Gary Coleman’s ex-wife fails lie detector test question about his death

Controversy still surrounds the 2010 death of Diff’rent Strokes star Gary Coleman.

The former child star succumbed to a brain hemorrhage at 42 after experiencing a fall in his Santaquin, Utah home. Though police declared at the time that there was “absolutely nothing suspicious” about Coleman’s death, questions have lingered around his ex-wife, Shannon Price, who was home with Coleman during the incident.

On the upcoming premiere episode of A&E series Lie Detector: Truth or Deception (out Thursday), Price agrees to be grilled by retired FBI agent and polygraph examiner George Olivo while hooked up to a lie detector, and one particular question produces a shocking result.

In a preview of the episode (below), Olivo tells Price, who sits beside Lie Detector host and journalist Tony Harris, “I asked you the following relevant questions on this test, ‘Did you physically cause Gary’s fall,’ you said, ‘No.’ I also asked you, ‘Did you physically cause Gary to fall that day?’ You said, ‘No.'”

Olivo then reveals that in denying culpability in Coleman’s fall, Price “failed that exam, with deception indicated to those relevant questions.”

Price and Coleman married in 2007 after meeting on the set of the film Church Ball in 2005. Though they divorced a year later, the pair remained living together in Utah until Coleman’s death.

Price previously participated in the 2024 Peacock documentary Gary, in which she categorically denied any involvement in Coleman’s death. “I would never hurt my husband, ever,” she claimed. But both Gary and this episode of Lie Detector: Truth or Deception contain testimony from Coleman’s friends and loved ones, like former girlfriend Anna Gray and friend/manager Dion Mial, that question Price’s behavior at the time for two main reasons.

The first is Price’s resistance to rendering Coleman aid immediately following his fall, as captured in a 911 call, in which she refused to help put pressure on his wound as she didn’t “want to be traumatized right now.” The second is the fact that she took him off life support after only two days, despite Mial’s claim in Gary that Coleman “had an advanced healthcare directive where he stated he wanted at least two weeks of care before any plugs were pulled.”

Then there’s Price’s alleged history of domestic abuse. Coleman was found to have taken a restraining order out against Price in the months before his death. Prior to that, Price was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct following an argument in which Price reportedly locked Coleman out of their home and began trashing his belongings. Following his death, a Utah judge ruled against Price when she sought to be named the sole beneficiary of his estate after hearing the testimony of multiple witnesses who claimed she abused Coleman in public.

Though Price claims on Lie Detector that she “never laid a hand” on Coleman, she admitted during an interview for Gary that she “slapped him a couple times.” When confronted with the discrepancy, Price tells Olivo, “I was so pressured into saying certain things, they just kept forcing me to say this, and this, and this, so I just finally said, ‘Okay, I’ll say it.'”

Price reflects to Harris, “There always needs to be a bad guy, so since legally I am the ex-wife, that falls on me. I was the one there that day when he fell. I was the only one that was in his life at that time. No one was around, and everyone that was around just wanted a piece of the pie, they didn’t care about his well-being, period.”

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Olivo asks Price two other questions during their polygraph session, the results of which, he explains, he personally analyzed, ran through a computer program for extra verification, and then submitted to another former FBI analyst for a second look. All three analyses produced the same results, according to Olivo.

When asked, “Did you ever strike Gary during your relationship?” Price answered, “No.” The result was inconclusive, meaning she did not score high enough to pass or low enough to fail.

Price also states that she did not “intentionally decide to withhold help to Gary when he fell.” The results for that answer are also inconclusive.

Price labels the findings of deception in her final answer “false,” but Olivo remains steadfast. During his last interaction with Price, he tells her, “There’s two things I know for sure, Shannon. One, you were not completely honest with me yesterday during this polygraph session, and two, the one thing I know that’s 100 percent 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.”

Lie Detector: Truth or Deception premieres Thursday, July 10, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on A&E, followed by new episodes every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT, beginning July 17. Watch a preview of the premiere episode above.