The teenage son of a prominent Texas jeweler and this teenage girlfriend have been arrested for hiring a hitman to kill his family so he could get his hands on a substantial multi-million dollar life insurance payout.
Nicolas Shaughnessy and Jaclyn Edison, both 19, were charged on Tuesday over the violent home invasion that saw his father Theodore Shaughnessy shot dead.
Police say Shaughnessy had approached multiple people in the months before the shooting asking if they were willing to kill his parents for payment.
Shaughnessy had estimated that he would receive some $8 million from the life insurance policies for both his parents, from the sale of the couple’s home and sale of his father’s prominent jewelry store.
According to court documents, Edison a freshman at Texas A&M University and Nicolas Shaughnessy secretly married in July 2017 and had been living together in College Station.
Police found the marriage certificate at the apartment, which showed the that Shaughnessy’s friend, Spencer Patterson officiated.

Theodore was the owner of Gallerie Jewelers in Austin, Texas.
His wife Corey Shaughnessy, had called 911 in the early morning hours of March 2 to report an intruder inside their Austin home.
When police arrived, they found Theodore dead of multiple gunshot wounds. One of the family’s Rottweilers Bart was also shot dead.

Police said the murder-for-hire plot also called for Corey to be killed but she emerged unscathed.
Theodore had heard their dogs barking and went to check out the house. His wife heard gunshots a few minutes later before the gunman also started firing at her. She managed to return fire with her handgun until she ran out of ammunition and then called 911.
Police said they found ammunition in Shaughnessy’s home in College Station that matched casings found at the crime scene.
The person hired to carry out the murder has not yet been caught but investigators say they are following new leads.

The company had posted on its Facebook page in late April, following his death, that: ‘We are happy to announce that Nicolas, Ted’s son, will be carrying on his legacy here at Gallerie’.
An obituary for the elder Shaughnessy published on Legacy.com said he was ‘a proud father to his son, Nicolas’.
‘One of his most cherished memories was of racing against his son at the Karting track. He took great satisfaction in having taught his son well enough to beat his dad to the finish line,’ the obit read.
Nicolas Shaughnessy and his girlfriend allegedly, had spent weeks, even months, asking people if they wanted to commit murder for money. Police pieced together the young couple’s murder-for-hire plot digging through months worth of text messages sent by Shaughnessy. Investigators also interviewed friends and acquaintances who had spoken to Shaughnessy and Edison.
The couple were also tripped when police interviewed a confidential informant on May 29 who said Nicolas Shaughnessy had asked him to kill his parents in exchange for money, according to the court affidavit,
The informant told police Shaughnessy offered to pay him $10,000 per month. The informant also said he had another conversation in a car with Shaughnessy and Edison, on the subject of the murder plot.
The informant told investigators Shaughnessy talked about a plan for “financial gain,” but said if that didn’t work out, there was “Plan B.” The informant said Edison had a “shocked” look on her face at the mention of “Plan B,” but Shaughnessy told her not to worry about it because the informant already knew what he was talking about.
The informant told police he believed “Plan B” referred to Shaughnessy’s plan to have his parents killed, based on previous conversations, according to court documents.