Ted Shaughnessy | Home Invasion Shootout Erupts After Adopted Son Hires Killers

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[00:00:57] This is True Crime Psychology and Personality, where we discuss the pathology behind some

[00:01:11] of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed

[00:01:16] perspective.

[00:01:19] I'm Dr. Todd Grande, I have a PhD in counselor education and supervision and a licensed

[00:01:25] professional counselor of mental health. Dr. Todd Grande that's my YouTube channel.

[00:01:30] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Ted Shawna-Sea? First, I'll look at

[00:01:35] the background of this case, move to the timeline of the crime, then offer my analysis.

[00:01:41] Theodore Shawna-Sea was born on February 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, California. He went

[00:01:47] by the name Ted. He met a woman named Corey at a video arcade in Phoenix, Arizona. The

[00:01:53] couple married, moved to Austin, Texas and opened a jewelry store. They were extremely

[00:01:59] financially successful, eventually accruing a net worth of about $6 million. The couple

[00:02:05] lived in a massive house on the 9,000 block of Oliver Drive. In the year 2000 they adopted

[00:02:13] a boy named Nicholas from an orphanage in Ukraine. He went by the name Nick. In 2016,

[00:02:20] Nick met a woman named Jacquwyn Edison and they became romantically involved. Jacquwyn moved

[00:02:26] into the Shawna-Sea house and lived with the family until August of 2017 when Nick and

[00:02:33] Jacquwyn moved to college station, Texas. This city is about two hours east of Austin. Nick

[00:02:40] worked as a day trader from his residence and Jacquwyn attended college. The couple married

[00:02:46] without telling Nick's parents. Now moving to the timeline of the crime. On March 2, 2018,

[00:02:53] Ted and Corey Shawna-Sea were asleep in their home when their two rot-wilers started

[00:02:58] barking at around 4.30am. 55-year-old Ted retrieved a 45-calibre semi-automatic pistol, exited

[00:03:05] his bedroom and went toward the kitchen. He was shot four times and killed. After hearing

[00:03:12] the gunshots, Corey retrieved a 357 magnum revolver. While still in her bedroom, she saw

[00:03:19] a bright light through a curtain. At this point, an intruder shot one of the dogs, killing

[00:03:25] him. Corey fired her revolver multiple times. When she ran out of ammunition, Corey retreated

[00:03:31] to a closet in the bedroom and called 911. This was at 4.46am. The police initially responded

[00:03:39] to the wrong house. Therefore, it took them 15 minutes to reach the Shawna-Sea family

[00:03:46] residence. They found Ted's body next to the kitchen table. By this time, the intruders

[00:03:51] were gone. Here is what the police found during the course of their investigation. There

[00:03:56] were spent cartridge cases scattered near Ted's body, 40-calibre SNW and 380 ACP. Beside

[00:04:05] the police to believe that there were two intruders. A window on the side of the house was open

[00:04:10] and the screen had been removed. This window accessed an unoccupied bedroom, which used

[00:04:15] to be occupied by Nick. In the bedroom, it was a dresser that contained an empty box

[00:04:21] for a semi-automatic pistol chambered in 40-calibre SNW. Nothing was missing from this house except

[00:04:27] for the pistol. The alarm system was not activated, but it still recorded activity. The window

[00:04:34] was opened at 4.27am. Glass breaking in the kitchen was detected at 4.44am. This meant

[00:04:42] that the intruders were in the house for 17 minutes before killing Ted. The police discovered

[00:04:48] that Nick had an app on his phone that controlled the alarm system. From the college station,

[00:04:53] where he was at the time of the murder, he opened the app at 5.39am. He was not contacted

[00:05:00] about the murder until 5 minutes later. It's almost like Nick knew what was coming. Nick

[00:05:06] told the police that he had not been in Austin for over a month, but when the police examined

[00:05:11] his cell phone data, they noticed his phone was there on February 28th. The police started

[00:05:16] to think that maybe Nick and his wife, Jacqueline, had conspired to commit murder. The couple

[00:05:21] had deleted their text messages from their phones, but the messages were still on other devices,

[00:05:27] so the police had access to them. On February 23, a week before the murder, Jacqueline

[00:05:33] sent a text message to Nick that read, do they want 50k or not? She also wrote, we can't

[00:05:41] afford to pay half before. Five days later, Nick wrote a message containing the phrase,

[00:05:47] if it happens, followed by something about having cash in hand. He asked Jacqueline if she

[00:05:54] could withdraw $1,000? Jacqueline cashed a check for $1,000 at the same day. The police found

[00:06:01] three different people who Nick talked to about committing murder. A few weeks before

[00:06:05] the murder, Nick contacted a female employee at the housing complex where he lived. He

[00:06:10] offered her $35,000 to conduct illegal activities up to and including murder. He then sent her

[00:06:18] skeleton emojis. She stopped communicating with him after that. Days before the murder,

[00:06:25] Nick mentioned to a friend of his name Spencer, but if his parents died, he would have $8 million.

[00:06:31] He was referring to their $6 million net worth plus $2 million in life insurance. Nick

[00:06:36] offered Spencer $50,000, but Spencer refused to get involved. Nick also contacted a person

[00:06:42] who later became a confidential informant. This informant said that Nick offered money

[00:06:48] to kill his parents. On May 29, 2018, Nick and Jacqueline were arrested for criminal solicitation.

[00:06:55] The police continued to investigate. In July, the police were able to track down a man

[00:07:01] who was captured on Nick's security camera. The man told the police that another man named

[00:07:06] Johnny Ramon Leon tried to hire him to commit murder. The police arrested Johnny. He said

[00:07:13] that Nick tried to hire him to kill his parents, but that he refused Nick's offer. He then

[00:07:19] talked about how he went to Austin with Nick, but nothing happened. The police noticed

[00:07:24] that right before the murder, Johnny exchanged text messages with a man named Aryan Smith.

[00:07:30] They interviewed Aryan. He denied involvement, but later confessed that he murdered Ted.

[00:07:36] He used Ted's own 40-calber pistol to kill him. Aryan asked the police for the death

[00:07:43] bounty. The state had more than just the word of Aryan. As it turns out, Jacqueline wasn't

[00:07:49] too happy sitting in jail. She turned on Nick and was released on a reduced bond. The state

[00:07:56] offered a plea bargain to Nick, Johnny, and Aryan. They could plead guilty to murder and

[00:08:01] receive 35 years in prison. All three men took the deal and pleaded guilty in April 2021.

[00:08:09] Jacqueline was given a different plea bargain, one that has been criticized as extremely generous.

[00:08:16] In June of 2023, Jacqueline pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit capital murder, but

[00:08:21] this was under a deferred adjudication. She will not have a conviction on her record

[00:08:27] as long as she completes her sentence. Jacqueline was sentenced to just 120 days in jail,

[00:08:33] plus two days in jail a year for 10 years. These days are to be served on the anniversary

[00:08:39] of Ted's murder. In addition, she must complete 10 years of probation. If she violates the

[00:08:46] conditions of her probation, Jacqueline could spend up to 20 years in prison. On October

[00:08:51] 17, 2023, Jacqueline Edison was released from jail. At some point, she divorced Nick

[00:08:58] probably because of the murder part.

[00:09:22] On the morning of August 1, 1966, shots ring out from the observation deck of the clock tower

[00:09:38] on the University of Texas campus. It marks the infamous beginning of the modern era of

[00:09:43] mass shootings in America. You're listening to stop the killing podcast. Join us as we

[00:09:49] take you behind the crime scene tape to explain global mass shootings and mass attacks. I'm

[00:09:54] Sarah Ferris, but more importantly, this is Catherine Shright, the former head of the FBI's

[00:10:00] Active Shooter Program. I spent five years as the FBI's top executive looking for answers

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[00:10:46] For her sentence was not fair. Here was his explanation for the crime. After he moved

[00:10:53] out, he burned through money quickly. On one occasion, he was talking to Jacqueline and

[00:10:58] she mentioned how Nick was the sole heir to his parents' fortune. Nick was searching

[00:11:03] for a new identity, so being wealthy and owning the jewelry store were attractive to him. He

[00:11:10] claimed that Jacqueline pushed him to commit the murder and he desperately wanted her approval.

[00:11:16] When he had doubts about moving forward, Jacqueline's confidence outweighed those doubts.

[00:11:21] To explain his failure to kill his father personally, Nick admitted that he was a coward. As

[00:11:27] far as the parts of a story that don't make any sense, Nick said that he wished he had

[00:11:31] an answer, but he could not explain his actions. Item number two, Nick's parents treated

[00:11:37] him very well and he had everything he wanted when he was growing up. His father was

[00:11:41] into racing go-karts and they would spend time engaging in this activity. Nick had one

[00:11:47] great experience after another, and no complaints about his childhood. People who knew Nick

[00:11:53] implied that he was always talking about making money. It's clear that he didn't want

[00:11:58] to work hard for the money rather he just wanted someone to hand it to him. In a school

[00:12:03] newspaper article published in 2017, Nick said he wanted to make money in his bathrobe

[00:12:09] at home. After the murder, Nick and Jacqueline moved back in with Corey. At that time, Corey

[00:12:16] didn't know that they were involved in Ted's murder. Nick took over his father's position

[00:12:21] at the jewelry store. Financial trouble was a concept that Nick was very familiar with.

[00:12:27] He owed his mother $30,000 and his day trading business completely failed. At the time of

[00:12:33] the murder, Nick and Jacqueline had less than $4 in the bank between them. Item number three,

[00:12:40] one of the most controversial parts of this case is the sentence that Jacqueline Edison

[00:12:45] received. Many people believe that she was able to get away with murder. The state

[00:12:49] however argued that her plea bargain was reasonable. Let's take a look at the evidence both

[00:12:55] before and against the idea that Jacqueline's plea bargain was too generous, starting with

[00:12:59] the factors that support this theory. There were text messages between Jacqueline and Nick

[00:13:04] about paying people large amount of money. Jacqueline cashed a check for $1,000 at Nick's

[00:13:10] request. Nick's mother Corey said that Jacqueline picked out a car which was going to be purchased

[00:13:17] with money gained from the murder. Jacqueline was going to give this car to her mother.

[00:13:22] This makes it seem like Jacqueline supported the murder plot. The informant who Nick offered

[00:13:27] money to indicated that Jacqueline had a shocked look on her face when Nick made the offer. Nick

[00:13:34] then explained to Jacqueline that the informant already knew about the murder plot. Jacqueline's

[00:13:39] story about how Nick justified the murder doesn't make much sense. She told the police

[00:13:44] that shortly after she married Nick, he asked her if she would stay with him if he murdered

[00:13:50] someone. He then talked about how Ted was depressed and killing him would end that. Nick

[00:13:56] wanted to kill Corey as well because she couldn't live without Ted. Any reasonable person

[00:14:02] would know that Nick was lying about his motive and would reject the idea of murder either

[00:14:08] way. Jacqueline should have contacted the authorities immediately. Now moving to the factors

[00:14:13] that contradict the idea that Jacqueline's plea bargain was too generous, the police indicated

[00:14:18] that Jacqueline never communicated with Johnny or Aryan. She did not orchestrate the murder.

[00:14:24] Jacqueline did nothing to stop Nick from moving forward, but she did not help him either. The

[00:14:29] prosecution said that the investigation revealed information that reduced Jacqueline's

[00:14:34] culpability. She also provided them with important information. Jacqueline told the media

[00:14:40] that she thought her sentence accurately reflected her level of involvement. When considering

[00:14:46] all the evidence was the plea bargain that Jacqueline received too generous. In my opinion,

[00:14:51] it probably was if the prosecution had access to all the evidence in this case, but the

[00:14:57] state did not have that much of a case against Jacqueline when she started cooperating.

[00:15:02] They would have had trouble convicting her of conspiracy. Maybe they could have convicted

[00:15:07] her of failing to report a felony or something like that, but she did not play any meaningful

[00:15:12] part in the murder plot. Essentially, both the prosecution and the police had to concede

[00:15:18] that Jacqueline wasn't really involved. Item number four, what do I think happened

[00:15:23] this case? This is just a theory, my opinion. Nick's honesty was reckless, envious, greedy,

[00:15:30] hedonistic, lazy, impulsive, irresponsible, materialistic, self-centered, and had a sense

[00:15:35] of entitlement. He thought that he could be successful on his own but quickly found himself

[00:15:40] in financial trouble. In order to avoid hard work, he came up with the idea of killing

[00:15:45] his parents and taking everything they had. He tried to convince himself that his parents

[00:15:51] would be better off dead. Jacqueline didn't help Nick, but she liked the idea of being wealthy.

[00:15:57] Nick interpreted her neutral stance as pressure to commit the crime. After unsuccessfully approaching

[00:16:04] a few people to carry out the murders, Nick encountered Johnny at a club. Johnny recruited

[00:16:10] Aryan and they went to the Shaunasi house with the intent of murdering both Ted and Corey.

[00:16:17] They murdered Ted, but Corey fired at them, causing them to flee. It wasn't difficult

[00:16:22] for the police to connect Nick to the murder because he was far from being a master criminal.

[00:16:27] Now moving to my final thoughts. The case of Ted's Shaunasi can be summarized in this way.

[00:16:34] Driving Tycoon Ted and his true-to-heart wife traversed a Texas-based trinket trade,

[00:16:41] taking tenderly to a Ukrainian orphan titled Nick. As a tenant in their mansion, Nick tasted

[00:16:48] both the triumph of privilege and the turmoil of envy toward his caretakers. Transitioning

[00:16:55] through terrestrial thresholds, thoughts of triumph tangled in Nick's temporal train, as

[00:17:00] he trod toward the turbulent tide of financial tribulation. Triggering a tumultuous turn, Nick

[00:17:07] enlisted two terminators to target his treasure by taking out his tutors. Ted met a tragic

[00:17:13] end but Nick's mother tackled the transpiring turmoil and triumphed. In the terminal twist,

[00:17:20] Nick and his tandem team were sentenced to a 35-year term.

[00:17:31] This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from R's Lunga Media. This content is for educational

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