Laurie Filmer, seen in police custody.Photo: Lake County Court
A Florida woman accused of murdering her husband and burying his body under a fire pit in their yard in 2015 now says a 7-year-old girl fatally shot him and is willing to testify on her behalf, according to a new court filing.
In Sept. 2020, Laurie Shaver, 40, of Clermont, was charged with second-degree murder, domestic violence and accessory after the fact in connection with the 2015 disappearance and death of her husband,33-year-old Michael Staver, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In February 2018, a friend asked police to check on Michael, a monorail technician at Disney World Resort in Orlando who was last seen in November 2015, authorities said. He said Michael would never leave his family, court records show.
On March 9, 2018, investigators who had a search warrant found Michael’s body buried underneath a concrete slab and a fire pit Laurie had allegedly placed there to cover up the burial spot on the couple’s five-acre property, the Sheriff’s Office said.
She has pleaded not guilty and is out on $50,000 bond awaiting trial in September.
Now, nearly three years after Laurie’s arrest, her lawyer filed a motion in court claiming that a 7-year-old girl — who is now 14 — is the one who actually pulled the trigger.
Laurie Shaver and Michael Shaver.Lake County Sheriff’s Office
The minor child “has been apprised of the rights she would be waiving and the possibility [sic] penalties she would be facing,” it says. “Nonetheless, the child has persisted in seeking to testify.”
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The Lake County prosecutor said in an email to WESH that “no credible evidence supporting the claims made concerning the involvement of the child” exists, and that the “child has not made statements to any law enforcement agency.”
Wiggs claims the prosecutor is wrong. “Here, the State has sought to bury their heads on what is evidence which may truly seek out and ensure that justice is obtained,” he wrote.
A Rocky Relationship
During their marriage, Michael and Laurie were known to argue frequently and had split up before, according to theOrlando Sentinel.
The high school sweethearts were allegedly known to threaten each other with guns, court records show, theDaily Commercialreports.
After Michael disappeared, Laurie allegedly posed as her husband on Facebook Messenger to make his family and friends think he was alive, court records allege.
The mother of four began dating another man — the father of her two youngest children — after Michael vanished,Fox 35 Orlandoreports.
She married her boyfriend, Travis Filmer, in 2016.
She let them inside the house to look around. But when deputies asked if they could bring in dogs to search the property, Laurie allegedly told them to come back with a warrant, according to the affidavit.
On March 9, 2018, police returned with a warrant, cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar. By the end of the day, they found Michael’s body buried three feet under a concrete fire pit in the backyard, wrapped in a fitted sheet that was wrapped in a tarp and secured with straps.
An autopsy showed he had been shot once in the back of the head with a .38 caliber handgun “several months to several years” before.
“I’m still in shock,” Wilma Nicholas, the Shavers' next-door neighbor, told PEOPLE previously. “There’s moments where I just can’t believe that the guy is really gone.”
Laurie has maintained her innocence from the start.
“I would never cause any harm to the father of my children,” she explained in a March 2020 YouTube video, seeking donations for her impending defense.
“And I know that there’s people out there that are trying to paint this picture of me, but that’s not me. I’m loving, I’m caring, I have a servitude heart. I don’t judge people, I accept all, and I always try to see the good in everybody.”
The prosecutor and Wiggs did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
source: people.com
