SHS Freshman Digs Deep For Discovery Channel

Richard Sharpe, a 1973 graduate who was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for shooting his estranged wife to death, will be featured in a Discovery Channel television program about notorious murderers -- in part thanks to a current SHS student who doesn't even have her driver's license yet.

Dione McClenaghan, a 14-year-old freshman, contributed background research and photographs that will be used on an Investigation Discovery TV episode scheduled to air in October.

McClenaghan first learned of the Sharpe murder when her father, Ian, was contacted by representatives from the Discovery network. They wanted permission to use his old photo of SHS for the program. His daughter's interest sparked immediately.

"I had never heard about this before and I never heard about any murders in Shelton, so that’s why I was so interested," she said. "When I started getting into this research I discovered there was more on Richard Sharpe."

McClenaghan determined that since Sharpe graduated in 1973, the picture Discovery was requesting "would have been an inaccurate choice" because a new high school was built in 1974, the year her dad's picture was taken.

"I decided to go further into an investigative role and try to get more information so they had a good idea who he [Sharpe] was and try to get more pictures for the Discovery Channel to make their story more accurate," she said.

A neighbor had a yearbook from Sharpe's senior year, and McClenaghan used it to scan pictures of Sharpe, his wife and the high school as it was then.

"I actually came across a picture that he was prom king, and in this yearbook it also gave out all the addresses of the seniors, so I found out the house that him and his wife lived at and it was really cool," she said.

During her digging, McClenaghan learned there were many twists and turns to Sharpe's story, making it clear why Investigation Discovery had chosen to include it in its upcoming "notorious murderers" segment. 

"I found out that he was a cross-dresser, that he tried to strangle and poison his wife and kids, and he was a multi-millionaire and Harvard doctor, too," she said.

McClenaghan e-mailed the producers and offered to submit the yearbook photos she had found, as well as to take pictures of Sharpe's house, his wife's house and the building that was his high school.

"I took around four or five photos of each building and gave it to them so they could choose their favorite. I was really happy that they accepted [the photos] and thanked me for all my hard work," she said. 

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McClenaghan said she spent "probably a few hours each day for about a week" working on her research -- looking through old yearbooks, going to to find old photos, "even seeing if the mayor knew Sharpe himself, because they both went to school at same time."

All that effort and time on top of everything else McClenaghan has on her plate: track, soccer, "tons of homework," all honors level classes.

The Discovery Channel gave McClenaghan a letter of recommendation, put her name in the show's closing credits and even paid her for her work.

"They were telling me how talented I was and how hard-working I was, and it was so inspiring because I never even thought of being an editor or producer myself for all this investigative journalism," she said.

McClenaghan admits it was challenging to manage this project with schoolwork and sports.

"But if you really want to do something, you'll find the time and effort to do so, even it's staying up later hours, longer hours, working harder, studying in school, using your free periods. It’s a great opportunity to even have a chance like this occur," she said.

McClenaghan said she learned a lot from the experience. "I thought it was a really cool subject to be introduced to," she said of her investigative journalist role. "It's really cool to try to figure out everything that’s going on within your town and community."

As for the future, McClenaghan said she may want to go into journalism and writing, but is keeping her options open.

"I'm not really sure what I want to do yet but I'm just trying to get one step to closer to finding out what my dream job is," she said.