Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Shannon Price's Shocking Lie Detector Test: What Does It Say About His Fatal Fall? (Exclusive)
- - - Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Shannon Price's Shocking Lie Detector Test: What Does It Say About His Fatal Fall? (Exclusive)
Liza EsquibiasJuly 8, 2025 at 11:00 PM
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Shannon Price and Gary Coleman
Shannon Price, Gary Coleman's ex-wife, took a lie detector test in A&E's new docuseries, Lie Detector: Truth or Deception
PEOPLE has exclusive details about the results of the exam after Price was asked about her involvement in Coleman's sudden death in 2010
The two-hour premiere airs on July 10 at 9 p.m. ET on A&E
Gary Coleman’s ex-wife Shannon Price is putting her name on the line.
Following 15 years of speculation about Price's involvement in the late actor's sudden death, she continues to maintain her innocence. Now, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the shocking results of a voluntary lie detector test she took in the A&E upcoming series, Lie Detector: Truth or Deception.
“I literally, my whole life, have had the odds working against me,” Price said in the two-hour premiere. “And so I'm hoping, I'm really hoping, for a good outcome. Not everyone is perfect at taking a polygraph test, but I have a glimmer of hope that this will work out in my favor, and people will be like, okay, you know what? She's just a normal girl that had an unfortunate situation happen.”
The Diff'rent Strokes star and Price got married in August 2007, but divorced the following year, although they continued living together. In May 2010, Coleman suffered an intracranial hemorrhage after falling in the Utah home they shared. Price claimed that she found Coleman in a pool of blood after his fall. His death was ruled accidental and Price was never charged with a crime.
In a recording of her 911 call reporting the incident, Price could be heard refusing to listen to the operator’s instructions to help her former husband. Two days after being placed in a medically-induced coma, Price removed Coleman from life support.
Price admitted that she was “a little nervous” to hear the results of the polygraph exam.
“You pushed me a little bit yesterday,” she told the examiner, former FBI agent George Olivo, of his questioning. “It was stressful. I'm not gonna lie. This really put into perspective, like, 'Hey, Shannon, this is you. This is your character.'”
Olivo, acknowledging that he “had to reel” Price and make sure she was taking the exam seriously, then laid out the several steps he went through to determine the final results — first evaluating them himself, then running the data through a computer system and finally getting a second reading from a fellow retired FBI examiner.
“All three independent results are the same,” he said, emphasizing his confidence in their validity.
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Shannon PriceOlivo posed three specific questions to Price, but only one of her answers showed a definitive finding.
The first question Olivo asked Price was if she ever struck Coleman during their relationship. She answered “no,” but the findings were inconclusive.
“I'm not going to say that you passed that test, because you didn't,” Olivo said.
“I would never hurt him in that manner or that sense, because his life was so fragile,” Price replied, referring to the congenial kidney defect Coleman was born with. “Daily life was a struggle for him, and I would never want to hurt him.”
The next question addressed whether Price intentionally withheld proper aid from Coleman in the aftermath of his fall. She denied the allegation, and the results were once again inconclusive.
“That, statistically, raises a little bit of an eyebrow,” Olivo said. “Then again, you're the same person sitting there who's still nervous and who's still a bit distracted. But here's the way I look at it, this question having to do with you doing everything that you could possibly do for Gary when he fell, when you called 911, is an issue that you've had in your mind for 14 years, and it's still not resolved in your mind.”
Price then confessed: “As far as rendering aid, I could have helped him a little bit more.”
“I will say, the operator could have helped as well a little bit by asking me more specific questions,” she added, but Olivo pushed back. “Forget the 911 operator, you were there. Little bit of tough love now. You're not the victim here, he's the victim.”
The last question Olivo posed directly asked Price if she physically caused Coleman’s fall. While she insisted that she did not, the lie detector found "deception indicated."
“You failed the exam regarding Gary's fall,” Olivo stated. “There's two things I know for sure, Shannon. One, you were not completely honest with me yesterday during this polygraph section. And two, the other thing I know that's 100% certain, is that there is more to this story that hasn't been told. The body never lies. The body always tells the truth. And your body on that lie detector test spoke loud and clear, there's something that caused you to fail this test.”
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Shannon Price, Tony Harris and George OlivoPrice stated that she was “not surprised” by the results because the examiner was relying on "a machine."
“I know where I'm at. I'm at peace,” she told host Tony Harris. “There is a reason I am not in prison. There is a legit reason for that. It's because they did a thorough investigation.”
Olivo, however, reminded her that “there’s also a thing called lack of evidence.”
“You say you have nothing to hide. I say you know exactly why you failed this test,” he declared. “Sadly, my professional opinion is the truth is not on your side today.”
“And I figured it wouldn't be,” Price interjected, to which Olivo said, “Because you already knew you were gonna fail, and you know why you did."
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Lie Detector: Truth or Deception premieres July 10 at 9 p.m. ET on A&E.
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Source: AOL Entertainment
