Grave robber pleads guilty

Shaughnessy will be sentenced Oct. 18. Carson District Judge Mike Griffin, who accepted the man's plea on Monday, could order up to four years in prison.

Shaughnessy, 39, remains in custody in lieu of $25,000 bail but will be released from the Carson City Jail later this week to an in-patient substance abuse program.

He was arrested July 13 after trying to sell a skull at a motel. He told detectives that was one of two skulls he took at the request of a woman he identified as Nanette Birdsell.

According to police reports, he said Birdsell paid him $400 cash and another $400 worth of methamphetamine for the first skull.

Birdsell, 36, of Stagecoach, was arrested on charges of felony purchase of human remains. She faces a preliminary hearing in the case Sept. 3 and could face up to four years in prison if convicted.

The skull Shaughnessy tried to sell is that of pioneer Carson City prosecutor Patrick Henry Clayton. The other skull, that of his wife Susan, hasn't been recovered.

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