "I started to cry a little and rubbed my eyes with my hand. My eyes started to burn to point that I couldn't keep them open. They watered and my nose started running."
Shipman, who works at Patrick Air Force base in Brevard County, could not be reached on Tuesday.
NASA officials said Tuesday evening, an Orlando police detective drove to the Kennedy Space Center to interview Oefelein. An agency spokesman confirmed the astronaut was at KSC and cooperating with law enforcement officials. Oefelein did not respond to media request for interviews.
The case, which shines a spotlight on the love lives of the elite corps of astronauts, drew reporters and photographers from all over the world to Orlando, the Space Coast, Houston, and the Maryland suburb where Nowak grew up.
Michael Coats, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement that Nowak is officially on a 30-day leave and "has been removed from flight status and all mission-related activities. We will continue to monitor developments in the case," he wrote.
Nowak appeared in court twice Tuesday. In the morning, she was granted $15,500 bail on her original charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and others. Later in the day, Orlando Police also charged her with attempted first degree murder, saying her trip – and her actions – were meticulously planned and that she intended to kill Shipman.
Shortly after 4 p.m., Orange County Judge Mike Murphy set bond on the attempted murder charge at $10,000, bringing the total bond for Nowak's release to $25,500. Lykkebak described the attempted murder charge facing his client as the police department's attempt to "take a second bite out of the apple."
Assistant State Attorney Amanda Cowan said the evidence suggested "that murder was the plan."
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