Buzz
On a cold January morning in 1991, Wanda Holloway, a 36-year-old mother of two, found herself at a crossroads. Realizing she couldn’t finance two murders, she had to choose between targeting her rival, Verna Heath, or Verna’s 13-year-old daughter, Amber.
For Holloway, the dilemma was clear. Amber, an eighth-grader with exceptional talent and confidence, consistently outperformed Holloway’s daughter, Shanna, in securing a spot on their school’s cheerleading squad in Channelview, Texas. Meanwhile, Verna was the driving force behind Amber’s success, enrolling her in gymnastics and even allowing her to audition for the junior high cheerleading squad before officially starting school.
Eliminating Amber would ensure Shanna’s path to cheerleading glory. However, there was a catch: Holloway’s ex-brother-in-law, Terry Harper, whom she recruited for the plan, revealed that the hitman he knew demanded $5000 to kill a minor. In contrast, targeting Verna would cost a more affordable $2500.
In an ideal scenario, $7500 would have eliminated both, but Holloway lacked the funds. She ultimately chose Verna, reasoning that Amber would be too heartbroken after her mother’s death to perform well in the upcoming cheerleader tryouts that March.
On January 28th, after taking Shanna to church, Wanda met Harper to hand over her diamond earrings as partial payment. Within days, she became a national sensation—the mother willing to go to extreme lengths for her daughter, even if it meant a life sentence behind bars.
Channelview, Texas, a Houston suburb and Holloway's hometown, lies in a state where football fields are sacred and local athletes are celebrated like heroes. Boys were encouraged to play sports for social standing, while girls could gain popularity as cheerleaders. Both paths required dedication and discipline, offering a stepping stone out of adolescence.
As a teenager, Wanda Holloway dreamed of joining the cheerleading squad. However, her strict Baptist father forbade it, deeming the uniforms too provocative. This detail later became a focal point for reporters, who painted Holloway as a woman driven to ensure her daughter achieved the dreams she was denied.
Holloway stayed in Channelview and married Tony Harper, a railroad warehouse worker, in 1972. They had two children: Shane in 1973 and Shanna in 1977. After divorcing Harper in 1980, she remarried twice but kept custody of her children.
As Shanna grew older and school activities became more demanding, Holloway was adamant that her daughter would seize opportunities she herself had been denied. She encouraged Shanna to audition for the seventh-grade cheerleading squad. Although Shanna lacked her mother’s enthusiasm, she gave her best effort but missed securing one of the two available spots. Holloway was particularly frustrated that Amber Heath, a student still transitioning from private school, made the team despite not yet attending Alice Johnson Junior High during tryouts.
Amber and Shanna were reportedly friends, even hosting sleepovers at each other’s homes. However, Holloway saw both Amber and her driven mother, Verna, as barriers to Shanna’s cheerleading success. Verna had distributed flyers and candy during the seventh-grade tryouts. The following year, Holloway retaliated by handing out rulers and pencils emblazoned with the message: “Vote for Shanna Harper for Cheerleader.”
The vice principal stepped in, declaring such campaigning against school policy. (Verna’s flyers had somehow avoided repercussions.) When Holloway disregarded the warning, parents of other cheerleader candidates—including Verna—held a meeting and voted to disqualify Shanna from the competition. Shanna was now 0-2, and Verna had turned the situation into a personal vendetta.
As ninth-grade tryouts approached in 1991, Holloway resolved not to leave anything to chance with the Heaths. She turned to Terry Harper, her ex-husband’s brother, who had a minor criminal record. Harper had been arrested several times for misdemeanors, but there was no evidence he had connections to hitmen. Despite this, Holloway believed Harper could help eliminate Verna and Amber.
Harper later told police he initially dismissed Holloway’s requests, but she was relentless. Recognizing her seriousness, he contacted the sheriff’s department. Officers were initially skeptical—murder-for-hire schemes were unheard of in Channelview. However, after Harper insisted, they equipped him with a wire to continue conversations with Holloway.
During six distinct recorded discussions, Harper struggled to get Holloway to explicitly admit her desire to have Verna killed.
“Do you want her dead?” Harper inquired.
“I don’t care what happens to her,” Holloway responded. “You can keep her in Cuba for 15 years. I just want her out of the picture.”
Despite her careful wording, Holloway’s intentions were unmistakable. Shortly after she gave Harper the down payment for the (nonexistent) hitman, police arrested her for solicitation of capital murder. Investigators later noted that Holloway appeared remarkably calm about the charges.
While out on bail, Holloway explained to Shanna the severity of her situation: she could face life in prison. Although Shanna knew her mother was deeply invested in her cheerleading success—far more than she was—she had no idea the rivalry with Verna had reached the point of contemplating murder. Despite her biological father’s objections, Shanna stayed at Alice Johnson High, avoiding any interaction with Amber Heath almost daily.
Holloway was arraigned in February 1991 and entered a not guilty plea. Her defense claimed the entire scheme was fabricated by her ex-husband, Tony Harper, and his brother to help Tony gain custody of their children. She insisted her comments about wanting Verna “gone” were meant as a joke.
The jury didn’t find it amusing. In September 1991, they deliberated for just two and a half hours before convicting Holloway and sentencing her to 15 years in prison—a decision one juror later described as “poetic justice,” given her wish to exile Verna to Cuba for the same duration.
Despite the sentence, Holloway didn’t serve 15 years—or even 15 months. She was granted a new trial in November 1991, and the conviction was overturned on appeal in 1996 after it was revealed that one juror had been on probation for drug possession and was ineligible to serve. Rather than pursue a retrial, Harris County prosecutors offered a plea deal: Holloway received a 10-year sentence but served only six months in a work camp, pulling weeds before being released on probation.
The last known interview with Shanna occurred in 2012, when the 34-year-old teacher spoke to a reporter from People about raising her two children and having a mother with such a notorious past. Living in Humble, Texas, Shanna mentioned she still saw Wanda regularly, though they rarely discussed the murder plot. When Shanna finally asked about it in 2010, Holloway called the incident a “mistake” and expressed remorse.
While Wanda’s legal fate remained uncertain, Alice Johnson High proceeded with cheerleader tryouts on March 22, 1991. Amber attended and secured a spot on the team. Shanna, however, was too emotionally overwhelmed to participate and didn’t show up.
