Attorneys for a Florida woman accused of murdering her husband have argued that the couple’s 14-year-old daughter wants to confess to the shooting death.
The bomb allegations were made in court filings by Laurie Shaver’s defense on Monday (May 15), more than seven years after her 40-year-old husband Michael Shaver was shot to death.
The saga began in 2015 when Shaver was last seen by family members, but he was not reported missing until 2018 after loved ones became suspicious because they could only communicate with him through text messages and social media.
(LCSO/WESH2 screenshot)
Laurie Shaver, now 40, claimed her husband had quit his job, abandoned his family and gone to Georgia — or New York, California and even Afghanistan in her various accounts — in a black SUV.
She allegedly continued to use his debit and credit cards, sell his firearms and “marry” her new boyfriend without reporting Shaver missing.
His body was eventually found buried in a fire pit in the backyard of the family’s rural Lake County home in March 2018. Ms. Shaver was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm and accessories after the fact, with her fall delayed by the pandemic.
Mrs. Shaver, who has pleaded not guilty to both countshas now claimed through her lawyers that her 14-year-old daughter wants to testify in the case and admit that it was she and not her mother who pulled the trigger at the age of just even years.
The court has previously denied a request by the defense that the child be evaluated by a forensic psychologist — a necessary step before the court can decide whether she can take the stand.
Ms. Shaver’s attorneys has accused the prosecutor of “burying the head of what is evidence that can truly seek and ensure that justice is served,” according to records reviewed by The independent. According to the defense, the minor has met with his guardian and “has continued to try to testify.”
The independent has contacted Ms Shaver’s lawyers and Shaver’s family for comment.
(LCSO)
According to affidavit Before her arrest, Shaver told the sheriff that her husband left the family home in 2014 after he was released on a domestic violence arrest.
Records show Shaver was taken into custody after his wife allegedly hit him in the head with her pink .38 caliber handgun, causing a laceration.
She then claimed that the last time she saw him was during a court hearing for their custody case in 2015.
Shaver cooperated with an initial search of the home following a request for a welfare check from a friend of Shaver’s in February 2018. But when deputies asked to bring cadaver dogs to the area where a fireplace had been built, she asked investigators to leave.
Ms. Shaver’s boyfriend, Travis Filmer told authorities during the investigation that his girlfriend had said, “It’s not that (Michael) is missing, it’s that he no longer walks this earth.”
She also allegedly told him that something bad had happened on the property and that Michael’s body was buried there.
(WESH2)
After obtaining a search warrant, investigators returned to the home and discovered Shaver’s body buried three feet under the fireplace. He was covered by a tarp and sheets.
An autopsy determined he was killed by a single gunshot to the back of the head. Authorities have determined that Shaver was killed between Nov. 7, 2015, when he quit his job via text, and Nov. 10, 2015.
Three days after Shaver’s body was found but before it was identified, a postcard from Orlando was sent to Shaver’s home. It read: “Tell the kids I love them, see you soon, Mike.”
Shaver’s manager told investigators he had never missed a day of work without calling and was unlikely to leave his tools at work. A message, believed to have been sent by Shaver, said her husband’s employer could keep his tools. A co-worker visited the home to check on Shaver but was told by Shaver that he had gone to Georgia, although her husband’s vehicle was still on the property.
Shaver’s family and friends then began receiving odd text messages. One of them addressed to his sister, read: “Everybody just needs to start leaving me alone like they did my whole life.”
A text message to his niece also said: “Who are you? … I have no family anymore. I have no idea who you are. Now stop sending me messages”
(WESH2)
Other co-workers told police that Shaver had sometimes come to work with bruises on his face, chest and arms, and once alleged that Shaver had hit him with closed fists.
About 10 days after he is believed to have died, Shaver’s debit card was used to buy lingerie which was then delivered to his wife at the family home.
Loans sent to the shaver’s property and purchases totaling up to $5,000 were also allegedly cashed by Shaver, police said.
Several witnesses interviewed by investigators claimed that Shaver began selling her husband’s firearms, allegedly telling potential sellers that she was also selling his truck and house for $150,000.
Authorities believe the fireplace was built between March 2016 and the concrete slab was completed in September of that year. Ms. Shaver and her boyfriend reportedly continued to work on the fireplace in the summer of 2016, posting photos on Facebook of their progress.
Police have accused Ms Shaver of impersonating him before and after his death. Investigators believe Shaver pretended to be her husband in an attempt to convince the wife of a man she was having an affair with to file for divorce.
The man told investigators he did not believe her affair with Shaver, believed to have taken place months after Shaver was killed, was serious and continued to break it off after Shaver reportedly had a tattoo of his name near her vagina.
A woman Shaver dated while he and his wife were separated also told authorities she recalled a time Shaver warned her that Shaver had a gun and was upset about their affair.
The woman claimed that Shaver had threatened to tell her family that she was a “domestic offender” and had called her grandmother at 3am.
Investigators claimed in court documents that Shaver had access to four guns at the time she is accused of murdering her husband.
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