Fourth Suspect Charged In Alleged Texas Murder-For-Insurance Plot

Travis County sheriff's deputies have obtained an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect wanted in connection with an alleged murder-for-hire plot that left Austin jeweler Ted Shaughnessy dead in his home in southwest Travis County in March.

Arieon Oneal Smith, 21, faces a charge of capital murder, according to an arrest affidavit filed on Thursday.

Three others, including Ted Shaughnessy's son, Nicolas Shaughnessy, his wife Jaclyn Alexa Edison, and Johnny Roman Leon III, have also been charged in the case, according to court filings dating back to the time of the killing.

READ MORE: Nicolas Shaughnessy was adopted by an Austin jeweler and his wife but police say greed led to a plot to have them killed

Ted Shaughnessy died on the morning of March 2 after he was roused from his sleep by his two barking dogs.

Shaughnessy got out of bed and armed himself with a .45 caliber handgun and walked out of his bedroom. Within minutes, his wife, Corey, who had remained in bed, heard gunfire erupt from outside the door.

She grabbed her .357 revolver as gunmen took aim at her and began shooting. She unloaded her firearm in their direction, the darted into her closet and called 911.

By the time first responders arrived, the gunmen were gone, and Ted was dead on the floor in the kitchen.

Travis County detectives spent the next several months piecing together evidence they say led them to conclude that Nicolas Shaughnessy had orchestrated the killing to reap the benefits of life insurance policies, according to court records filed earlier this year.

Investigators dredged through cell phone records, including texts and GPS coordinates showing communication among several parties about the killing and travel from College Station, where the younger Shaughnessy lived, to Austin. Detectives also found evidence on social media that Nicolas was on the hunt for someone to kill his parents, arrest records show.

Nicolas and Edison were the first two arrested in connection with the case. The affidavit filed on Thursday said Edison told investigators that Nicolas planned the killing, saying that he told her he found someone in a club who agreed to take the job.

Leon was subsequently arrested on capital murder charges in July. The affidavit said Leon admitted that Nicolas offered him $10,000 to commit the murders, and said he'd gone with Nicolas to the Shaughnessy home in late February, when Nicolas planned to kill his parents himself.

On that night, however, Nicolas told Leon he could not get into the home, and the pair left, the document said.

Leon told investigators that he never went back to the Shaughnessy home and was not involved in the actual killing, saying he was asleep with his girlfriend at the time. Investigators, however, found cell phone records that showed his phone traveled from College station to Austin on March 2, and that he communicated with his girlfriend during the time he told authorities he'd been asleep with her, the report said.

Investigators also found more than 60 communications with a phone they later learned belonged to Smith, which included communications on March 1 and 2. The same number came up in a search of Nicolas Shaughnessy's phone as well.

On Dec. 5, detectives interviewed Smith, who told them he was friends with Leon and had met Nicolas Shaughnessy in a club. He first told authorities that he knew nothing about the murder, but later told them he had gone to college station to meet with Leon, who asked him to participate in the killing for $5,000 per month, which would be funded by Nicolas, the affidavit said.

Smith said he refused to take part in the killing, but allowed Leon to use another friend's vehicle to travel to Austin to commit the murder. He told detectives that he and that friend checked into a hotel in College Station while Leon left in the friend's vehicle and headed to Austin.

According to the affidavit, Smith became visibly upset during the interview and began to cry.

He told authorities Leon came back and told him about the killing, saying he'd managed to take some jewelry, but "unable to get her."

However, during questioning, detectives asked Smith why cell phone records showed usage in Austin, and why his DNA would have been found at the Shaughnessy home.

He told detectives that he left his phone inside the vehicle Leon took to Austin, and that Leon was wearing one of his shirts.

On the same day, detectives interviewed a friend of Smith who told them Smith left the hotel in College Station with Leon on the night of the killing, and that he did not return until morning, the affidavit said.

Smith was arrested in Ft. Worth on Wednesday and is expected to transferred to Travis County in coming days.

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