Defince, Iowa ? Townspeople knew about Scott Shanahan’s temper, that he was often moody and was anti-social. Some people said they saw the bruises that his wife, Dixie, tried to hide.

But authorities say Dixie Shanahan, 36, kept her biggest secret for the 14 months that followed her husband’s August 2002 disappearance. This past week, Scott Shanahan’s skeletal remains were found in a spare bedroom in their house. An autopsy showed he had been shot in the head.

Dixie Shanahan has since been ordered held on a charge of first-degree murder, and her children — ages 7, 5 and 8 months — have been placed in state custody.

Her lawyer, public defender Greg Steensland, did not return a message left Saturday seeking comment on the case.

In July, nearly a year after Dixie Shanahan had reported her husband missing, she told sheriff’s Deputy John Kelly that he had left her and moved to the nearby town of Atlantic.

Neighbors had already noticed a change in her.

“She was free — like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders,” Mary Schmitz said.

Schmitz and her son, Doug, said that they never saw Dixie Shanahan with bruises but that there were rumors that abuse was common in the household.

“I can see what she went through, and he got what he deserved if what they say is true,” Mary Schmitz said.

Court records show that on several occasions Scott Shanahan beat his wife, leaving her bloody and bruised.

In October 2000, a friend of Dixie Shanahan’s told deputies that he had dragged her to the basement, tied her hands with a coat hanger and told her he could leave her there for weeks and “no one would know the difference,” court records show. She went to a women’s shelter in Texas, near relatives, but soon returned.

Resident Mickey Kloewer said people knew of the abuse. “But you didn’t want to intrude in their business,” Kloewer said.

The the body of Scott Shanahan was discovered in the Defiance, Iowa, home, pictured above. Dixie Shanahan, 36, who claimed her husband had left a year ago, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder, more than a year after she is suspected of shooting her husband to death.

Dixie Shanahan had moved in with Scott Shanahan and his mother, Bev, in this western Iowa town of 350 people when she was a foster child about 14 years old. They married about eight or nine years ago and stayed in the same house, which his mother had left to him when she died.

Doug Schmitz and other neighbors described Scott Shanahan as anti-social.

No one thought much about his disappearance until several months had passed and they noticed he had left his pickup truck and dog behind, Doug Schmitz said.

“People joked about it, that he was buried in the back yard, or buried in concrete in the basement,” Doug Schmitz said.

Karen Kloewer said the case has shaken the town.

“It’s heartbreaking to think she didn’t think she could turn anywhere for help,” she said. “I think the whole town stands behind her and is feeling for her and her children. I just wish she would have turned to the community for help.”