Criminology - Ted and Corey Shaughnessy

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

Corey Shaughnessy went to bed one night and woke up to find herself in a nightmare cowering in her closet between 2 rows of hangers and calling 911. Gunshots rang out some of which she fired in self-defense. She soon found out that her husband, Ted, had been shot and killed. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss Ted and Corey Shaughnessy. Police had to try to find out who would want to kill the affluent couple who owned a successful jewelry store. Was this a robbery gone wrong or someone who knew the Shaughnessys and had a different reason to want them dead? You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology   An Emash Digital production  

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Here we come. Join the personal health revolution today at stello.com. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Everyone and welcome to episode 325 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford.

How you doing, buddy? I'm doing good. I'm feeling back to full strength. Something I haven't been at over the last couple episodes. So happy to be back in the saddle. Yeah, you sound much better. Your voice was, you know, struggling. that first week especially and even last week I could tell you weren't 100%.

Yeah, trying to take the vitamins and the emergencies and stuff and just boost that system up a little bit. Well, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had no breakfast at this Tiffany's, Spencer T and D. Simmons. So a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you to everybody that takes the time to support the show. We can't thank you enough for anyone else that would like to head over to patreon.com. slash criminology. All right. We're diving right in. And, you know, like many of the cases we cover,

this case that we're discussing in this episode involves a story of betrayal and grief. What happened to something most people wouldn't really know how to prepare for it, because it's something they likely couldn't imagine happening to them. Corey Shaughnessy went to bed one night and woke up to find herself in a nightmare, cowering in her closet between two rows of hangers and calling 911, saying, I'm in the closet. There were shots fired. Help me. And when you think about more betrayal and greed, how many cases revolve around that?

And I would say especially greed. Money just seems to, you know, be at the root of. so many true crime cases. And I think it says kind of cases that are easier to solve for police too because, you know, that's one of the biggest factors in many of those crimes. And you talked about, you know,

making it easier to solve. Well, you've heard that old saying, right, follow the money. You know, there's a trail who benefits. And so I do think there's an element of that.

When money's involved, when greed's involved, you know, obviously much easier to solve. a case like that, then it would be a random serial killer, where the person has no connection whatsoever to the victim. It was long before the sun had even started to come up on March 2nd, 2018, when Corey and her husband, Ted, were awoken in their Austin, Texas home by a strange noise in the darkness.

Their dogs heard it, too, and began to bark. Ted got out of their bed to investigate the source of the noise, and he armed himself with a 45-calibre Glock handgun. Moments later, Corey heard the unmistakable sound of multiple gunshots. Corey thought that some of the shots may have been fired by Ted as he realized there was an intruder in the home. But she also thought that some of them were a return fire from an unknown suspect. Corey grabbed her own 357 handgun, which she kept on the headboard, and fired through the darkness toward the intruder until she ran out of ammo. Reloading would have taken precious time, and it also would have been a difficult task in the dark with adrenaline pumping.

So instead she ran into the bedroom closet and closed the door, trying to barricade herself inside. As she called 911 for help, she could hear someone moaning through the door, but wasn't sure if it was Ted or the person who had broken into their house. And to me more if you know, as you went through kind of this scenario, my first thought was this would be a very scary one. You think someone is broken into your home, all of a sudden there are gunshots. Well, who's shooting? Is it your husband? Is it an intruder? But then, you know, another scary thought is grabbing a gun and just unloading it kind of into the darkness.

Because who are you firing at? That's also a scary thought to me. Yeah, I think once Corey's adrenaline got flowing, you know, that totally. over and she just was in that fight or flight sense and she decided to fight and just unloaded. But you're right, it could have been Ted that she was shooting at. She didn't know. But I understand why she was, you know, so frightened and decided to try and defend herself. But one thing about the intruder, this is Texas.

A lot of people have guns. It turns out both Ted and Corey had guns. So this intruder was really taking a chance going into this house. Well, I think you're taking a chance in Texas when you break into someone's home. Like you said, there are a lot of people who own firearms in Texas. Now, this is Austin, Texas, but still, when officers arrived at the Shaughnessy home, 55-year-old Ted Shaughnessy was dead on the floor next to the table in the kitchen. According to CBS News, he had been shot multiple times in the head, the back, the thigh,

and the buttocks. Sadly, one of the family's dogs, a Rottweiler named Bart, had also been killed in the shootout. He was found at the foot of the Shaughnessy's bed. A shocked and horrified Corey made her way out of the closet and was greeted by responding police officers and was given the shocking news that her husband was dead. Detectives were called in and they questioned Corey to try and figure out what happened. After speaking with detectives, Corey called their son, 19-year-old Nick Shaughnessy, to break the news. Their son, Nicholas, who went by Nick, and his girlfriend, Jacqueline Edison, who went by Jackie, had moved into their own apartment together in August 2017.

At first, Nick's parents weren't very happy, but eventually warmed up to Jackie. Nick didn't see himself as a great fit for college. Instead, he wanted to day trade stocks for a living. His parents gave him a loan for $30,000 so that he could get started. They wanted to support his dreams, but they weren't happy about the fact that he didn't want to go to college. Knowing that pushing him would cause more attention, they hoped that his girlfriend Jackie would eventually talk him into going to college. Jackie was an engineering student at Texas A&M, and in the minds of Nick's parents would be the best one to show him the benefits of going to college. So they ended up being supportive of this move, hoping that eventually he would come to his senses and everything would work out.

After learning about Ted's murder, Nick and Jackie rushed from their home in College Station, Texas, to be by Corey's side. Afterwards, they would move back in with her so that she wasn't alone. The Shaughnessy's owned gallery jewelers at 35th in Jefferson Streets in North Central Austin. Ted was the registered jeweler and Corey worked as the gemologist appraiser. Because of their work, police wondered if the attack was related to their business. It's common for people to target victims in professions like this. The jeweler's security alliance even has a list of tips and precautions. For home security, the jewelers are advised to follow.

The seemingly most obvious motive for this tragedy was burglar. Sometimes jewelers will keep some of their product at home or carry large sums of cash with them. So the burglary angle at first seemed like a logical place to start. Detectives couldn't find anyone with a motive to attack the Shanesees. They were well-liked and respected. Corey and Ted had been married for 30 years. In fact, they had just celebrated their anniversary together in January.

Corey and Ted met in the 1980s at a video game arcade in Phoenix, Arizona. After they were married and opened their jewelry store, they still felt like something was missing. So the couple decided to adopt the child. In 2000, they traveled to Ukraine, where they adopted the 16-month-old Nicholas. Corey told CBS news of adopting their son. It was just instant love. All the 1980s video game arcade. You know, I remember it like it was yesterday, Morp.

I mean, that was the place to be. We had one at our local mall and it's where everybody wanted to hang out. Get some quarters. You could play games for hours. Now, there's really very little need for. for a video game arcade. Most people have one in their home in the form of an Xbox or a PlayStation or something like that.

Yeah, it seemed like there were arcades on every corner back then. There were so many. They were so popular. But I'm one of the oddballs that wasn't in its arcade games. I was sort of bored there and I'd only go there to hang out with my friends and stuff. Well, I think you and I have talked offline. You've never been a big gamer.

I don't think, have you? No. Now, me on the other hand, even in my 50s, I still play games. I love to play video games. But I want to talk about, you know, this idea of Corey and Ted marrying, having seemingly a good life, but feeling like something was missing. And so they decided to adopt. And they traveled all the way to Ukraine to adopt a 16-month-old boy. But this instant love terminology. that Corey used with CBS News, that really hit me because that's exactly, you know, what it was for me as well

with both of my daughters. It's amazing how you can instantly fall in love with someone who has just entered your life. They all of a sudden become everything to you. And in this case, it wasn't even their natural child. They didn't conceive this. child, but it seems they loved him right from the beginning. The couple worked to build a very nice life for themselves and their son, both personally and professionally. Ted had connections with jewelers from other states, and the store was trusted by those in the community. Many customers had stories of Ted, helping them in their time of need or doing a good deed for them. Customer Anthony Zannon told My NBC15, Ted was really

kind and humble and he really wanted to get to know you and your story. Another customer told KTSM.com, if you were not having a good day when you walked in the store, he would just have this glow and cheerful nature that would make you feel all better. Even when authorities dug into Ted's personal life, they couldn't find anything negative. Detective James Moore told CBS News, everybody loved Ted, didn't have any enemies. The Shaughnessy seemed like they were prepared to defend themselves, and it had almost two dozen firearms in the home, which was a two-story with a pool on a sprawling five-acre property. Even if a thief or burglar didn't know that jewelers lived there, it was a pretty enticing

target, as it was clear that wealthy people lived there. The police continued to believe that a burglary gone wrong was the most likely scenario. All that was left was to find the identity of the would-be burglar turned murder. The shootout happened before they even got a chance. to steal anything, and they fled in a hurry empty-handed. Investigators looking through the crime scene noted that there were two different calibers among the shell casings scattered throughout the kitchen. The 357 caliber Corey had used was a revolver, and it didn't eject shell casings, so none of the casings were from shots she had fired.

There were also no 45 caliber casings found. Ted's Glock had a full magazine, and there was no round chambered in it. All of the shots Corey heard were from the intruder's guns. authorities were looking for two guns used by the killer killers. One was a 40 caliber and the other was a 380 caliber. There were no signs of forced entry to the home, which had a working security system, but there was a single window open. Corey confirmed with detectives that they only armed the system when they were leaving the house.

So it hadn't been active overnight. The window could have been opened by the intruder and it may have been this noise that caused. that caused the dogs to start barking, which woke up the Shannes. The open window was in the room that was Nix, when he had lived at home. The screen for that window had been removed and was still leaning up against the exterior wall when investigators did their sweep of the scene. It's unknown when the screen was removed, but it was clearly the point of entry and exit for the intruders.

Fingerprints were found on the glass and collected as evidence inside the room, with the open window, there was a box that should have held a 40-caliber handgun, but it was empty. This box and the missing gun belonged to Ted. So it appeared that Ted's own gun had been used in the attack. It was ultimately the 380 rounds that were found in his body at autopsy. Whoever had fired at Ted with the 40 caliber had missed him. So I understand the burglary angle that police looked at first. I mean, you know, they're interviewing people. They can't find anybody who has anything, you know, against Ted and Corey.

They're wealthy. They own their own business, a jewelry store. You could see why police would theorize they could be the target of a burglary gone wrong. But here we are talking about a lot of different guns. We've talked about four different calibers. of guns. Corey has a 357. Ted has a 45. But now we find out that two other guns were used in the shooting, a 380 is what was used to shoot Ted. But there was also a 40 caliber that was fired that was thought to have belonged to Ted. And that kind of stuck into my mind because it's like, you know,

Did the intruders just happen to find this? Or did they know it was there? Yeah, it does seem like it would be awfully lucky in the middle of the night to sneak into a house, find a box with a gun in it, and open it up and use that gun in the attack. So, like, probably was a red flag for police. A red flag for sure. And it also might change the mind, right? Of some investigators from, well, are these complete strangers?

or could this possibly be someone known to the Shanesee? After looking at all the evidence at the scene, investigators slowly began to believe that a burglary gone wrong was not what likely happened. It seemed less and less likely that the Shaanasi's home had been chosen for burglary. More and more, it started to appear like some kind of inside job. Fingerprints on the open window belonged to the contractor

who had installed the glass. One of the first potential suspects police considered was Ted's wife Corey. She hadn't been hurt by the supposed intruders, and she did stand to gain financially from losing Ted. Corey was the sole beneficiary of Ted's quite hefty life insurance policy. In the event of his death, she would see a payout of a million dollars. She tried to cash in this policy and get the money within weeks of Ted's murder,

which really kept her at the top of the suspect list. And we talked about it earlier, right? Greed, money, follow the money. Well, police are doing that. Here you have a million dollar life insurance policy. Well, who's the beneficiary? It's Corey, and she does try to cash in this policy pretty quickly on the heels of Ted's murder, so you could see why the police would keep an eye on her.

When she learned she was a suspect, it really angered Corey. In her mind, money meant nothing when you lose the love of your life. your husband of 30 years, the father of your child, your business partner, she was a victim too. But no one seemed to be treating her that way. She had her home, her safe space, invaded, lost her husband and her dog, and could have easily been killed herself. When she hid inside that closet with a gun that had no bullets in it, she was a sitting duck. If the intruders had wanted to, they could have hunted her down and killed her in her own bedroom closet. Well, it turned out that Corey had a good reason for trying to get her hands on the life insurance money.

She needed the money to run the business without Ted. Nick and Jackie began to work there to try and keep it open so income was coming in. Corey told CBS News of being treated like a suspect, I was extremely angry at the sheriff's department. By all accounts, Ted and Corey had a good relationship and she had no motive to kill her husband. The evidence that the scene backed up her claims, and it seems that the crime unfolded exactly as Corey said it did. With no real reason to suspect, Corey, police moved on to other suspects. They were looking at Corey and Ted's son, Nick Shaughnessy.

Detective James Moore noticed that when Nick came to his parents' home after being notified of the murder, he seemed to make a beeline straight for the open window in his old bedroom. This window wasn't visible from the front of the home, and he would have no way to know that this was the point of entry when he decided to go check it out. Detective Moore, who initially figured that Nick must have overheard the detail from someone on the scene, told CBS News, I didn't automatically get super suspicious, but it was catching my attention. Hey there, it's Wayfair here, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone.

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Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. So police were looking at Corey initially, which really ticked her off. And I don't blame her. You know, you just lost your husband. You went through this terrifying ordeal. I think anybody would be upset with the thought that the police were looking at you as having had, you know, some hand in this, but then it seems as though they switched gears and they began looking at Nick. On March 10th, 2018, just eight days after

Ted's murder, Corey hired an attorney for her son Nick, who she thought was being wrongfully accused or possibly even framed. In Corey's mind, there was no way Nick had been involved, let alone responsible for this. Like the Shaughnessy home, Nick and Jackie's apartment also had a security system. But the younger couple's system had surveillance cameras. Investigators reviewed their system and were actually surprised at how many cameras there were for such a small place. Looking through footage from this system, investigators learned that they were telling the truth

about their whereabouts. They had been at home and college station about two hours of from Nick's parents when Ted and Corey were attacked. This seemed to give them a solid alibi. Detectives couldn't shake off that this seemed like an inside job, but if not Ted's wife or his son, who could be responsible? Police felt that the killers were not strangers to Ted, and detectives wondered about the possibility

that Nick had mentioned his jeweler parents to the wrong person. Still focusing on the open window in his bedroom, investigators learned that it was pretty common knowledge amongst people Nick's circle that he would regularly use that window to sneak in and out of the house when he was growing up. Some of his friends had even used the window to get in and out of the home undetected, so they could have told others about it too. Could someone who knew the family have been the one targeting them? Despite the security footage that seemed to clear Nick, detectives didn't stop pursuing him as a suspect. Nick would have been the beneficiary of a $2 million life insurance policy

if both of his parents had been killed, even though the overnight alarm hadn't been set by Ted or Corey on the night of the attack. The system detected at 4.27 a.m. that the window in Nick's old room open, there were no other events noted by the system until 444 when breaking glass was detected. A search of Jackie and Nick's safe, which was inside their apartment, turned up valuables like jewelry, and multiple weapons.

There was also a box of 380-6-hour ammunition with just six rounds missing. This is the same brand and caliber of ammo. Recovered from Ted's body during his autopsy, investigators found something else at the apartment, a marriage license. Nick and Jackie had been married since July of 2017, when they were just 18 years old.

Nick's best friend Spencer Patterson, who had been ordained online, officiated their secret wedding. No one knew they were married. Not Corey and Ted and not detectives who had interviewed them multiple times. So this was a pretty odd clue on top of the ammo that was found. And it is odd, right, the fact that no one knew that they were married. But to me, this Sig Sour-380 ammunition, there's six rounds, missing and it just happens to be the same brand and caliber that was recovered from Ted's body.

I mean, if you're a detective more, what do you think it? There's got to be something to it. It's definitely hard to dismiss that and overlook that. A police interview of Nick's best friend, Spencer Patterson, was quite valuable. He admitted he knew about the window in Nick's bedroom. He had used it himself in the past. He knew where the safe inside the home was, and he had a firearm in his car that matched the caliber of one of the types of shell casings found at the scene. In the minds of police,

Nick could have easily given him the murder weapon to hide, or he could have even been the one who pulled the trigger. But data from Spencer's cell phone proved this was impossible, too. It showed that he was at home overnight on March 2nd. The 380 caliber gun that was found inside Spencer's car was tested for ballistics, and was not one of the weapons used inside the Shauna see home the night of the murder. It quickly became clear that Spencer was not at the scene when Ted was murdered,

but he did have information for police. According to Spencer, Nick had asked him to kill both of his parents. According to CBS Austin on January 30th, Nick texted Spencer, asking him if he wanted to earn an easy $20,000 before explaining that the total payment would actually be $50,000, specifying 20 for each as well as 10 extra because 50 is a nice whole number. Nick had also asked Spencer to research how to start a Ponzi scheme and he asked for help with cash drops. This information from Spencer Patterson was damning and elevated Nick to the top of the suspect list

and they began to look much more closely at him including his finances. It turns out that Nick's parents were not the only ones to loan him, money. In 2017, a neighbor in college station also gave Nick and Jackie a loan of about $2,500. Police discovered that in the days before the murder, finances were getting messy for Nick. Nick and his mom, Corey, had an argument over the large loan, and Nick's neighbor was demanding to be repaid and even threatened to go to Corey and Ted. If Nick didn't pay up, the life insurance money would have solved all of Nick's problems. And police came to believe that Nick set out to kill his parents

in an effort to gain the life insurance money. So police felt that Nick was involved, but he also had an alibi for the time of the murder. Since Spencer Patterson had turned down Nick's offer, that meant there had to be someone else that Nick had hired. Investigators just needed to know who had accepted the offer Spencer turned down. There may have been several people Nick talked about this with because it had been on his mind for a long time.

Going back to August of 2017, Nick had been texting Spencer about these murderous fantasies. According to CBS Austin, on August 2nd, Nick told Spencer, just to walk in, shoot a family, steal all their shit, no mask needed because they'll all be dead. One of Nick's friends recalls that he had first thought about faking his own death so that Jackie could collect his life insurance policy and they would be able to pay everyone back. For pretty obvious reasons, though, he decided not to go down this route. Nick had bragged to multiple people. About the $2 million he would receive from the death of his parents

as well as an additional estimated $8 million. That could be his after he sold off all their assets. Police learned that the actual final plan really began to come together in February and that Nick's girlfriend Jackie was also involved. According to CBS News, on the 23rd, Jackie texted Nick asking him, do they want 50K or not? It would later come out that Nick and a guy he knew named Johnny Leon had gone to Nick's home in February to carry out the attack, but Nick told Leon he couldn't get in.

Now that we know about the window in his room, this doesn't seem to add up. Nick later admitted that he was too afraid to go through with it himself. Instead, Nick decided that a guy named Arion Smith should, team up with Johnny Leon to carry out the attack. According to CBS Austin, two weeks before the murder, Nick asked a female employee of the apartment complex he and Jackie lived in if she wanted to make some money through what he called illegal activities, but he wasn't specific at first, telling her it could be anything from strippers to murder.

After talking more, Nick explained he would be willing to pay her a $15,000 incentive, as well as $20,000 ahead. He sent a few skull emojis after this, and the employee did not respond to him. According to CBS News, Nick then asked Jackie to withdraw money from her bank account to pay for the hit. Although Jackie didn't have anywhere near the money they needed, she did take out $1,000 just two days before the murder. So it's starting to become apparent, more if I think, to police, that Nick is somehow involved here. And it comes out later that he thought about being. a part of it and then he chickened out. He was too afraid. Couldn't go through with it.

So he starts lining up people to do this job for him. But it never fails to amaze me. In all of these cases we do where people are just asking around to different people, some of whom they really don't have that close of a relationship with, would you be willing to murder? for money. And in this whole text exchange with skull emojis and and this and that, you know, it just kind of blows me away to think that, you know, people would send that type of stuff. How do they know that this person is not going to immediately take that to police? It's amazing in some of these cases, the amount of stuff that people in hindsight, say we find out they talked about with all these different people and nobody came forward to

try and stop it from happening. Well, that's the other side of the coin, right? So, you know, this person stops responding to the text, but doesn't do anything else with them. Doesn't go to police. And why is that? Because they thought, you know, Nick was just joking around. it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that someone would or should be joking around about. Nick had the ADT app on his phone, which gave him access to the security system at his parents' house.

Investigators discovered that he had accessed it multiple times, despite being in college station and really having no reason to do so. He also made sure the alarm was disabled so that Leon and Smith could open the window without anyone being alerted. While police were building a case against Nick and Jackie, they both were living with Corey working at gallery jewelers and planning the engagement party they never had. When Corey found out that her son had secretly gotten married, of course she was disappointed. Nick and Jackie met in their junior year of high school after she moved from New Jersey to Austin

to live with her dad. After her parents separated, Corey recalls meeting her for the first time in 2016 the next year, just one month after they graduated high school, they were married. The Shaughnessy jewelry customer who mentioned earlier, who spoke with My NBC15, Anthony Zanin, recalled going back to gallery drawers after Ted's death and feeling strange about his interactions with Nick. Zananin told My NBC15, he kind of had a stone cold look to him, little bit, something that seemed a little off. But with the amount of people that were coming in and out, I didn't think much of it. Zannon was right to feel something was off with Nick. Finally, when police felt they had enough, Nicholas Shaughnessy and Jacqueline Edison were arrested

on May 29, 2018, they were each charged with capital solicitation of murder. Caleb Miller, one of their neighbors in college station, told KBTX.com, it's not really, really surprising at all that he was involved based on some of the things he would say and called him a weird character who was really out of place with the college setting. When she was interviewed by detectives, Jackie first admitted that she had heard Nick mentioned murdering his parents multiple times in the past, but felt that they were just fantasies that he would never go through with. Eventually, she claimed she had tried to stop Nick, But investigators found no evidence of this.

Instead, they found proof that she had not only known about the plot, but was also planning her new life with the Shauna C's money. Corey told CBS News, I found out that Jackie already picked out the car. She was going to buy her mother with the money that they made. And obviously, you really have to feel for Corey in this whole situation. She's lost her husband. of, you know, a very long time, her business partner, her friend, her everything, probably.

Her son is being looked at along with her son's girlfriend. But at this point in time, they're also living with her. Now, later on, she's going to learn everything. And I can only imagine what that feeling would be like, not only to know what really happened, but to know that these two people were living with you and working at the store and acting, you know, as if they were trying to help you. It had to be very shocking or confusing to see both Nick and Jackie being charged with Ted's murder for her.

Jackie was able to pay her million dollar bond, but Nick couldn't afford his, which was set higher at $3 million. With Nick still in prison, Jackie filed for divorce. While investigators knew that Nick and Jackie were behind the planning the murders, they still needed to find out who had actually broken into the home and pulled the trigger that night. The same cameras that seemed to prove it wasn't possible for Nick and Jackie to be involved were the same cameras that captured two men entering their apartment on February 28th, just days after Jackie asked Nick if they wanted $50,000. One of the two men was wearing a T-shirt featuring the logo of the business, renewal by Anderson. This just happened to be the same company that the Shanesees had hired to complete renovations on their home. The contractor who installed the window in Nick's room that was left open on the night of the murder worked for this company.

Was this proof of a small world or was this a major clue? Police felt it was too much to be a coincidence. And they checked with the company but found out that the man no longer worked for the company and hadn't for years. And he had only worked there a few days in total. But investigators got lucky. In the office was a woman who remembered the man. They got his name, Cameron Vosmec, and were able to track him down. He admitted being asked to kill the Shaneseans, but denied any involvement.

He left as soon as the conversation turned to murder. But the other man seen on their surveillance footage, a 21-year-old Johnny Leon stayed to chat with Nick. and Johnny Leon was arrested in July 2018. Leon's cell phone data placed him in Austin on the morning of the murder. At first, he denied involvement. According to CBS News, he told police, I'm not going to lie to you. When someone offers you 100K, you're going to think about it.

Looking through Leon's phone contacts, one name stood out to police, 21-year-old Aryan Smith. Leon and Smith both had criminal records and had been arrested together for drug possession in 2017. The two had been communicating quite a bit the morning of the murder. Smith claimed that on the morning of the murder, he had been with his girlfriend, and she would be able to verify that for investigators. But his girlfriend had a different story.

While they had been together in a motel the night before, Smith took her car and stopped answering her calls and text for a large part of that morning. She also remembered that he suddenly had a 40 caliber pistol when he returned. And how many times do some of these guys say, you know, I was with my girlfriend. I was with my wife. She'll be able to verify my story. And then it turns out that no, they don't verify the person's story. So, you know, are these guys just taking a shot in the dark or do they truly believe?

that regardless of what they have done, their significant other is going to cover for them. I think there are cases when that significant other will cover tracks and say whatever the perp expects them to say. But there are instances like this one where the partner says, no, you know, that's not what happened.

And thankfully so, right? Because if some of these people were to lie, well maybe it changes the outcome of a case. Smith's eventual story matched the known facts. After being arrested in December 2018, he claimed that after Ted had been shot, they could hear a woman crying in one of the bedrooms

and that he begged Johnny Leon to just leave the house without killing her. They did leave, but it wasn't due to any sense of remorse or mercy. Corey was firing back. and they had no idea how much ammo or how many weapons she had in the bedroom with her. So they fled out of fear for their own lives. He also clarified that he had agreed to help Nick and Leon before he knew what he was actually supposed to do. According to the Austin American statesman,

they told him at the last minute that they were going to kill two people by shooting them and possibly shooting some dogs if needed. And it's always interesting for me, you know, when people start to really open up and tell the truth and clarify things. But a lot of times the clarifications don't make a lot of sense to me. You know, here, you know, this guy is saying that he agreed to hell before he even knew what he was going to be doing and was told at the last minute. Okay. Well, what does that mean? at the last minute you couldn't have said oh no i'm not into killing two people it's it's almost like

that's an excuse had i known beforehand i wouldn't have gone along with it but because it was sprung on me at the last minute i felt like i was too far down the road that doesn't make sense yeah i think sometimes under pressure these people say things that in their mind they think are going to come off sounding right or normal, but in reality, they sound the complete opposite. According to CBS News, during his police interrogation, Smith asked for the harshest punishment. He said, I request the death penalty. I killed somebody. I deserve to die. Simple as that. He also told detectives where he hid the gun he used to kill Ted Shaughnessy. Detective Moore told Smith, you're the only person that's shown regret. And Smith responded by saying,

I'm devastated. I cannot sleep at night. And he asked, how could you kill somebody and not have any emotion about it? While Ariane Smith seemed to show remorse and regret for his role in Ted's murder, Ted's son Nick seemed to do the opposite. According to CBS, Austin, a statement released by Nick's attorney read in part, these allegations are not consistent in any way with the young man we have come to know. Nick has been living with his mother since this tragedy occurred. Miss Shaughnessy stands firmly behind her son. Yes, incredibly, Corey still did not believe. They were involved.

She later told CBS news of her false belief. You could have told me aliens landed on the front yard. And I would have believed that before I would have believed that Nicholas and Jackie planned to have us killed. But after seeing all the evidence against the two, Corey was horrified. It was unthinkable that either Jackie or Nick could have been involved in the murder in any way, but to have taken in the very people who wanted you dead is an entirely new level of shock and betrayal.

She told CBS, I bought all the groceries. I paid all the bills. I bought her clothing. Jackie is not a victim. And we kind of touched on this already, knowing that it was going to come down the line. but now it's happened. You know, Corey had stood behind her son and her daughter-in-law thinking, well, no way they could be involved. And what parent would want to believe that their son or daughter would be involved in an attempt to take their life and an actual murder of one of the parents?

That would be a hard pill to swallow. And then it's this knowledge of, and maybe realization is a better word of just exactly what's been going on for the last few years. She's feeding them. She's paying their bills. These people who had her husband killed and could have potentially had her killed as well. I don't even know how you process those feelings. Yeah. The person that you love the most is dead.

didn't hear the here you were helping and sheltering and supporting the very people who were behind it had to be a real shock to her. And I'm sure she also loved her son very much. So, you know, you add that in the mix as well. Rather than risking a possible death sentence at trial, Nick, who was 22 years old at the time, accepted the plea deal he was offered in April 2021. He agreed to plead guilty and be sentenced to 35 years in prison. He'll be eligible for parole in about 20 years when he's in his 40s. Johnny Leon and Ariane Smith also accepted the plea deal and received the same sentence of 35 years in prison. Jackie also got in on the plea action, but you may be shocked to hear what she got.

She pleaded guilty to attempted conspiracy to commit murder in June of 2003. In exchange for her plea, she was sentenced to just 120 days in prison and 3,000. hours of community service. This seems like an extremely light sentence. Of course, there's always the possibility for her to go right back to prison with just one more mistake because she was

also sentenced to 10 years of probation. If she slips up, she could face 20 years behind bars. For the same duration of her probation, she must also return to jail on the anniversary of Ted's death and spend the night there. In a CBS interview,

Corey called the results of Jackie's plea deal absolutely outstanding. She said, Nicholas and Jackie destroyed my entire world. Nick told Fox 7 Austin that it was a plea deal of the century. And I would have to agree with that. You know, in my eyes, Jackie played a very pivotal role in this whole thing. I mean, she was right in there with Nick. So, you know, 120 days in prison.

300 hours of community service, that doesn't seem right at all. I actually thought that the sentences for Nick and Johnny and Aryan were a little light as well, 35 years. I mean, we are talking about Texas here. And Texas historically has been pretty tough when it comes to sentencing. Yeah, and they have the, they have capital punishment. So you would think that their leverage in penalizing them would be on their side. They'd have strength and be able to make these sentences tougher and longer.

But it does seem like they were pretty lenient with the sentences. And for Jackie, her sentence just seems very, very late for to be involved in such a horrible crime. Yeah, I was expecting, you know, something along the order of, of 35 to life or, you know, something in that range. But the life part wasn't even there. You know, 35 years, you know that parole is going to come up in about 20. I mean, Nick could get out when he's like 42 years old, potentially. That doesn't seem right to me for the crime that was committed.

But Jackie's is the worst of all, in my opinion. And I also found it odd that she, part of the sentence was that she asked to return to jail on the anniversary of Ted's death and spend the night there. I mean, that's good as a reminder. Hey, don't do anything like this ever again. But it is sort of odd something I don't think we see often. No, you're right. I don't know if I've ever heard of that as part of the sentencing. And, you know, people make a big deal about 10 years of probation.

But yeah, it means you can't slip up. But it also means you're free. You're free to live your life. You're not confined. I don't know. I just, yeah, plea deal of the century seems like a pretty apt statement. When asked by CBS News if Corey still loves her son, she said, I don't know that person. I have no idea who Nicholas Shaughnessy is.

I love the person I knew to be my son before this happened. While she'll never be able to get over the loss of her beloved husband, Ted, Corey does want to keep living her life to the fullest, saying, I've been given life. and I need to do something with it. Nick told CBS News, I wish I could tell my mom how truly sorry I am that this is not something I'm proud of and I failed her as a son. My mom stated that I was evil,

but I don't see evil in me. Well, you might not see it, but I'm pretty sure that everybody else sees it. It's evil to try to have your parents kill to get your hands on their money. That is evil. These are the people that raised you and fed you and went to another country to adopt you so they could show you love. And this is how you repay them.

It definitely seems evil. Jackie, despite her very light sentence, still denies a lot of the allegations against her. She told CBS News, I think Nick is saying whatever he has to say to kind of clear his name. And Corey is very much in denial about what really happened. Corey responded to Jackie saying, you knew what was about to happen. And yet you sat home and did nothing because you wanted it to happen. Outsiders looking in had their opinions too. Shawnessy neighbor Brian Colfack told CBS Austin.

He comes from a well-to-do family. He's been given pretty much everything he wants or wanted as a young man. I have no idea what happened in his life that caused him to turn so violent and caused him to turn away from all the things he had been brought up with. And that's one thing about this case more if, you know, we're not talking about allegations of parents who were terrible to their son, right? mistreated him. It sounds, and granted, we don't know everything, but it sounds like from everything that's known, everything that I read, that they love this kid. They gave him everything he wanted.

They, you know, provided for him. They made a nice home for him. He was well treated. So what does it come down to? Money. Greed. He thought that getting his hands on this money was going to solve all of his problem. And to do that, he was okay with both of his parents being killed, if that's what it came to.

After serving her four months sentence, Jackie Edison was released from prison on a October 17, 2023. Nick is still serving his sentence at the Clemens Unit in Brazoria, Texas. Johnny Leon is at the Michael Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas. And Arian Smith is at LeBlanc in Beaumont, Texas. Corey has not responded to the apology from her son, Nick. She told CBS News, it means nothing to me. While it may be a nice or expected gesture,

Corey says she's supposed to be dead and considers herself a ghost. And as Corey put it, Ghost can't speak. So Morph, as we wrap up this episode, you know, we said it early on. Greed.

And that really is at the heart of this case. You have a kid and Nick who, by all accounts, was set up to succeed. His parents did everything they could to put him in a good position, but when he faced a little adversity, he looked for the easy way out, the easy way out for him. Now, it involved killing his parents, but obviously at a certain point, he made the decision that he was okay with that, as long as he got his hands on their money, and he could use

that money to help solve his problem. And I always wonder if these people that do these things really think the entire process through, why am I doing this? What's the long-term outcome? You know, just the fact this is over money and greed and he wanted to financially benefit. I mean, at what point do you say, okay, I can't do this? This is not something that I should be involved in, yet he still went through with it. And in every case that we talk about that's similar, it just blows my mind that that many people decide this is the, route to go and and not turn back from it and decide that they shouldn't do that. There's a part of me that thinks that some of these people do think through all the

consequences, but it doesn't matter to them because at the end of the day, all they're really worried about is what they need. Now, could it have been possible for him to, you know, get out from under his money problems a different way? I'm sure he could have figured something out. Would it have been easy? No. So he chose what he thought was the easy way with very little regard for human life and not strangers, his own parents.

It's just it's hard to figure out. Yeah. And to your point, he thought it was, you know, talking about easy, while it wouldn't have been easy to get. from underneath the financial obligations and stuff that he had,

how easy is prison going to be for him? So, you know, when you weigh that versus that, it just seems like he should have made a totally different decision. Yeah, but I don't think criminals think about that too often. I assume that most criminals think they're going to get away with it. If they really thought they were going to get caught, they wouldn't do it because self-preservation would kind of trump everything else. I think they think that, you know, they're going to get away with it.

They're going to get the money. They're going to solve all their problems. And no one will ever find out. Luckily, most of the time, that is not the case. But I do want to go back to Jackie's sentence. It is still kind of blowing my mind. You know, I look back at the evidence against her. She was very well aware of everything that was going down, everything that was going to happen. And obviously she knew after it happened, who all was involved. I just don't think that was a fair and just sentence for her role in this crime at all. And I'm shocked by it. And I know there are some cases where in order to make, you know, convict multiple people, one person with valuable information in exchange for their testimony will sometimes be given a light sentence.

But it doesn't even seem like that happened here. It doesn't seem like she contributed that much to bringing down Nick and these other guys. So why she received that light sentence, you know, almost as a reward, just doesn't, I can't comprehend it. Yeah, it's a great point. I mean, you know, the three guys took plea deals. As far as I know, you know, they didn't need her testimony to get a conviction. There are times where that happens.

And I understand needing that testimony so badly that you're willing to offer someone kind of a sweetheart plea deal. It just doesn't seem to be the case here. I just don't know why she got off as lightly as she did. I think that the good thing is that at least she did get some kind of punishment. She didn't get away with it. And neither did Nick or these other guys. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

And in the end, I just feel so horribly for Corey. And we can't forget about Ted, right? He lost his life. But Corey was left to kind of, you know, pick up the pieces of not only her husband's murder, but the realization that her son was kind of, the catalyst behind it. Tough. Tough to move forward after that, I would think. Yeah, she essentially lost her son that night as well. Yeah, absolutely. But that's it for our episode on Ted and Corey Shaughnessy. If you love the show and haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a rating,

leave a review. Also, keep telling your friends word of mouth about the podcast really goes a long what? If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to Facebook.com slash criminology podcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast, discussion and fans. So that is it for another episode of criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then for Mike. We'll talk to you next week. Take care of everyone.