Southwest
Daughter of notorious 'pom-pom mom' says cheerleading murder plot nearly destroyed her life
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
At age 14, Shanna Holloway believed she was going to lose her mother for good.
“I can’t even step into a courtroom,” the 47-year-old told Fox News Digital. “When my mom was found guilty, I thought I would never see her again. I really believed I would not see her. Well, maybe I would see her, but I wouldn’t be able to touch her for 14 or 15 years.”
NETFLIX’S ‘CRIME SCENE: THE TEXAS KILLING FIELDS’: COULD MULTIPLE MURDERERS BE INVOLVED IN DECADES-LONG CASES?
Wanda Holloway, left, and her daughter Shanna leave the courtroom in Houston on March 6, 1991, after a child custody hearing concerning Shanna and her brother. Wanda was accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill the mother of a girl competing with Shanna to be a cheerleader. (AP Photo/David Scarbrough)
In 1991, Wanda Holloway was charged with conspiring to kill the mother of her daughter’s cheerleading rival. The case, which rocked Channelview, Texas, and the rest of the nation, is now being explored in a true-crime docuseries on Investigation Discovery (ID), “The Texas Cheerleading Murder Plot.”
“The Texas Cheerleading Murder Plot” is currently streaming. (Investigation Discovery)
According to the network, the special aims to illuminate Wanda’s “true emotions” and how Shanna coped with the aftermath of the high-profile trial.
Shanna, who still lives in Texas, is now a teacher and a mother of two. She described being haunted by her past for decades.
Shanna still resides in Texas, where the case occurred. (Investigation Discovery)
“We had pep rallies at my school when I started teaching,” she recalled. “I remember one time when I was pregnant, I went to a pep rally. I started having contractions. My stomach started tightening just from being triggered.”
“Just the word ‘pom-pom,’ it’s triggering,” she said quietly.
Growing up, Shanna had a close bond with Wanda, who was recognized as a devoted mother in her blue-collar community. Like many girls, cheerleading caught Shanna’s eye. While she eventually lost interest, Wanda reportedly pushed her to still pursue it.
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Growing up, Shanna had a close bond with her mother. Those in the community said Wanda would have done anything for her daughter. (Investigation Discovery)
“I guess maybe I wasn’t very competitive,” said Shanna. “It’s not in my nature. And this was a period where you had to be very competitive. It wasn’t just for fun. You had to be able to tumble, and you had to be able to cheer, and you had to have the popularity. It was almost like a job.”
It appeared that Wanda, an avid churchgoer, would have gone to great lengths to ensure her daughter Shanna was part of her high school cheerleading squad. (Investigation Discovery)
Authorities said that Wanda attempted to hire a hitman to take out her nemesis, Verna Heath, People magazine reported. Texas Monthly also reported that both women “had the reputation of going all out for her daughter.”
According to reports, investigators believed Wanda came up with the scheme after Shanna failed to make the cheerleading squad. She blamed Heath and her daughter Amber for ruining Shanna’s chances, People revealed.
While cheerleading was popular in Texas during the ‘80s and ’90s, Shanna said she lost interest. “I guess maybe I wasn’t very competitive,” she told Fox News Digital. (Investigation Discovery)
If Heath was eliminated, Amber would be too distraught to compete, investigators believed. This would then cement Shanna’s place on the squad.
According to reports, Wanda got in contact with her former brother-in-law, Terry Harper, and asked him if he could arrange the hit. Harper said he would, and then went to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. He agreed to wear a wire to gather any evidence against Wanda.
Wanda’s home at the time of the case. (Mark Perlstein/Getty Images)
Texas Monthly noted that the main reason Harper went to the police was that if anything happened to Heath or Amber, he wanted to be certain that he wouldn’t be considered a suspect.
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The defense argued that Wanda’s ex-husband, Tony Harper, had conspired with his brother to frame her, Newsweek reported. (Investigation Discovery)
Shanna had no idea of what had occurred behind the scenes. The defense would later argue that Wanda’s ex-husband, Tony Harper, had conspired with his brother to frame her, Newsweek reported.
Wanda was arrested before the plot came to fruition. She was quickly labeled “Pom-Pom Mom” by the press. She was convicted of solicitation of capital murder in 1991, but the conviction was overturned due to a mistrial, Texas Monthly reported.
According to the outlet, she was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1996. Wanda was released on probation in 1997.
Shanna said the high-profile case took a toll on her mental health for years. At one point, she no longer wanted to live. (AP Photo/David Scarborough)
Shanna said for years she struggled with the intense scrutiny she faced in her hometown following the trial.
“We didn’t talk about it… it was swept under the rug,” said Shanna. “I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. I was almost chastised if I brought it up. I couldn’t even speak about it without getting all red and sweaty and my chest getting tight… I had suppressed all that baggage that I hadn’t dealt with.”
Tony Harper, ex-husband of murder conspirator Wanda Holloway. (Mark Perlstein/Getty Images)
“… I was having suicidal thoughts,” she admitted. “I never acted on it, but I did not want to be here anymore. I didn’t have anything to live for. I… couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was overwhelmed, and I got so stuck in a negative mindset… I was prescribed medication… At some point, I was on seven different pills.”
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Wanda believes there are still misconceptions that exist about her family. (Investigation Discovery)
Shanna said that from ages 14 to 33, she didn’t talk about what had happened. It was at age 33 she found herself on her kitchen floor crying.
“It wasn’t something that I would do — cry,” said Shanna. “I just held it all in. But doing that causes physical damage. It gave me stomach issues, headaches… it affects people differently, but it affected my health. I felt like I couldn’t go on anymore… It eats you alive. It will catch up with you eventually if you don’t deal with it.”
“I couldn’t see a way out of the pain that was always there,” she added.
High school cheerleader Amber Heath, left, and her mother Verna Heath enter a courtroom in Houston on Sept. 3, 1991. (AP Photo/David Scarborough)
Shanna sought help for her mental health through counseling. For the first time in decades, she was encouraged to speak out about what had happened and how she privately dealt with it. She went on to launch a website, Smile More Worry Less, which offers online courses for others struggling with depression.
“I wanted to heal, and this is part of the healing process,” said Shanna. “I wanted to show that you can go through trauma like I did, be at the lowest of lows, and still make it back if you do the work and talk about it. That’s what the documentary also helped me do — talk about it.”
While Shanna has a relationship with Wanda today, her idea to speak out on camera received “a lot of pushback” from family members.
Shanna still has a relationship with her mother, Wanda. (Investigation Discovery)
“I was even threatened with lawsuits,” said Shanna. “I had to explain that this isn’t just me trying to bring this stuff up and hurt everybody. That’s not my goal… There are people out there hurting, and they don’t know what to do.”
Shanna hasn’t spoken to Amber since the incident, the New York Post reported. But today, Shanna hopes that in revisiting her past, others privately battling their own traumas will be encouraged to share their stories.
“I don’t think I’m 100%. I don’t think I ever will be,” she said. “But I can tell you I don’t wake up every single morning with anxiety anymore. I had a constant weight on my chest before I got on medications. I didn’t even know what it felt like to not have that anxiety in my chest because it had been there since I was 14.”
Shanna is seen here watching her mother’s trial on TV. (Investigation Discovery)
“I was so used to it,” Shanna reflected. “… But I didn’t have to feel this way this whole time… I feel like a huge weight or burden has been lifted off of me. And even the relationships with my mom and my dad, we’re starting to heal now because it’s being talked about for once.”
“The Texas Cheerleading Murder Plot” is available for streaming on Max.
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Los Angeles, Ca
L.A. Jewish institution among targets of foiled terrorist attack, U.S. officials say
A Jewish institution in Los Angeles was among the locations targeted in a recently foiled terrorism plot, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced this week.
The thwarted terrorist attacks were the result of the recent arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national and senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, U.S. officials said.
“Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander for the terrorist organization, Kata’ib Hizballah, faces serious charges for his role in numerous attacks against U.S. interests across the globe, including his efforts to kill on U.S. soil,” Clayton said. “As alleged, for years, Al-Saadi committed himself to furthering the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC, two terrorist organizations dedicated to harming the United States and its allies.”
Al-Saadi recently attempted to carry out attacks in the U.S., officials said, including attacks at Jewish cultural places of interest in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Al-Saadi attempted to disrupt American society through intimidation and violence,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reads. “… Those who engage in or support terrorism against Americans and on U.S. soil should take note: the whole of the federal government is committed to dismantling terrorist organizations and bringing their members to justice.”
In a three-month period, Al-Saadi allegedly directed 18 terrorist attacks throughout Europe, including bombings, arson, and assaults targeting American citizens and points of interest. Prior to his arrest, national security officials say he was planning similar attacks on U.S. soil. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said that Al-Saadi “presented a serious threat to our national security.”
The European attacks included the bombing of the Bank of New York Mellon, an American bank, in Amsterdam on March 15. On April 29, two Jewish men, one of whom was a dual U.S.-British citizen, were stabbed and seriously injured in London.
In 2020, Al-Saadi took to social media, calling for others to attack and kill Americans in retribution for the deaths of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi military commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, U.S. officials said. In more recent months, Al-Saadi allegedly used social media to encourage the killing of Americans and Jews to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“In or about February 2026, for example, AL-SAADI posted on one of his social media accounts a message in Arabic, which read in part, ‘Do not abandon the blood of your Imam of the time, oh Shiites of Iraq. Kill everyone who supports America and Israel. Do not leave any of them remaining. Civil and military targets, as well as voices of discord, kill them everywhere.’” U.S. officials said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch confirmed that one of the U.S. targets was a Manhattan synagogue. On April 3, Al-Saadi allegedly spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer whom Al-Saadi believed could carry out attacks in the U.S. That same day, Al-Saadi allegedly texted the undercover officers photographs and maps showing the exact location of a prominent Jewish synagogue in New York City.
Officials have not said what specific locations in L.A. and Arizona were targeted by the terrorist group.
Al-Saadi now faces numerous charges for these crimes in U.S. court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
The case is under investigation by the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterterrorism Division, and more than 50 other federal, state, and local agencies. Investigators also received help from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
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A guide to surviving rip currents from the National Weather Service (NWS)
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
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