Robert Elmo Lee, 83, of Lodi will be sentenced May 16 on a charge of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain in the August 2018 killing of Dr. Thomas Shock, 67

The California man is the mastermind of the August 2018 revenge killing of a podiatrist he blames for the death of his wife – He was convicted of murder on Thursday, in San Joaquin Superior Court

Lee, was accused of hiring Christopher Anthony Costello, 30, Raymond Austin Hasso Jacquett IV, 31, and Mallory Stewart, 32, to kill Dr. Shock, inside the victim’s home

Lee contracted the three men to kill Shock at his home, in Lodi, after blaming the podiatrist for his wife’s death

Bonnie Lee had a partial foot amputation in 2014, after a procedure by Dr. Shock, and passed away in 2016, due to an infection

Triggerman Mallory Stewart pled guilty earlier this year to first-degree murder and will be sentenced on the same date as Robert Lee – May 16

Christopher Costello was convicted in 2021 in the murder-for-hire plot, while Raymond Jacquett, was sentenced to 15 years to life in 2019

The man who plotted the 2018 revenge killing of a Northern California podiatrist was convicted of murder Thursday in San Joaquin Superior Court.
Robert Elmo Lee, 83, of Lodi will be sentenced May 16 on a charge of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain in the August 2018 killing of Dr. Thomas Shock, 67, at the doctor’s Lodi home.
The conclusion of this case sends a clear message that my office will hold those who harm members of our community accountable to the full extent of the law,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said in a statement.
Robert Elmo Lee, who was charged along with Christopher Anthony Costello, 30, Raymond Austin Hasso Jacquett IV, 31, and Mallory Stewart, 32— appeared before Judge Lauren Thomasson in San Joaquin County Superior Court in, April 2019 where they all pled not guilty to the murder.
Lee hired the three men to kill Shock at his home, blaming the podiatrist for his wife’s death.

Lodi police on Aug. 1, 2018, found the doctor dead of multiple gunshot wounds just inside his Rivergate Drive home.
Lee’s wife, Bonnie Lee, visited Shock for an ingrown toenail, but alleged substandard care led to her foot being partially amputated in 2014, the Record reported. Bonnie Lee died of an infection two years later, in 2016.
A single page of the medical complaint filed by Bonnie Lee was found in Shock’s home doorway near his body. During a search of Lee’s home in September, investigators found the rest of the complaint.

Shock, a doctor with Lodi Podiatry Group, was investigated and later disciplined by the Medical Board of California, and the case was closed in 2016 prior to Bonnie Lee’s death.
However, it was never established that the treatment provided by Dr. Shock treatment had anything to do with the death of Bonnie Lee., the Record reported, citing a Lodi Police arrest warrant.
Robert Lee and the three-man crew he hired of Christopher Anthony Costello, Raymond Jacquett and Mallory Stewart were arrested in 2018 in connection with Shock’s shooting.
Stewart pled guilty earlier this year in San Joaquin Superior Court to first-degree murder with a weapons enhancement for pulling the trigger.
Stewart will join Lee at the May 16 sentencing, said San Joaquin County District Attorney’s officials. Costello was found guilty in 2021 for his role in the murder-for-hire plot; and wheelman Raymond Jacquett IV, was sentenced to 15 years to life in 2019 for his role, San Joaquin County District Attorney’s officials said.