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NBC’s Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode titled Part of the Plan follows the distressing story of the brutal murder of Staff Sgt. Nathan Paet. In 2010 in Nevada, Nathan, a US Air Force service member and a father of four, was shot multiple times in his garage. The investigations that followed lead the authorities to uncover some harrowing details behind the murder. His wife Michelle and the man she was having an affair with, Michael Rodriguez, along with two others, Corry Hawkins and Jessica Austin were all convicted for the murder.
Nathan Paet’s murder was one of the more discussed cases in the country during the time. The Dateline special brought forth the story along with interviews from Nathan’s family members and investigators.
Who was Nathan Paet?
Nathan Paet grew up in the US island territory of Guam and moved to the mainland after joining the military. 28-year-old Nathan was the assistant non-commissioned officer-in-charge for the Strike Aircraft Maintenance Supply section of the 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. High school sweethearts married in 2006, Michelle and Nathan lived in a serene suburban home in Mountain's Edge, Nevada
Laura Andersen, a detective in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told Dateline,
“The only thing we could find was that he was a dedicated family man, loved his family and there was nothing but pictures of his wife and kids on his phone. He was just a good guy. He was just a good man.”
Nathan is shot in his garage
On December 1, 2010, Nathan was to report for his graveyard shift at Nellis Air Force Base. At around 11:30 PM, as he hurried to get to work, he was shot in his garage. Nathan appeared inside the house bleeding through his camouflage uniform and collapsed on the floor in front of his wife and children. Michelle cried on the 911 call,
“My husband — He just walked in the garage. He’s bleeding. Oh my God.”
Michelle recalled to the detectives,
“I hear the garage door open so I lay down, you know, next to my daughter, on the couch. And then I hear two bangs. And I didn’t go outside. Because my kids got startled so I just stayed there.”
Even though the emergency personnel rushed him to the hospital, Nathan succumbed to the gunshots.
Investigators find a suspect
While under questioning, Michelle shared that they had a happy marriage except for a few financial issues.
The neighbors recalled seeing a black car after hearing the shots from Nathan’s garage. Michelle informed the police that a co-worker called Michael Rodriguez at her telemarketing company had a black Cadillac. He was a convicted felon. She insisted that though they ‘flirted’ a little, it was harmless, and they were just friends.
Michael shared during his interview with the detectives,
“We have had — per se, uh — I don’t know how you’d word it. A little bit more than friends because, you know, she’s cried to me. I’ve cried to her, at times.”
However, Michael had an alibi. He shared that he was at Walmart during the time of the shooting where he met a woman called Shannon and they later spent the night at Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson, Nevada. The authorities even reached out to Shannon, who confirmed the statement. But there were some discrepancies with respect to the time he mentioned and the time he checked into the hotel.
Michelle Paet and Michael Rodriguez’s relationship comes under spotlight
Authorities start noticing the exchange of text messages between Michelle and Michael. Just a few minutes before Nathan was shot, she had messaged Michael,
“I can’t go to sleep ... right now. Got woke up from a man screaming, ‘I’m late.’ He’s rushing out the door.”
The messages were not incriminating despite the suspicious connection between the two. The police had to release Michael as there was no concrete evidence against him.
On the day of Nathan’s memorial service, Michelle confessed to the police that she was having an affair with Michael. She told the detectives,
“He told me I was beautiful. He told me, you know, um, that I was a great person, and everything like that. And you know, you like to hear stuff like that because after a while, you know, in a marriage, you know, you don’t hear stuff like that all the time.”
Nathan was not aware of his wife’s affair.
Michelle also made the shocking revelation that Michael had suggested to get rid of Nathan so as to cash in on his $650,000 in life insurance.
The plot to murder Nathan uncovers
Michael had asked Michelle to unlock the door to Nathan’s garage so him and his accomplice Corry Hawkins could find a place to hide. Michelle claimed that she did not want to do it and hadn't unlocked the garage door. However, the detectives were now convinced that Michelle had a big part to play in Nathan’s murder, despite her claims of wanting to sabotage Michael’s plan.
Detective Tod Williams of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spoke to Dateline. He said,
“To find out that his own wife had caused that was just almost more than you could bear as a human being.”
Meanwhile, Shannon learnt about the murder. She turned up at police station and told the truth about the night. She said that her friend Jessica Austin has asked her to lie to the police that Michael was with her that night. She claimed that Jessica told her Michael and Corry were going to rob a drug dealer. She also recalled both the men taking off their clothes in the apartment and burning them.
Immediately after, Michael took Shannon to the hotel to secure his alibi. She told the police,
“And he thinks he pulled one over on me and everyone else, but he didn’t…Like he needs to pay for what he did.”
It was revealed that the murder was planned almost six months before the incident. All four - Michelle, Michael, Corry and Jessica were arrested in connection to the murder of Nathan Paet.
Four are convicted in Nathan Paet’s murder
After five years, Micheal and Corry were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy. They were sentenced to life in prison. Jessica, who agreed to work with the authorities pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
Michelle pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and conspiracy. She received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Nathan and Michelle’s children live with his parents now.
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