A Florida woman who blamed her daughter for the death of her husband has now been convicted of his murder, almost 10 years after he was killed. The woman maintained that her late husband was abusive, and said that during an assault, her 7-year-old daughter shot her husband in the head, killing him. The daughter corroborated the story on the witness stand.
In addition to blaming her daughter for the murder, she also evaded arrest for three years by pretending to be her husband, even though she had buried him in their backyard long before. Now, she is awaiting her sentencing for murder.
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Jurors found her guilty of second-degree murder.
A jury found 41-year-old Laurie Shaver guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm in the death of her husband Michael Shaver, WFTV reported. According to prosecutors, Laurie Shaver fatally shot Michael Shaver in the back of the head at their home in 2015. She then spent the next three years pretending that Michael was still alive.
Everything changed in 2018.
In 2018, police were sent to the Shaver home to perform a wellness check on Michael Shaver, and his remains were eventually found under a concrete slab in the home’s backyard.
Law & Crime reported the sheriff’s office saying, “From November 7, 2015 until Michael’s body was discovered, Laurie Shaver continued to tell friends and family that she saw and spoke to Michael Shaver and that he was stalking her.”
She was also reaching out to his friends and family during that time, posing as Michael, to tell them that he was relocating to Georgia, and to stop contacting him. He would send messages like, “Leave me alone, don’t bother me,” “Everyone just needs to leave me alone just like they did my entire life,” and “I don’t have a family anymore.”
Laurie Shaver has maintained her innocence this whole time.
At the time of the discovery, Laurie Shaver accused her then 7-year-old daughter of being the one to shoot her husband while he was beating and threatening to kill her. Her daughter, who is now a teenager, maintained that she was the one who committed the crime on the stand last week after calling her mom her “best friend.”
“And I grabbed her, and I grabbed her gun. And I went back out, and I went to the door. The door was already open. And he had my mom on the ground still. Still laying on the ground. Still kicking her. And I shot him,” the daughter said, WESH reported.
Multiple outlets reported that the jury struggled with the teen’s testimony because details, including what month Michael Shaver was killed in, would change.
Laurie Shaver also tried to pin the crime on an ex-boyfriend.
Since her arrest, and especially during the trial, Laurie Shaver alleged that her ex-boyfriend, Jeremy Townsend, walked over to Michael and shot him in the head a second time to ensure that he was dead. She also accused Townsend of disposing of Michael Shaver’s body while she took her children to school.
Townsend testified against Laurie Shaver for the prosecution, denying any involvement in the murder. “I did not know who Mike was,” WFTV quoted Townsend as saying. He also maintained that he wasn’t lying when the defense attorney asserted that he wasn’t being truthful about his interactions with the family.
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There is still some time before sentencing.
WESH reported that Michael Shaver’s family read a prepared statement after the verdict was delivered.
“Elation, elation we were very happy this was a long time coming,” his sister Stacy Turner, read. “He did not deserve what happened to him,” the statement read. “His friends and family and now the public know what a great man he was, he will forever live in our hearts.”
Laurie Shaver will face sentencing on November 25, 2024. She faces up to life in prison.
