Gary Coleman’s Ex-Wife Fails Polygraph On His Death
Oh, joyous—another round of televised truth-seeking over a dead star. Gary Coleman’s ex-wife Shannon Price thought signing up for A&E’s Lie Detector: Truth or Deception might finally quiet the gossip mill about the Diff’rent Strokes actor’s tragic 2010 accident. Instead, she ended up proving why you shouldn’t mix Hollywood grief with polygraph hype.
Fifteen years after Coleman’s fatal head injury in their shared Utah home was ruled an accident, Price agreed to take a lie detector test administered by former FBI agent George Olivo. Her goal? To stop the endless whispers that she’d actually shoved Coleman, withheld aid or worse. “I have a glimmer of hope that people will see me as a normal girl who had an unfortunate situation,” she told People before the A&E special’s July 10 premiere.
So, she faced three pointed questions: Did you ever strike Gary? Did you intentionally decide to withhold help when he fell? Did you physically cause him to topple that day? Price insisted “no” on all counts. But here comes the kicker: Olivo deemed her answers to the first two questions inconclusive and slapped a “deception indicated” reading on the third. In other words, the test flagged her as dishonest about Gary’s fall.
Let’s not pretend polygraphs are gospel—they measure stress responses, not truth. But Olivo wasn’t exactly handing out participation trophies. He zeroed in on that 911 call where Price hesitated to follow the operator’s instructions, pointing out that her own body language and physiological spikes raised an eyebrow. “You know why you did,” he told her bluntly after revealing the fail. Price shrugged that she wasn’t surprised, citing her long history of public scrutiny and the fact she was never charged. According to her, a thorough investigation already cleared her of wrongdoing.
Of course, Price also pointed fingers back at the 911 operator for not asking “more specific questions,” a claim Olivo quietly dismissed: “You were there. Forget the operator—you owe that tough love to Gary.” Ouch. And though Price admitted she “could have helped him a little bit more,” the former agent insists there’s still untold layers to this story, based solely on how her body reacted under the sensors.
So here we are: an A&E special that promised clarity and served more eyebrow raises than closure. Shannon Price remains at peace, as she insists, but let’s not kid ourselves—this circus of bleeps, beeps and buzzer sounds on Lie Detector: Truth or Deception just ensures we’ll keep tuning in. Did anyone expect a different outcome? No? Thought so. And that, dear reader, is why we can’t have nice things.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and People Magazine, A&E’s Lie Detector: Truth or Deception, Peacock’s GARY documentary
Attribution: NBC NewsWire (Creative Commons)
