Who Is Lindsay Shiver? Woman Arrested in Bahamas Over Husband Murder Plot

The wife of a former college football star, who seemingly enjoyed a charmed life in the Bahamas, has been accused of hatching a plot to murder him.

Lindsay Shiver, 36, is accused of trying to arrange the killing of estranged husband Robert Shiver, 38, with her reported lover, Terrance Bethel, and another man, Faron Newbold, who was allegedly lined up as the would-be hitman.

The Shivers are originally from Thomasville, Georgia, and details of the arrests were revealed by a local Georgia paper, The Thomasville Times-Enterprise, on Saturday, although the alleged crime took place in the Caribbean, where the couple have a home.

Up to 4 percent of murders may involve payments to a third party for carrying out the killing, according to research. Forensic psychologist Dr. Joni E. Johnston, who wrote about murder-for-hire plots in a 2016 article for Psychology Today, said: "While we don't have any U.S. statistics, research by the Australian Institute of Criminality estimated that approximately 2 to 4 percent of their murders are for hire. Almost 20 percent of the 'successful contracts' - the target died - were motivated by a romantic relationship gone wrong; 16 percent were financially motivated."

The story about the Shivers has been reported all over the world, from newspapers in the U.K., to the Singapore edition of the International Business Times, whose reporter M Chheda tweeted details about the case and shared photos of the couple.

Lindsay Shiver appeared to be a devoted wife and mother on her social media accounts, and back in March 2020 posted a comment on her Instagram page reading: "The key to a perfect marriage, is having two imperfect people, who refuse to give up on each other."

She posted a slew of photos of their family life and added how grateful she was to have met her husband at a fitness class 13 years previously, and for "all of the love, laughter, and life we have created ever since!" She ended the post, uploaded to mark their anniversary, with the words: "I love you babe [kissing emoji] Cheers to many more."

The couple both attended Auburn University in Alabama, where Robert Shiver played for the Tigers, News4 reported. The New York Post said he played for the team as a snapper from 2006 until 2008, while Lindsay Shiver was a former pageant queen named Miss Houston County in 2005.

The couple went on to marry and have three sons together, and Robert Shiver is listed as the executive vice president of Senior Life Insurance Company in Thomasville, Georgia.

But the couple's marriage floundered, and the 36-year-old reportedly began an affair with Bethel, of Guana Cay, Abaco. Newsweek is trying to confirm Bethel's age, but he is said to be in his late twenties.

When Robert Shiver, 38, found out about the relationship he filed for divorce, according to the Thomasville Times-Enterprise, which is when the reported lovers allegedly concocted a plan to murder him and hired Newbold, 28, to help.

The trio allegedly met on July 16 at Abaco and "while being together did, with a common purpose agree to commit an offense, namely the murder of Richard Shiver," according to a police report cited by the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.

Newsweek has reached out to the Royal Bahamas Police Force by email for further information and comment.

News agency the Bahamas Court News broke the story on Friday and reported that police had uncovered the alleged plot when they stumbled across Whatsapp messages on the phone of a burglary suspect, who had been arrested following a break-in at Grabbers Bar and Grill on Guana. That suspect wasn't named by the agency, and it's unclear whether the phone had belonged to any of the three now facing trial for attempting to pull off a murder.

Lindsay Shiver, and the two co-accused men, were transported to Nassau and appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley on Friday, where they were not required to enter a plea. It's unclear if they have attorneys at this point. All three are being held in jail and are next due to return to court on October 5.

The allegations follow a string of similar cases, in which spouses have hired hitmen to kill their partners or former partners.

In January, former police officer Robert Alan Fratta, 65, was executed by lethal injection in Texas after arranging for his wife Farah to be shot and killed in 1994 amid a bitter divorce and custody battle. While in May, a pediatrician in Kentucky was accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband; Stephanie Russell was allegedly caught after the hitman turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

It's not just spouses, or ex-spouses, who find themselves the target of murder plots. Back in 2021, prominent animal rights attorney Jennifer Emmi was jailed after trying to hire a hitman to murder her estranged husband's new girlfriend in Colorado. While earlier this month, young mom Jazmin Paez, 18, was arrested after being accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill her three-year-old son in Florida.