The Evidence Against Lisa Nowak

April 11, 2007 — -- It's not your normal packing list for a trip: BB gun, knife, rubber gloves, drilling hammer and a floppy disk with the bondage photos. Bondage photos?

Police recovered these items from former astronaut Lisa Nowak's car.

Nowak, a married mother of three children, is accused of attempting to kidnap Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman earlier this year.

The list of items recovered by police includes the black curly wig Nowak wore when she disguised herself before the kidnapping attempt. She carried two hats, a baseball cap and a black fedora. The purse Nowak took to Florida was a very practical beige canvas bag, with multiple pockets for organization.

Nowak stashed the BB gun, a knife, a flashlight and pepper spray in the bag, along with her lipstick and mascara. She had badges and pins from STS 121, the shuttle mission she flew last summer. The floppy disk and some memory sticks hold photos and drawings of a woman in bondage. Investigators haven't revealed the identity of the woman, but they do say the bondage photos don't seem to be directly related to the case.

This evidence elaborates on the documents released last month, which showed that Nowak had discovered e-mail correspondence detailing a relationship between Shipman and a man Nowak was having an affair with, fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein.

In the e-mails, Shipman wrote to Oefelein, "Will have to control myself when I see you. First, the urge will be to rip your clothes off, throw you on the ground, and love the hell out of you."

What has emerged from all the evidence is a paper trail that details a love affair between Nowak and Oefelein that he thought was over, but that she clearly didn't. Oefelein told police he had been having an affair with Nowak , "for some time." They had worked together on several projects at the Johnson Space Center.

Oefelein then met another woman, Shipman, at the Kennedy Space Center last fall while he trained for the last shuttle flight, STS 116. He continued to date Nowak while becoming more involved with Shipman, according to his statement to Orlando Police Department investigators.