An informant claims to have been offered $10,000 per month as part of a murder-for-hire plot in Austin.
Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy, 19, and Jaclyn Alexa Edison, 19, were booked Tuesday evening into the Travis County Jail. They were charged with soliciting to commit capital murder.
Theodore Shaughnessy, 55, the longtime owner of Gallerie Jewelers in central Austin, was shot and killed on March 2.
His wife called 911 that morning at 4:45 to report a home intruder.
According to court documents, Theodore Shaughnessy heard the family dogs barking. He grabbed his firearm to check the house. Less than a minute later, his wife heard gunshots, so she grabbed her gun just as the suspects fired at her. She returned fire “until she ran out of ammunition.”
According to an arrest affidavit, there were bullet casings throughout the kitchen and in the couple’s bedroom. Detectives discovered an open window in Nicolas Shaughnessy’s bedroom.
As detectives investigated, they discovered Nicolas and Edison married in July 2017. A search of their apartment revealed bullets which matched the casings found at the crime scene.
Nicolas was said in court records to be the beneficiary of $2 million in life insurance in the event that his parents died. Police were told that Nicolas thought he might get $8 million if the family home and business were added up with the insurance.
Detectives found a text conversation Nicolas had with a friend on Aug. 2, 2017 saying “plastic gloves ski masks.” The friend responded “no no no.”
Nicolas responded, “Fine fine. Just walk in shoot a family steal all their s–t.”
On March 3, one day after the shooting, Nicolas asked the same friend if he wanted to see pictures of the crime scene and “joked about being ‘demoted’ from a person of interest.”
Court records said an informant told detectives that Nicolas offered $10,000 per month for killing his parents. The informant said one conversation happened inside a car where Nicolas and Edison were present.
Nicolas and Edison were staying in College Station when they received news of the shooting. A woman from College Station called police to say Nicolas contacted her on social media and said if she wanted to make some cash.
She claimed, according to court records, that Nicolas wanted “illegal activities” and anything “from strippers to murders.” She quoted him as saying he would pay her $20,000 a head with a $15,000 incentive and ended the message with skeleton emojis, according to court documents.
The home’s alarm system showed the system was remotely accessed three different times the night of the shooting. Detectives say it was traced back to Nicolas’ apartment in College Station.
Nicolas was held on a $3 million bond. Edison was held on a $1 million bond.
(Information from KXAN.com)
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