Woman killed her husband and buried him in their backyard

Laurie Shaver pretended to be the man she’d murdered to cover up the crime she later blamed on their young daughter

- GAIL SHORTLAND

In February 2018, a man asked the police to do a welfare check on his friend, Michael Shaver. They explained that they hadn’t physically seen Michael in person since 2015 – and neither had any of his family.

Michael, 36, had been living in Clermont, Florida, with his wife Laurie Shaver and their two children, a son and a daughter, who was then seven. The couple had been together since they were teens. Michael worked as a monorail technician at Walt Disney World, and was a laid-back easy-going family man, but in November 2015, he’d seemingly walked away from his life.

Out of the blue, Michael messaged his employer and quit his job. He said they could keep his tools, which they found odd, as he was passionate about his tools and had never missed a day of work. Shaver then told friends that her husband had left her, and the children, to start a new life with another woman. Strangely, his vehicle was still at the family home.

To many, it felt out of character for the devoted dad, but when people messaged Michael, he would text back from his number with “leave me alone” or “don’t bother me”. He would reply with the same type of messages on Facebook messenger, and they had to respect his decision to cut himself off from everyone.

The last time anyone had seen him, aside from Shaver, was at a tractor show on 7 November 2015. A colleague saw him with his wife and kids, although they didn’t appear to be getting along. But Michael was messaging, so initially, there wasn’t concern. His family lived in New York, so it wasn’t unusual not to get together often.

Neighbours noted that after Michael had gone, another man, Travis Filmer, had moved into the family home. Travis would later testify that Shaver had told him, “It’s not that he’s missing, it’s that he’s no longer walking this Earth.”