Law&Crime Sidebar - Woman Dismembered Green Beret Husband After Learning His Secret: Prosecutors

Episode Date: April 6, 2025

Prosecutors in Cumberland County, North Carolina say Shana Cloud killed her husband, Clint Bonnell, following his announcement that he wanted a divorce. Cloud was arrested when Bonnell’s remains were found in a pond, three months after he was reported missing. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber got some insight on what’s next in the investigation and the consequences Cloud could face with North Carolina criminal defense attorney Kevin Marcilliat.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & 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 North Carolina wife is charged with murder after her veteran husband's dismembered body was found in a pond. Prosecutors alleged travel nurse, Shana Cloud, killed her husband Clint Bonnell amid divorce plans, and possibly an alleged confrontation over a suspected romantic partner. I'm going to break down the goal. gruesome details of this case and get insight of what's next with a North Carolina criminal defense attorney. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber.

What began as a routine welfare check for a missing veteran quickly spiraled into a gruesome and horrifying murder investigation in Cumberland County, North Carolina. We are talking a mutilated body, an alleged crumbling marriage, and a wife who's now accused of murder. your husband in cold blood. After Clint Bonnell, a retired Special Forces soldier and aspiring physician's assistant, vanished back in January, and this was described by the way as very out of character for him to do this, this left his family demanding answers. But now, over two months later, authorities are pointing the finger at his wife, Shana Cloud, a traveling nurse and former Virginia Department of Corrections employee. You see, Cloud was arrested on March 29th, now sits in jail, charged with first-degree murder, and the concealment of an unnatural death.

And what authorities believe she did to her husband is beyond disgusting. This all began back on January 28th, when the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says that Clint, a student enrolled in Methodist University's physician assistant program, failed to show up for morning class. His absence immediately raised red flags. In fact, his sister, Stephanie Furkins, told NBC News, he was completely enaburned with medicine and excited about his career path. He would not walk away from his life and his school and his daughter. So a concerned university employee called the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

When deputies got there, they found Clint's car, his book bag, his wallet, other personal belongings, but no sign of the retired soldier. Now, his wife, Shana Cloud, was there. And she told investigators that she hadn't seen him since the day prior, January 27th. She told police they had both been at Fit for Life. gym, but then they left in separate vehicles with Clint allegedly heading to Methodist University to study for an upcoming exam. But something didn't add up here, because in the arrest affidavits that were obtained by

law and crime, police noted that the car that Clint typically drove a Mercedes-Benz was parked at their home. They also noted that Cloud declined to file a missing persons report, and she said that she had no recollection of Clint returning home that evening, and when she woke up, his car was parked outside, but he was nowhere to be found. Now, later that same day, a second call came in, this time from someone unexpected. It was Clint's girlfriend. Yes, he apparently was having an affair, and she also requested a welfare check. And at this point, police began investigating this as a missing person's case. And we will get to this relationship in a minute. But I want to

bring on right now, special guest, North Carolina, criminal defense attorney Kevin Marciliott. Kevin, thanks so much for taking the time and coming here on Sidebar. Appreciate it. Good morning. Good to be here. We're big fans of the show. Oh, well, thank you. Thank you.

I want to take this piece by piece with you. Let's just start with what I've laid out so far. What are the red flags? What are your thoughts on what you're hearing? I mean, what a wild and tragic story this is. This has recently been all over the news, all throughout the state of North Carolina. I practice down in Wilmington, down on the coast of North Carolina. Fayetteville's about an hour and a half away, but, you know, this one has hit the news everywhere.

And it's, Cumberland County is a truly interesting place where you tend to get cases that are a bit beyond the pale. But even for Fayetteville, this one is, this one is something that I've never seen. And I've handled homicide cases in Cumberland County. It is truly a unique situation. And so the entire case is one giant red flag. Yeah. Well, let's talk about that. The fact that she refused to file a missing persons report, the fact that his car was found at home when Cloud claimed he drove separately, those are problems, right? Major problems that the defense is going to have a really hard time solving throughout this case. However, she's presumed innocent, and as she stands there, she is innocent as her attorney reminded the court at her recent first appearance where she was denied bond. And one thing that sticks out to me as somebody who's handled murder cases in Fayetteville,

it is common there for them to assign some sort of monetary bond, even on a first review murder case. Even if that's a bond that the defendant can't post, it may be $2 million, $3 million. In this case, they denied bond entirely, which in some other counties is common, but not so common in that specific location. And so what that tells me is that the state was able to put on an extremely compelling case at first appearance that that the facts are going to be overwhelming, that the evidence is going to be overwhelming, and that the court should have extreme concern about danger to the community and flight risk, such that no bond should be allowed. Pretty chilling story, to say the least.

But look, thank you so much for coming to us for our coverage on this. And I also want to thank and call out our sponsor and partner Morgan and Morgan. Their support helps us to bring you these stories. Now, this is a firm with over 1,000 attorneys. You know why they have so many? Because they win a lot. In the past few months, Morgan and Morgan, you're at a $9.3 million verdict for a car crash victim in Florida, a $5.6 million

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Let's talk about what led to her arrest. So first we go to this idea, you might be wondering about this girlfriend, right? He's married but has someone else on the side. Well, according to affidavits, this woman told deputies that Bonnell was actually planning to end his marriage to Shana Cloud. According to the girlfriend, Clinton Bonnell spoke with an attorney on Monday, January 27th, 2025 to discuss filing a divorce from Shana Cloud. Clinton Bonnell arrived at the girlfriend's workplace and discussed his recent conversation. with the attorney. Now, the girlfriend says all of this took place around 5 p.m., but here's what's crucial about that. She claims that it was after this conversation that Clint went

to Methodist to study, which contradicts Cloud's narrative that he left to study after they worked out at the gym. So this girlfriend also revealed that Clint had texted her later that evening, and the alleged text message contains another key detail. According to the affidavit, quote, at approximately 1953 hours, the girlfriend received a text message from Clinton Bonnell, notifying her that he was home, told his wife about the divorce, and was going to bed. Two key details come from this. One, Cloud was allegedly made aware of the divorce at a point that is very critical to

this timeline, and two, the girlfriend's narrative suggests Clint did return home, contradicting Cloud's story that she could not recall if he came home. Evan, again, now you're hearing a different party to this, providing a different timeline, and you'll have the text message history as well. What do you make of the conflicting accounts here between Cloud and the girlfriend? Well, motive, motive, motive. I mean, this just screams motive for her to do something after she learns about his affair. And obviously the facts still need to be developed.

It's unclear what she knew about the affair, when she knew about the affair. But the fact that she says she hasn't even seen him. and his car is there and text messages with the girlfriend apparently will confirm that he had told his wife that he was leaving her and had even gone so far as to meet with an attorney, the same day is gonna be an incredibly compelling fact for the state and probably goes a long way to determining why she's in jail with no bond at this moment.

I wanna focus a little bit more on this text messages because just to be clear, text messages in general, so if Clinton had texted his girlfriend at 7.53 p.m. saying he was home, told Cloud about the divorce, the cell phone records could verify that, right? I mean, how accurate are cell phone records? Yes. So, well, first of all, they haven't found his cell phone. So obviously, that's compelling in it of itself, that they find all of his other personal

belongings, they eventually find the backpack, they eventually find the laptop, they find his wallet upstairs, apparently in the master bedroom, where it would often be kept, but they don't find the cell phone, but they do find her cell phone. And so there's cell site information that can be used to triangulate his location at the time and would likely confirm that he was home when he was text messaging his girlfriend. There's the text themselves that corroborate her story about what was going on. There's the meeting with the lawyer that can corroborate what was going on that day. All of those facts are likely going to stack up in a really negative way for the defendant.

And by the way, I mean, if the defense is trying to, would try to challenge the credibility of this girlfriend wouldn't the surveillance footage from let's say the gym or methodist university wouldn't that be the end-all be-all i think that's going to help the state a lot because we're always looking for corroborative evidence because you know everybody's got an angle and we never know who's telling the truth but once you get that corroborative evidence especially through digital evidence that's going to go a long way and in this case they do have corroborative evidence showing exactly when he was at Methodist University because the affidavits indicate they were able to track his time card and when he swiped into study and when he swiped out and even emails that he sent during

that study session that appear to corroborate the girlfriend's version of events and go very much against the wife's version of events. So let's continue the story to continue what happened here. So this whole romantic girlfriend and impending divorce, very messy situation for Clint Bonnell. Now, but according to investigators, that text message to his girlfriend was the last time anybody heard from him. Cell phone records indicate Clint's phone was pinging at his home until January 28th in the morning time, and the data on the phone didn't come back online until January 30th. By this time, detectives had suspected foul play and made a very big move, reassigning the case over to the homicide unit. So the next day, January 31st, investigators returned to Clint's home with a search warrant,

and what they found was absolutely chilling. It's actually penned into the affidavit by the investigating officer. His note reads, Clinton Bottles bookbag was located in the residence, damaged by a projectile, suggesting he may have been harmed. But not just his bookbag. Investigators also noted damage from a probable projectile on a laptop belonging to Clint. So, Kevin, going back to this, you know, the fact that Clinton's phone last pinged at home, on the morning of January 28th.

How does that contradict or support Shana Cloud statements? And also, let's just go back to the idea of, you know, this projectile and what it tells you. Well, I think this is a huge problem for her, obviously. When you pair it with the fact that the body is found, you know, days later in a location three miles from this residence, and you pair it with the fact that her statements

have already been massively contradicted, He has to have come home. His stuff came home. It's almost impossible that she wouldn't have seen him based on the information that we know to be true. And so certain aspects of her story almost cannot be true. Now, that doesn't mean that she's a murderer. That doesn't mean that she's a premeditated murderer,

but it almost certainly means that she's lying. And that's the first problem that the defense is going to have to address is how can she be both lying and innocent at the same time? Those two things often to a jury are not going to add up. So the investigation expands from there. Now we're up to February 1st when investigators ended up crossing into Virginia where Shana Cloud had owned property. And with the help of the Virginia State Police, detectives executed search warrants on her car,

rental home, cell phone, seize the phone in accordance with the search warrant. And that same day, Cloud revealed some additional details about what happened after she says the two of them left the gym. According to the arrest affidavit, after a brief confrontation about a note, Shana Cloud previously located that she believed was from a romantic partner of Clinton Bonnells, she departed from the fit for life and went to a food lion. So now we're learning that allegedly Cloud was aware that Clint had a girlfriend and even appears to admit to confronting him about it at a time that is very critical to this investigation, just one day before he

disappeared. Now, Kevin, they always say that in these kinds of cases that people will allegedly or who are convicted of killing their spouses, it's one of several reasons, right? It's money, jealousy, anger, right? This is now leading into a case that the prosecution can ultimately tell to a jury. Absolutely. And, you know, I think if you're looking at, you know, profiles for female offenders, because, you know, in our business, we defend men. The vast majority of crime is committed, both allegedly and actually by men.

So profiles of female offenders are very interesting to, look at, and I think that's going to be relevant to the state, and I think that's going to be relevant to a jury, is why would she have done this? And here, in many crimes, that's hard to tell the story on, but in this case, they've got a very compelling story that they can tell with facts that are happening in real times throughout the day of the disappearance, and her story's just not adding up. So as investigators continued building their case, Clint Bonnell's family grew increasingly desperate. His sister told ABC 11, I know what he was doing the day that he disappeared and he was making plans for his life and studying for exams the next day. I mean, all signs point

to him vanishing not on his own accord. But then on February 25th, a call came in that changed everything. A resident near 4200 Ganey Road, which is just about three miles from Clint Bonnell's home, reported a horrifying sight. A human torso missing its head, arms, and legs floating in a pond. In a 911 call obtained by WRAL, the distraught caller said it looks like there might be part of a body floating out in the water. It looks like it's been there a while. There's no legs or arms on it or nothing on it. It's in the middle of nowhere. And because of the body's condition, identification was impossible at the scene. DNA samples had to be. to be sent to the North Carolina State Crime Lab and then forwarded to the armed forces medical

examiner system given Clint's military background. And a little over a month later on March 28th, the lab confirmed the worst. These mutilated remains were indeed Clint Bonnell. And within hours of this discovery, Shana Cloud was arrested in charge with first-degree murder and the destruction of a body with the concealment of an unnatural death, both of which are felony charges. As we we were talking about before with Kevin. She was denied bond and prosecutors allege that she shot her husband inside of their home on the night of January 27th when she learned of this divorce and then they claim that she dismembered his body and dumped it into a pond. Kevin made of questions here. First of all, that is disgusting, horrifying. But the ability of somebody to have the means

and opportunity to do this, not only kill somebody, but dismember them. That's the allegation. what will you be looking for because that's not an easy task you hit the nail on the head there this is where if if you're an investigator and you've developed a profile of what you think happened here and you've developed a profile of who you think this woman is and why she might have done this this completely throws you for a loop and throws the entire case on its head because I don't know many people that could do this alone it's it's it's it's It's hard to imagine somebody doing this alone. Moving the body at all would be very difficult.

Moving the body and dismembering it to that level and moving it to another location down a very remote road, three miles down, as you said, from where it is suspected that the shooting would have occurred, you know, that's just kind of mind boggling. And I cannot think of any case even that I've had where there would be anything remotely close to that. And it makes you wonder whether if she did do this, if she wasn't. involved in this, could she have even possibly done this alone? And it's hard to imagine.

You have to make the conclusion here I met from prosecutors that the way in which this body was dismembered, the goal was to not identify it, right? That absolutely yes. And of course, his DNA was on file with the armed forces because he was a retired special forces soldier. That's another aspect of this. My heart goes out to him, his family. the entire special forces community.

I've represented Green Brays in the past. They are some of our very best. And just an incredibly horrifying way for any human being to meet their end and just makes this such a tragic but also confusing case. I suspect there's going to be a lot more that's going to come out in the coming days. And it may take a very long time. For those not familiar with our justice system in North Carolina, Carolina and particularly Cumberland County, where they have an extremely heavy docket.

You know, this is the location of Fort Bragg slash Fort Liberty, one of the largest army installations in the country in what is otherwise a fairly small town. So that justice system, frankly, has a hard time making it through the docket that that creates in its criminal court system. And as a result of that, cases typically await indictment, which is where this case is going to be, that, you know, it's sitting in district court. It hasn't yet been formally charged. She's been charged on a warrant, which can be issued by a magistrate.

This is not a grand jury that's met yet. That comes much, much later. It may sit where it is for up to a year. And so it's going to take a long time for these facts to develop and come out. If there's a bond hearing, that would be the next opportunity for the parties to really put some of this stuff on the record. And that's where I would expect the state, if it has additional information that hasn't been put in the search warrant affidavits, which by the way is common. They're only going to put just enough to get probable cause in those affidavits. And I think there's going to be a lot more that's going to come out in those proceedings,

especially if the defense tries to argue for a bond. And talking about the defense here, I've seen cases before where you have a dismembered body, but it doesn't necessarily mean a conviction for murder. So if you have the opportunity, I think, for the defense to say, and I don't know if this is something they might go with, but there was a quarrel between the two. There was some sort of disagreement. She took out a weapon, shot him, passed him. that dismembered the body, would there be a goal to try to lessen this from murder to, you know, manslaughter if that's an option in North Carolina?

Well, that, or self-defense or something like that. Sure. In a case like this one, you know, husband and wife, there's always the opportunity for a manslaughter argument because the argument from the defense could be this is something that completely caught her off guard. Even if she had some inkling that he may be having an affair, that doesn't mean he's leaving her. maybe she finds out and in the heat of the moment something happens maybe there's a struggle for a weapon maybe it's an accidental shooting um you know there's so many things on the defense side that you want to know and we never want to assume anything because of that presumption of innocence the state absolutely cannot assume anything because the burden is on them the burden is on them to prove it was not self-defense and the burden is on them to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she acted with premeditation and deliberation and up to the point point of what we were discussing earlier, you know, there's a lot of possibly fruitful material there for a potential, this was a heat of the moment, no cooling of the blood, and therefore manslaughter, not premeditation and deliberation, which is required for first-degree murder. But everything that happens afterwards is going to be hammered by the state as evidence that

there was a plan, because the argument from the state is going to be you would never behave that way after the fact if you weren't planning it before the fact and one more thing i want to mention here so we reviewed additional court records and it appears that shana cloud on february 28th after the discovery of clince remains actually petitioned for the court to assign someone to take control of clint's property and she named his parents in the filing according to that court document she requested quote that a guardian ad litem be appointed for bonnell that a receiver be appointed to take custody and control of Bonnell's property and assets in order to preserve and manage the same pending final disposition. And she ultimately voluntarily dismissed that case.

It is important to note that at this time, the investigators had found the remains. They didn't know that they belonged to Clint as of yet. Kevin, how does that factor into all this? It's a really odd fact that I think could be spun a multitude of ways by both sides. But yeah, the fact that she moves for a receivership of property as quickly as she does, but then later at a pretty critical moment in the case, like basically as she's having her first appearance in court on the murder charges, her attorney voluntarily dismisses that request, which you can certainly understand why they would do that at that moment. I think the property is the least of your concerns if you're being brought before a court on a first-degree murder charge facing either life or the death penalty. So, yeah, it's a very interesting fact, and I don't think we'll fully understand the importance of that fact until we later come to understand truly all the details about their relationship, exactly how much conflict there was, were their financial struggles, you know, is there going to be information indicating that she would have killed him just over property? I doubt that, but it could be some motive, or is it something that develops after the fact as an attempt by her to, to make it look like she's acting as a grieving spouse would.

So I think her mental state goes into this as well. You know, what is there going to be a forensic psychological evaluation? Does she have any, any diagnosed or potential mental health issues? The presence of the backpack that long after the alleged murder raises a lot of questions in my mind about mental capacity. Because if this was as planned as the state is going to argue that it was both before and after the fact, why would you leave such a critical piece of evidence just sitting in the living room? You know, the backpack containing a laptop with a projectile through it when you've had

a week where you're supposedly dismembering a body and moving it, which shows an incredible degree of heinousness and planning, but you leave that backpack sitting in the living room. That makes no sense and is not going to fit with the state's theory. It's interesting you say that because let me just get to the latest in this case. So during Cloud's first court appearance on April 1st, prosecutors painted a pretty damning picture. Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West detailed how Bonnell's torso had two gunshot wounds to the back that were consistent with the bullet holes found in the laptop and the book bag. But even more potentially incriminating, digital evidence allegedly placed Cloud near the pond days after Clint's disappearance. And this, along with the supposed plans for divorced, raised suspicions against Cloud.

Now, her attorney, James McCray Jr., pushed back, declared his client's innocence, telling reporters following the hearing, I want you to know that Mrs. Cloud is innocent and looks forward to her day in court. And according to CBS 17, he even called her a model citizen. He also pointed to Cloud's 19-year-old daughter, Razzie Cloud, who he says was raised by Clint since she was three years old. According to McCrae, Razzie doesn't believe her mother was involved. Kevin, what alternative explanations could account for this? Well, that's the key. In a case like this, the defense is going to have to be able to raise plausible alternative explanations.

I'm sure alternative explanations can be raised, but they have to be plausible. And if they are, you know, those can be used to sewed out in the mind of a jury. but you know so far based on what I've seen I don't know what those plausible alternative explanations are going to be however her attorney's right at this moment she is innocent and we should all view her that way because that's what the law dictates now as McCrae sits in jail without bond facing the possibility of the death penalty Clint's family and the Methodist University this community they're left to grapple with the loss of this man who was described as driven loyal full of promise Methodist University said in a statement, we're thankful to our MU community on-campus police and the partnership with local law enforcement who are working with the individual's family. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time. For now, Clint's family wants justice, while this woman that he once loves sits behind bars accused of this brutal murder, anybody with information has urged to contact the Cumberland County, North Carolina Sheriff's Office, or crime stoppers

at the number you see there on your screen. Kevin, thanks so much for taking the time. really appreciate it. It was good seeing you. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Add free right now on Wondery Plus.

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