Bio

Lisa Michele Donlon was born in 1973 and grew up in Savannah, Georgia. She later moved to South Carolina for school. There she attended high school and a technical college.

She married Jason Donlon on July 4, 1995, in Greenville, South Carolina. The couple had three sons together.

Donlon moved to Alaska and had lived there for several years. She and her family lived at times in Eagle River and later in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough near Butte.

She commuted to work in Anchorage. Public records note she held two jobs and that one of those jobs involved working with children at an Anchorage school.

Murder Story

On October 7, 2010, Lisa Donlon shot her husband, Jason Donlon, in Butte, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska. Jason Donlon was 40 years old. Lisa Donlon called 911 and was arrested the same day. Reports differ on the exact number of shots. Some accounts say she shot him five times. Other accounts say she shot him six times, once in the head and five times in the back. The weapon was described as a .45-caliber handgun.

A Palmer grand jury first declined to indict her in November 2010. Prosecutors later presented new evidence and the grand jury returned an indictment. She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide. She was held on bail at the Mat-Su pretrial facility.

At trial in March 2013, the defense argued Lisa Donlon acted in self-defense. Her lawyers said she had been held against her will, tortured, raped, and threatened over several days. They said she feared for her life and for the safety of her three sons. Prosecutors argued the killing was non-confrontational and that she had other options. The judge allowed the jury to consider self-defense as a possible justification.

During the trial, witnesses and medical records were presented. Doctors documented bruises and other injuries to Lisa Donlon. Friends testified that they had heard about or seen signs of abuse. Lisa Donlon testified about being bound, hurt, and threatened in the days before the shooting. Court papers from 2006 showed she had sought a restraining order against her husband at an earlier time.

A Palmer jury found Lisa Donlon not guilty on all counts on April 3, 2013. After the verdict, she left jail and spoke to media. She said she would be with her three sons and that she had prayed for the verdict.