A Texas-based jeweler, Ted Shaughnessy, was found murdered with multiple gunshot wounds in a home invasion in the early hours of March 2, 2018. As investigations began, the officials found a twisted murder-for-hire plot laid down by Ted and Corey Shaughnessy's son, Nicolas Shaughnessy, and his ex-wife, Jaclyn Edison.
The young couple who were living in College Station were undergoing financial trouble when they went ahead with the move after spending days looking for people to hire for the job. The Dateline NBC episode Ghosts Can’t Talk which is available for streaming on Peacock shares the chilling details of the cold-blooded murder of Ted Shaughnessy. The synopsis reads,
"A quiet night in Texas turns deadly when gunfire erupts at the home of local business owners."
The episode aired on January 12, 2024, at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.
Five chilling details about Ted Shaughnessy's murder
1) The alarm system was turned off remotely moments before intruders entered Ted Shaughnessy's home
Ted and Corey Shaughnessy were alerted by the barking of their dogs around 4:45 a.m. on March 2, 2018. While Ted was shot multiple times despite being armed with a handgun, Corey returned fire but narrowly escaped to hide in a closet. The intruders were inside their home for approximately 17 minutes before the gunfire.
The investigations later revealed that a window in Nicolas Shaughnessy's childhood bedroom was open and the screen was removed. Moreover, the alarm system at the house was remotely deactivated moments before the invasion. Per police documents, a video from the time of the break-in was also deleted from the system.
2) Nicolas Shaughnessy had approached multiple people in Capital Station for the double murders
Detectives spoke to Spencer Patterson, one of Nicolas's friends who mentioned Nicolas talking about faking his death for the insurance money and confirmed having used the window at the Austin home to sneak with other friends during their childhood.
Nicolas had spent months looking for a person to kill his parents. He had approached a woman who worked at his apartment complex offering $20,000 a head with an extra $15,000 incentive. He asked Patterson for the job for $50,000 and another informant to whom he offered $10,000 per month.
3) Shaughnessy wanted to carry out the murder plan himself but backed out
Per an exclusive interview with Fox 7 Austin, Nicolas Shaughnessy had mentioned his desire to have the murder plan carried out by themselves instead of hiring other people. He mentioned in the interview,
"Jackie and I had gone to Austin, originally to attempt ourselves, but ultimately it couldn't, like I was too cowardly, you know, I'm not that, I couldn't do that myself and so it was, the later trips were used to identify just a routine, you know, a pattern of what was going on when we weren't in Austin."
Nicolas had lied to the police saying that the couple had not been in Austin for a month. However, his cellphone records placed him in Austin on February 28, 2018.
4) Nicolas and his then-wife Jaclyn Edison moved in to live with his surviving mother, Corey
On the morning of March 2, 2018, Nicolas and Jaclyn arrived at the crime scene after receiving a hysterical call from Corey. The young couple moved from Capital Station to Austin to live with their surviving mother after the death of Ted Shaughnessy. Corey shared her betrayal in her statement saying,
"They lived with me in our home — mine and Ted's. They ate the food that I brought and cooked for them. They wore the clothes and the shoes that I bought for them. They planned their future of profiting from the business that Ted and I had built for over 20 years. They took everything that I had to give, after failing to take my life."
A post from Gallerie Jewellers, Ted Shaughnessy's jewelry store in central Austin announced that Nicolas would be taking over the business from May 1, 2018, onwards.
5) Jaclyn cooperated with the police during the interrogation and confirmed Nicolas's role in the murder of Ted Shaughnessy
Nicolas and Jaclyn were arrested for the murder of Ted Shaughnessy on May 29, 2018, with heaps of evidence pointing to them. Jaclyn Edison had cooperated with the police and confirmed Nicolas's plan to have his parents killed which resulted in her receiving a light sentence.
Jaclyn Edison was sentenced to 10 years in probation while Nicolas and the two hitmen, Johnny Leon and Arieon Smith, were sentenced to 35 years in prison.