Nowak Agreeable to Sharing Oefelein with Other Woman

During her initial interview with police, Lisa Nowak asked more than a dozen times if she could speak with Colleen Shipman, the woman she was charged with having just attacked, according to a transcript of the February interrogation.

Nowak said she did not intend to kill Shipman during their Orlando International Airport encounter. She also pleaded with police to reduce her charges, asked whether she could go to work after the interview, and insisted she would have been comfortable sharing the affections of former astronaut Bill Oefelein with Shipman.

The State Attorney's Office in Orlando released the 72-page transcript Monday despite the objections of Nowak's attorney, Donald Lykkebak.

There was no mention of Nowak wearing diapers, despite earlier police reports that she admitted using them to reduce the number of times she'd have to stop during her drive from Houston to Orlando. Lykkebak has denied those reports, which he called "a preposterous tale."

According to the transcript, on two occasions she mentioned the prospect of both she and Shipman dating Oefelein.

"I don't know that he was in a position of exclusively being with one person," Nowak said. "As long as everybody knows that that's the case . . . I mean a single person can go out with as many people as they want . . . At some point if everyone all knows about that and they're all OK with it, you don't have to make a choice if everyone's OK."

According to police, Oefelein told detectives he had a two-year relationship with Nowak but ended it some time after he started a relationship with Shipman.

Nowak, 44, insisted her intention in Orlando was not to "force choices."

She is accused of stalking Shipman and trying to use pepper spray to force her way into Shipman's car.

Police found a steel mallet, a 4-inch knife and a BB gun in a bag Nowak was carrying. They also found a wig and a trench coat.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault.

Nowak could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

She told the detective she only wanted to scare Shipman with the weapons.

When asked if she intended to kill Shipman, Nowak said no, according to the transcript.

Nowak repeatedly told detectives she needed to talk to Shipman and that perhaps she might be convinced to drop the charges.

"She just, she refused to talk to me about this," Nowak said, trying to explain the incident, according to the transcript. "I'm not sure she had all the issues, the facts of what I wanted to talk to her about. I wanted to find out how she wanted to handle it."

Melbourne attorney Kepler Funk, who represents Shipman, wondered why Nowak thought his client would agree to speak with her.

"Ms. Shipman met Ms. Nowak for the first time while Nowak was wearing a disguise, was following her and using pepper spray on her," he said. "It doesn't take a NASA rocket scientist to see that Ms. Nowak intended to – and did in fact – commit a crime against Ms. Shipman."

Lykkebak said releasing the transcript was an attempt by the prosecution to keep Nowak's case in the headlines.

"The prosecution's pattern of trickling out information in this case is nothing new," he said in a statement. "The police and state have regularly released information piecemeal ever since her arrest. We disapprove of this tactic."

In the transcript, Nowak asked Orlando Police Detective Chris Becton, "What if she drops the charges? Maybe if you could let me talk to her. Let me talk to her."

But Becton repeatedly told Nowak that contact with Shipman was out of the question.

"You're not going to be able to see her," he said. "You don't need to call her, you don't need to see her, you don't need to write her."

During the lengthy interview, Nowak said her estranged husband is the only person who broke her heart.

"Gradually, over the years I guess," she said. "It happened over time. People grow apart sometimes."

She also told police investigators she still felt that she and Oefelein shared a close bond despite his new relationship with Shipman.

"I still feel like I'm a companion," Nowak said. "I mean, you know, we go on bike rides and other events."

She also stressed that just two weeks earlier, Oefelein picked her up from an airport.

"I mean, you just don't do that for anybody," she said.