Law&Crime Sidebar - Beauty Queen in Murder Scheme Says Ankle Monitor Is Hurting Her Brand

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

A Georgia mom accused in a murder-for-hire plot in the Bahamas claims her GPS ankle monitor is "cramping her style" and preventing her from launching a new career. Lindsay Shiver is petitioning the Bahamian court to remove the monitor and allow her to move back to Thomasville, Georgia, for modeling and influencer work. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down her legal arguments and her difficult history with the judge with Georgia criminal defense attorney Meg Strickler.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Give the gift of everyday luxury this holiday season. Head to https://cozyearth.com and use code LAWANDCRIME for up to 40% off.Place your order by December 12th for guaranteed Christmas delivery. Listening after the 12th? Don’t worry — code LAWANDCRIME still works year-round for 20% off.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A rich and glamorous Georgia mom accused of conspiring with her apparent boyfriend in the Bahamas to kill her husband, says that the ankle monitor she's forced to wear is essentially cramping her style. Lindsay Schaever has been waiting for her trial to start in Nassau for years at this point, and she claims that the GPS strapped to her leg is keeping her full. from launching a new career. We've got the latest on our fight for freedom. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, before we go any further into this,

it's the holiday season right now. You're shopping for people. I know there's people in my life, probably in your life that are very, very difficult to shop for. You know who I'm talking about. Cozy Earth, okay? Let me tell you about Cozy Earth. I didn't know what they were, became our sponsor. We got the products. It's awesome. So whether it's pajamas, loungewear, bedding, their products, are so high quality and luxurious. It's a great gift. Their bamboo sheet set, the best. The fabric is soft, it's cozy,

but it's also designed to help you sleep cooler so you wake up refreshed. And by the way, Cozy Earth has a 100-night sleep trial and 10-year warranty so you can shop and gift risk-free. Give the gift of comfort this season. Head on over to CozyEarth.com. Use code long crime for up to 40% off. Just be sure to order by December 12th

for guaranteed Christmas delivery. But if you're listening after that, don't worry, because my code, still works year-round for 20% off. Hope you can check it out. All right, so we have an update for you on the case of Lindsay Schiver, the former Georgia Beauty Queen, who was apparently having an affair with a man in the Bahamas as she went through a nasty divorce from her husband, Robert, but that's not really what got her in

legal hot water or criminal hot water. We've been covering this case since Shiver's July 2023 arrests for allegedly plotting her estranged husband's murder with two other men. And since then, she's been traveling back and forth between the Southern United States. States and the Ilanation as her case inches towards trial, although it's constantly been delayed. And now we have to talk about what's happening. So authorities in the Bahamas claim that Schiver conspired with her bartender boyfriend, Terrence Bethel, to kill Robert with the help of his associate, maybe friend, Farron Neubold Jr. Now we're going to get more into these specific

allegations against her and her alleged co-conspirators in just a moment in case you don't know more about the story. But we have learned that Lindsay Schiver has made several requests of the Bahamian court. And our question is, is it going to be successful? Is she reaching? To help me break down the details, I want to welcome back on criminal defense attorney Meg, Meg, thanks for coming back here on Sidebar. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Now, Shiver was allowed to come back to the United States during the pre-trial phase. And her case has been delayed several times. The latest change pushes the trial to March of next year,

according to news outlet WDHN. So first let me ask you, as we're thinking about this, is that unusual? How does the international aspect of this case maybe complicate things? I mean, 2026 is a long time away from allegations stemming from 2023. Well, actually, no. Sadly, the criminal justice system, at least in the United States, is that slow. I mean, I have cases where the allegations go back, you know, at least three to five years, or if not longer. So it's just the nature. of the beast. So I'm assuming the Bohemian court system has the same kind of slow, kind of trudging through the system that we have. And it just takes time to go through all the different cases. So I don't find a July 2023 incident in a March 26 trial date to be particularly jarring.

Now, if it gets postponed beyond that, then we've got to start going. Do they have a case? Is it strong? What's going on? There's not a lot of information we have about what the actual evidence is or the structure this case is going to look. But, you know, it's interesting because you have somebody who is now being permitted to travel from one country to the next. Is that unusual? I mean, does that international aspect? Does that complicate things in a certain way? It does. And I think it's very surprising that they left, let her leave the country. We in the United States very rarely allow that. And if we do, especially if it's a federal case, you can get permission to travel. Let's pretend you have a relative that passes away in another country. Sometimes the judge

will allow you to go and deal with that while you're out on pretrial release or supervised release if you're convicted and out on bond or out, you know, serving your sentence that way. But in the context of this storyline, when the charges are where they are and then couple that to be in a different country, I am surprised she's just lucky. I mean, I think they just looked at the case and perhaps the strength of the case. We're not sure yet. And they said, all right, we'll let her out. and we're going to keep her on a 24-hour monitoring system so that she doesn't try to bolt any farther. So as part of her pretrial release, there were certain restrictions. She had to follow a set of rules that were imposed by the judge in the Bahamas.

One of those is that she's required to live with her parents in their remote home in Abbeville, Alabama. It's in the southern part of the state. It's not far from the Georgia line. There were some restrictions. She could travel to Georgia to see her kids, had to apparently let the court know that she was going to do it, It couldn't be near Robert, obviously, the alleged victim in this. Now, this is what we have to talk about. This is the reason we're talking about this case again, because she wants some changes.

One of the things she wants is to ditch the GPS monitor that's strapped to her ankle. Okay? So according to reporting from the Daily Mail, Shiver's attorneys have filed a petition with the Nassau court saying that the monitor is a problem, that it leaves her ankle covered in painful bruises and sores, it disrupts her sleep, traumatizes her cancer, kids. Again, she shares three sons with her ex. The Daily Mail reports that the petition says she is trying to hide the monitor as much as she can, but she ends up missing out on family activities like going to the beach. Meg, there's a lot more here. There's a lot more arguments.

Let's first start there. Now, of course, it's not a fashion item. I'm sure it's disruptive. This is a serious allegation. But if it's causing pain, if it's causing bruises, if it's causing a problem with her kids. You're already shaking your head. It doesn't matter. None of that matters. I don't think it matters at all. I mean, just this weekend, I was at an Apple store and I saw a dude with his kids and an ankle monitor. I giggled. But did I sit there and be like, he's a criminal? No. I mean, it may because it's what I do for a living. But it's something that the courts require so that we can keep an eye on her and her activities. She's on ankle monitoring. We're talking about GPS monitoring. We can see when she walks from one room to the next. That's how insane.

accurate these things are. So that's the kind of, we want to know what you're up to lady kind of activity that they're putting on her. Now, if she didn't have her pickle from last year, I think we'd have a better argument, all right? But the pickle from last year, when she was told don't do this, don't do that, and then she went ahead and goes on Good Morning America. So, you know, the judge is not going to be particularly inclined to care when you already weren't listening to me. I want to talk about Good Morning America and America. minute because, yeah, that complicates everything. But okay, so you're not convinced that because it's uncomfortable or it's embarrassing or creates an issue. Okay. What about this? So the petition

asks that she be allowed to move back to Thomasville, Georgia, where she previously lived with Robert and the kids and apparently a seven-bedroom, multi-million dollar mansion. So she reportedly told the court that actually she has several job offers there, modeling work, influencer work, maybe for a fashion boutique. The problem is ankle monitor is getting in the way of that. By the way, she also claims in the petition that moving back to Thomasville would let her spend more time with her sons without having to make the long drive from Alabama. She says that she wants to get a job to help replenish her finances, which has been primarily used for legal fees over the past couple of years. Meg, convinced by any of those arguments? I think if I was a judge,

I would want substantive arguments on that. So if she had, the influencer one doesn't do me because these new phones, you click on it, you can just put the finger on the ankle monitor and poof, it disappears. So that is stupid. By being on the audio or videos and these kinds of things, we can edit so nobody cares. Now, if she has a great job, and let's pretend it's with Delta Airlines, you would get a letter from Delta Airlines and say, I have given her a job, here's a job offer, these kinds of things. So that's a substantive thing that I can tell a judge, that I have a formal job offer, this is the money I need to make, and I need to be based in Thomasville, then I think the judge can be particularly influenced on that, coupled with

the fact that she'll have closer proximity with her children. And so if both of those work together, hand and glove, the judge may listen to that. Because ultimately, we do want to care about the children, even though this is a criminal case. That part is always an influential aspect to any case. The judge cares. That's interesting. So you're saying those are real factors. Because look, if it was in the United States, I think it's the same situation in the Bahamas. you're innocent until proven guilty, right? You shouldn't, because you're criminally charged or criminally accused, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should lose your ability to make any money

and lose a livelihood and be able to support your children or care for your children. So those are actual real factors. They just have to be backed up by evidence. I didn't know that. Yep, absolutely. And I've had those kinds of cases where the judge really just says, look, we want you to be on a forward trajectory. So if this is going to be something that's going to help you to be on the right road,

they're going to be influenced by that and want to help facilitate. that. Now, if it's BS, therein lies some problems. Okay, so that's a good point. The most important thing in this job is to say, which you don't know. I don't know what this procedure is going to look like, what a hearing like this is going to look like in a Nassau Supreme Court. They're going to hear Schiver's arguments on December 8th. This is according to the Daily Mail. And Schiver, by the way, is expected to return to the island for the actual hearing. Robert is expected to give his response virtually. Maybe you don't know what it's like there, but how would it typically be structured here in the United States? What can we expect from a hearing like that?

Well, I think they're going to want to hear from the alleged victim. So if Robert says, look, I'm still in fear. I have a protective lawyer already in place on making that up. I'm not saying that is the case. And they're already embroiled in a divorce proceeding. We want her to be amongst the care of her parents because she needs it. She needs the structure. I'm making these things up. I don't know if that's the case here. But Robert might argue those things. We want her two, three hours away. The structure is helping everybody. She's with her family. She's got family support.

My children are happy because they have structure in Thomasville. They need to stay where they are to stay in their schooling system that they've been going through. I don't know. But those are things that Robert's going to argue what I want or don't want. He probably is going to want the ankle monitor staying on because, again, those things are actually freakishly helpful. And I'm saying that in a sarcastic way. But when a probation officer in the federal system can look at their phone and just tap, tap, tap, tap and look down and say, oh, I see where your client is, that's a little jarring to me. But that is how it works in the system

here. They can do it live activities, see where your client is. And I don't think Robert's going to want that to change because of the implications of what happened in the past. But like you said, you expect Schaver, or at least she should present substantive evidence about the issues with the ankle monitor, her ability to earn work, her ability with children. By the way, Does an alleged victim in a case get access to the ankle monitor? Will they know where a defendant is or no? No, not at all. Now, again, divorce proceedings are different.

So I don't know what protective orders and these kinds of things are happening. But no, no, no, no. The victim is not involved with that period. I've just seen it with respect to clients of mine who violate the terms of their release. Because remember, you can be on ankle monitor. But if you're on house arrest, which means you're not allowed to leave your house unless you can go to the doctor, et cetera, et cetera. you have proscribed reasons you can leave your house. Clients sometimes take a little liberty with that.

And then that's where the GPS monitoring is very specific. So if you pulled into the gas station and then there's a hemp store next door or liquor store, you can't go to that liquor store. I'm just coming to an example. The ankle monitor will show that you did that. Or if you come to my office here, I'm on the 30th floor. If you tell the ankle monitoring service that you've come to my office, don't be going to the second floor to go to the restaurant.

They'll know. Wow. Wow. That's interesting. By the way, real other quick question, does it alert? Is there somebody watching it 24? Like, how does it work? Is there a system that alerts it? Like, or somebody watching it? Well, that depends. I mean, it really depends. If you've already peaved off the probation officer in the federal system, they're sitting there monitoring you. But normally, it's an app. And so you can get like 24-hour reports. And it's kind of like you would get on, I'm trying to think of an analogous situation, but the reports will just sit

there and show you every place that's gone. And then you can actually get the visuals, too. So the visual would be like an actual visual of a map of where you went. And it's cool, but it's all so scary. In my opinion, it's a little Orwellian, but it's just the technology that they have now. I'm talking about the federal system. I don't want to tell you what the state of Georgia has. What I'm describing is the federal stuff. And right, and we don't know exactly for sure. I mean, there's been photographs of Lindsay Schaever with this ankle monitor, but we don't know the exact specifics. Now, something you mentioned before, to be clear, Schiver has already gotten in hot water with Bahamian justice system before. Now, we're going to

talk about that in a minute, but first, I just want to quickly, quickly take a look back at how we even got here in this story. Okay? So this all dates back to April 2023 when Robert filed for divorced. He was citing adulterous conduct by Schiver. Now, she countered in May, saying the marriage was irretrievably broken with no hope whatsoever for reconciliation. She also claimed that any sort of relationship she had with anyone else was done when she and Robert were separated. This is according to reporting from Us Weekly magazine. Now, a couple months later, police were called out to the family's Thomasville home. Robert, the boys, they were headed to this luxurious property in the exclusive Baker's Bay area of the Bahamas on a private plane.

Lindsay apparently wanted to tag along, but Robert refused, saying she was just going to see her island. boyfriend and he wasn't having it last three weeks maybe longer she's had her couple's trip playing with her boyfriend and go to key west okay but she just said you're going that was the key west i'm taking my kids my three boys to Bahamas his kids her kids yesterday she's in the message saying that she's going to change her plans and now get on the airplane with me and the kids to go to Bahamas. And when we plan, she's going to go to her boyfriend. Elsewhere.

And me and the kids are going to our house. And I told her about supporting that. And you're not getting on the airplane. That can mess with the kids' heads. And it's just something we're not going to do. In situations like this, the best thing that we always recommend is y'all separate. Don't just separate from each other. You don't need to be going on vacation together if you file for divorce and it's obviously a volatile

situation. And according to Bahamian authorities, on this same day is when Lindsay and her boyfriend allegedly plotted the murder for hire plot. Okay, so Bethel was a bartender in the Bahamas. Authorities named him as an alleged co-conspirator. The couple reportedly recruited Neubal to carry out the actual hit. So he's also been charged by Bahamian police alongside Bethel and Shiver. And police say that they uncovered the plot when they suspected the bartender of being involved in or committing an unrelated crime. and they go through his phone. That's when they discover all of this. Now, cops examined

Schiver's iPhone and discovered that she had sent her alleged accomplice, Newbold Jr., quote, several pictures of her husband Robert Schiver, along with a text, stating, kill him. This is according to court documents. This is the allegation. There is also an alleged confession from Schiver to Bahamas police that she told Bethel she wanted to kill Robert. Bethel said he wanted to kill him, too. now she is countered and she said that she was just venting that she never actually meant this she never actually wanted to do robert harm but chiver was arrested she was jailed in the bahamas in july of twenty twenty three she was ultimately released on a hundred thousand dollars bail at the time she wasn't allowed to leave the island and then later on the court agreed that chiver could go back

to the united states she had to live with her parents as i mentioned less than a year later chiver was back on the judge's radar and this is because of what meg said after she appeared in a segment on GMA. Good Morning America. Her attorney said she didn't actually speak about the case in the interview. It was only Bethel who did. The judge said her appearance on national television was basically a slap in the face. In a 14-page order, the Daily Mail says that Justice Cheryl Grant Thompson reportedly wrote, quote, what the respondents have done can be seen by the applicant as a spit in the face of justice. Mrs. Schiever can be seen on the Good Morning America interview parading around in a blue sundress on international television, speaking directly relative.

to the evidence in the trial. The respondents were arrested and charged within the Bahamas. The respondents applied for bail in adherence to the laws of the Bahamas. This court will not accept this blatant disregard for the laws of the Bahamas. By the way, during that GMA segment, Bethel said, nobody ever wanted him dead. I'm definitely not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. And Farron's not guilty of being a hired hitman. It's time to let the world know we're innocent. So Shiver spent the holidays last year behind bars. Once again, released on bail. But Meg, you made the point that that was a big no-no. That was a big gaffe. You were told to do these very strict things with your release.

You were lucky to come back to this country and then have the freedom to go wherever you want, just as being monitored. That's actually a freedom. So the pretrial publicity, and the one thing that when she's asking to be a social media influencer, I would advise against that. Go get a job that has nothing to do with the internet and putting you anywhere out there because that could, again, clash with pretrial publicity by accident. Who knows what could be construed as something dangerous? And I wouldn't want to go back to a jail in the Bahamas. Thanks, but no thanks.

Just follow the rules. But you believe, like, if you had to take a guess during this hearing that's coming up in a couple of days, this GMA segment is going to be part of the conversation? 400%. Yes. Because you already have violated the terms of your release. So if you're asking to modify the terms you were released, you better believe the prosecution and the judge are going to be reminded

and or remember that we had a problem in the past. Why should I believe you now or want to be nice to you? Now, one of the things as a defense lawyer is to be like, she's been good otherwise, and I would argue that. I would. I'd be like, there's been no other issues. It's just that one, pretty harsh one, and it's a really bad one. I mean, going on national, international TV.

And although she didn't talk about the case, the other gentleman did, as you just referenced. Highly from that. Yeah, by the way, I don't know if we had a chance to really talk about the substance of this case, but generally speaking, I know there's not a lot of information. I said I said it before. There's not a lot of like what the evidence is and what, I mean, there's a little, you can get a certain sense. Generally speaking, your experience, ledge murder for higher plots, these kinds of cases, what can we expect from how it's prosecuted and how it's defended? It's going to be all about, the phone. I guarantee

that the text messages and or money sent or transferred will be everything. The conversations will be everything. It may not be, you know, it'll be something, you know, I say the phone, but digitally. So you could be texting on WhatsApp on your computer as well. Who knows, but I virtually guarantee that is. They found a treasure trove

on the bartender's phone. It wasn't just a couple text messages. That I can kind of assume because it wouldn't have just been one when they accidentally fell upon it. They fell upon a large conversation amongst them and were like, whoa. And then dug further to corroborate and looked at Schiver's phone as well to corroborate. And then she said, yeah, I did do that. Not helpful. Does it become difficult trying to prove what the intent is?

If you catch somebody in the early stages of it, right? Like there'd be a difference if you had a case where they're paying money, this alleged man goes to the person's house and right before they go through the door, police grab them, right? You have like an overt act that's taken. If it's early in the stages, can it be difficult to prosecute? Again, I don't know the full complexities of this case. I don't know the full details of this case, but could it be challenging? Yeah, and I think that's why I was saying about the money. I feel like there couldn't have been just conversations. I don't think conversing about these kinds of things, albeit not particularly palatable. It's something that one could text about.

we all text very heavily about things. I have a suspicion there was some money sent. Or like you said, the word overt act. There was something, some step taken. Like you said, taking the pictures of the husband and saying, here's what he looked like. He'll be here at 10 a.m. He works out at the gym at 10 a.m.

I mean, those kinds of things would be some direction. Say, you know, next Tuesday he'll be there. Might be when you want to do it. Those are kinds of things that would lead it to, we're not just talking about things. Over at Act, it's the lawyer in me talking about legal terms of like. Yeah, you were on it. By the way, let me ask you about this.

So Robert, okay, so Robert, this former player for the Atlanta Falcons turned insurance executive. He was moving on with his life. He started dating again. In fact, I don't know if a lot of people know this. He made headlines when he started dating Savannah Crisley of Chrisley knows best. So the two dated for, I think, more than a year. Things ultimately fell apart. And on her podcast called Unlock, Us Magazine reports that Chris,

essentially blame Shiver for damaging her relationship. Quote, there was a time where she tried to get the courts to say I wasn't allowed around the children. I think with all the chaos that she brought her way, or she brought our way, it was too much for Robert to handle. I know it was too much for him to handle, and so she got what she wanted. It's that simple. You once again destroyed another thing in your life and other people's lives. Meg, I think that's really interesting because, you know, Shriver only faces charges in the Bahamas. She's staring down, I think a possible 60-year prison sentence if she's convicted. But could she face any sort of civil or criminal liability here in

the United States at some point? I'm only going to guess just from prior cases that contentious divorces almost always kind of bleed into the criminal world. There could be protective order issue. She doesn't comply with court orders in civil world that says, you know, you got to give the custody agreements, you know, Friday at 9 p.m. or whatever. All these things can bleed. She doesn't get her alimony she files contempt to courts on that who knows so yes it can bleed and also the protective order turns into really chaotic horrible stuff where it says i don't want you anywhere near me and then all of a sudden we see that she went near that person i can turn into aggravated stalking which is a felony and you don't get bond so it can here in Georgia so it can get complicated fast

i have a strong suspicion from what you just referenced to that this is a very contentious divorce and the custody dispute is probably ongoing. I have not looked at the docket. You're making me want to log off from this and go look at the docket because I have a feeling there is some serious tea there with respect to contentious divorce proceedings. I have not looked, but I have a feeling there is. And you have to imagine in a case like this, that's going to come out, right?

Like if you're talking about a murder-for-hire plot, understanding their relationship, what led to the divorce, all of that, alleged extramarital affair, all that makes it. its way in there. Not for gossip, not for sensational spin, but it goes to the structure of this case. It goes to intent. It goes to those kinds of aspects. So I imagine we're going to probably learn more. Hopefully, if this happens in March, there's thorough reporting on it, but we'll continue to follow. We've been following here on Sidebar. Meg Strickler, thank you so much for coming on. Great seeing you. Thank you so much. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.

Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.