Timeline

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Drawn from interviews, depositions and official records, this is an accounting of key dates and incidents in the life and murder of Michael Leslie Severance, the criminal case against Wendi Mae Severance.

Sept. 28, 1998: Michael begins Air Force active duty

May 25, 1999: Michael posted to Dyess AFB, Abilene

Oct. 29, 2001: Wendi’s first son, Tristan Davidson, born

May 10, 2002: Wendi graduates from Texas A&M veterinary school

October 2003-January 2004: Michael, Wendi meet in club

March-April 2004: Wendi telephones Michael, announces pregnancy

? Michael meets her parents, Judi and Lloyd Davidson

Sept. 1, 2004: Shane born

Week of Sept. 12, 2004: Michael’s father, Les Severance, meets Shane, Davidsons

Sept. 13, 2004: Michael weds Wendi in San Angelo; Justice of the Peace Eddie Howard presides

October 2004: Wendi’s veterinary clinic, Advanced Animal Care, opens

Dec. 29, 2004-Jan. 12, 2005: Michael takes Air Force training in Wichita Falls, Texas

Jan. 11: Judi, Lloyd allegedly force change in will of Jessie Mae Eggemeyer, Judi’s mother, naming them co-executors and giving them power to borrow money against estate’s value, according to lawsuit

Jan. 13: Michael briefly takes Shane to Abilene; telephones Les that Wendi is giving him “cold shoulder”

Jan. 14: Michael and wife dine, dance, drink at Buffalo Wild Wings and Graham Central Station

Jan. 15: 7:15 a.m.-7:30 a.m.: Judi arrives at clinic, says she hears Michael

? Late morning: Lloyd arrives at clinic with Tristan

? 1-1:30 p.m.: Judi visits ailing mother

? 3-3:30 p.m.: Wendi joins Judi; alleged last time she sees Michael alive

? 4-8 p.m.: Judi, Lloyd and Wendi dine at Davidson house; Wendi says Michael drunk at home

? 7 p.m. onward: Alleged time Wendi finds Michael dead in bed, dumps body

Jan. 16, 5 a.m.: Michael, Wendi, sons due to fly to Maine

? 6-6:30 a.m.: Wendi calls Les’ girlfriend, Brinda Leighton, reports Michael missing

? 7:55 a.m.-6:31 p.m.: Les and Leighton call clinic, Abilene 20-plus times to find Michael

? 6:47 p.m.: Escorted by Lloyd, Wendi files missing person’s report with San Angelo Police

Jan. 17: Wendi seeks divorce, restraining order vs. Michael

Jan. 18: Missing-person’s case assigned to Detective Dennis McGuire, San Angelo Police

Jan. 18-19: Missing-person’s case assigned to Special Agent Greg McCormick, Air Force OSI

? McCormick interviews Wendi, Michael’s friends at Dyess, San Angelo police station

Jan. 24: Michael’s leave ends; declared AWOL thereafter

Jan. 28: Police, Dyess AFB airmen search clinic woods

February 2005: Wendi allegedly tries to research body decomposition

Feb. 27: McCormick follows Wendi to Terrell Sheen ranch; she stops near pond

March 1: Severances announce first of many fundraisers

March 4: Wendi allegedly tells McCormick she last visited ranch three weeks prior

March 5, 2:30 p.m.: Wendi allegedly tells Texas Ranger Shawn Palmer she last visited ranch 1-2 weeks prior with Lloyd

? 6:45 p.m.: Marshall Davidson, Wendi’s brother, telephones McGuire to meet at Grape Creek Cemetery; Wendi, Judi present

? 7:58 p.m.: Marshall tells McGuire that prior to the call, Wendi said she found Michael dead at home Jan. 15 and dumped body. Wendi charged with evidence tampering

March 6: Texas State Police Dive Team finds Michael’s 155-pound body weighted with 145 pounds in 9 feet of water in Sheen pond; Howard declares death suspicious

? 5:39 p.m.: Police start guarding clinic prior to search

? 10-11 p.m.: Air Force officials tell Les of body’s discovery

March 7: Police seize drug logbooks, brake drums, rope, monofilament line, laptop computer, knife holster and two knives, apron, gold ring and swabs of stains from clinic. Evidence vacuumed from vehicle carpet sections; Phenobarbital, Pentobarbital photographed

March 8: Wendi withdraws divorce

March 14: Lloyd and Judi seek custody of Shane

March 16: San Angelo attorney Thomas Goff takes Severance child-custody case

? Les seeks custody of Shane

March 17: Severances told Wendi OKs release of Michael’s body

March 24: Michael buried with full military honors in Carroll Plantation, Maine. About 200 people, including Gov. John Baldacci, attend

April 3: Jessie Mae Eggemeyer dies, age 71

April 8: Lubbock County coroner tells police Michael was drugged with Pentobarbital and Phenobarbital

? Wendi makes bail on evidence-tampering charges

April 13: Police seize Phenobarbital, Pentobarbital, records from clinic

April 29: Attorney Tom Davidson – no relation – tells media Wendi passed polygraph and is innocent. San Angelo police say they also tested Wendi, don’t release results

May 24: Grand jury indicts Wendi on murder count, two evidence tampering counts

May 25: Wendi posts $50,000 bail

June 16: Lloyd and Judi deposed by Goff

June 17: Les, son Frank Severance arrive in San Angelo

June 18-19: Severances see Shane in two 11/2-hour supervised visits at McDonald’s and San Angelo park, per Davidson family

June 22: Les deposed

? Severances visit Dyess AFB

June 24: Severances get 60-day custody of Shane; Wendi restricted to weekly, supervised visits

June 25: Severances visit Abilene racetrack

June 27: Severances return to Maine

July 1: Autopsy results show 41 postmortem stab wounds to Michael’s body plus phenytoin, an anti-inflammatory drug

Aug. 19: Les due in San Angelo for custody hearing

Aug. 23: Davidsons to take custody of Shane

Dec. 10: First pretrial criminal hearing

March 7, 2006: Final pretrial hearing

March 20: Jury selection begins