Love-Struck Nowak Was Willing to Share Lover

Lisa Nowak's lawyer says prosecutors "trickling out" harmful information.

ByABC News
February 9, 2009, 8:39 AM

July 10, 2007 — -- Former astronaut Lisa Nowak certainly isn't a career criminal. If she was, her interrogation by police would have ended after page 1, when she likely would have told police she wanted to talk to an attorney.

But she didn't, so the transcript of her interrogation runs for 72 pages.

The interrogation was released by the Orange County Court in Florida, in response to an Open Records Request filed by ABC News.

The document reveals that Nowak, who is accused of trying to kidnap a romantic rival in February after a frantic cross-country drive from Houston to Orlando, Fla., told Detective Chris Becton that she didn't intend to kill Colleen Shipman and that she was willing to share her alleged love interest, former astronaut Bill Oefelein.

She also told the detective her marriage of 19 years had been falling apart for years.

Nowak: My husband is the only person who broke my heart.
Becton: I'll start with your husband. (Inaudible comment). Didn't you say he broke your heart?
Nowak: Gradually.
Becton: (inaudible) Departure?
Nowak: Over the years I guess. It happened over time.

Nowak's attorney Don Lykkebak denounced the prosecution's release of the transcript, calling it the latest in a string of strategically leaked information.

"The prosecution's pattern of trickling out information in this case is nothing new," Lykkebak said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

"The police and state have regularly released information piecemeal ever since her arrest. The expected result has been to keep Lisa Nowak's case in the headlines. We disapprove of this tactic."

The transcripts of the interrogation reveal that Nowak did not go into much detail about her relationship with Oefelein and was vague about describing the relationship as sexual.

Becton: You did have sex with another man. Your husband was (Inaudible) am I correct? OK, maybe not.
Nowak: Well it's not pertinent to what (interrupted).

He goes on with the line of questioning.

Becton: So did you cheat on your husband?
Nowak: On the context of?
Becton: Physically cheating?
Nowak: Right.

Nowak told Becton after repeated questioning that she never intended to hurt Shipman and that she simply wanted to talk.

Becton: You didn't point the gun at her, but you did bring the gun with you and you were afraid she wasn't gonna talk to you. So if she didn't talk to you, were you gonna kill her?
Nowak: No. (The next line is blacked out.) I just wanted her to talk to me.

Nowak repeatedly told Becton that she just wanted to understand Shipman's relationship with Oefelein.

Nowak: I just wanted her to sit still, and of course you know at the point, you think logically about it, talk to me now. That was stupid. She was driving off anyway. Like this is my only chance, I'm never gonna see her again, I'm never gonna find her again.