Friends of Jackie Shroyer, who has now been charged in connection with the murder of her missionary husband, Beau Shroyer, said they are stunned at the allegations against her. Shoyer is alleged to have participated in a plot with three other men in a country located in South Africa to have her husband killed on Oct. 25.
“I just don’t have any words,” Carl Gessell, a friend of the couple who lives in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, said in comments given to The New York Post. “I’m shocked that this even happened. I can’t believe she would do something like that.”
A report from The Christian Post revealed that authorities in Angola stated during a press conference held last Thursday that Beau Shroyer, 44, was found in a thicket located on the outskirts of Humpata in Huila province, having died as a result of stab wounds.
Manuel Halaiwa, a spokesperson for the country’s Criminal Investigation Service, said Jackie Shroyer was the mastermind behind a murder-for-hire plot involving the three men. Investigators also allege that Jackie Shroyer was involved in a romantic relationship with one of the men, Bernardino Elias, 24, who worked as a security guard for her family. The two other men have been identified as Isalino Kayoo, 23, and Gelson Ramos, 22.
“There are strong suspicions here of a possibly romantic relationship in relation to the person who ordered the case and her accomplice, the citizen who was initially a guard through a private security company, but who, after ending his contract with this company, was welcomed because he seemed to be a good person very close to the couple and was hired with another salary to serve the couple,” Halaiwa remarked.
Angola’s CIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Christian Post Tuesday, but The New York Post noted that Jackie Shroyer has not yet been formally charged for her role in Neau Shroyer’s death. The missionary was found fatally stabbed inside his vehicle in the Palanca commune on the outskirts of the municipality of Humpata. Investigators said the accused men pretended they were having car trouble and called Beau Shroyer for help. When he arrived at the scene with his wife, she stepped away in a bush to allegedly relieve herself while her husband was attacked with a U.S.-made knife, which Jackie Shroyer had gifted to her alleged lover.
Investigators say the missionary’s wife, 44, first asked her alleged lover to kill her late husband and he hired the two other men with a promise to pay $50,000 for the murder. Jackie Shroyer allegedly paid $400 to set the stage for Beau Shroyer’s murder in a place where he was known to give her driving lessons. The murder was set up to look like a robbery, and the guard reportedly paid the other two men $9,000.
A few friends of the Shroyers who were active members of the Lakes Area Vineyard Church located in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota stated they were shocked, but also informed the NY Post they wanted to wait until the investigation into the murder was completed before issuing a public comment. However, Gessell did say that Beau was absolutely convinced that God wanted him to do missionary work in Angola, despite never having done any sort of missionary work overseas.
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“Beau told me that God led him in a different path,” explained 45-year-old Gessell, who is also a member Lakes Area Vineyard Church. “He said he was able to help a lot of people when he got to Angola,” Gessell recounted during the interview. “He was a caring person, the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back.”
He told The New York Post that he was supposed to meet up with the former police officer when he visited stateside with his family over the summer, but the meeting never happened. “I can’t see his wife doing that,” Gessell said as he mused over the allegations. “It’s got to be something else. But, you know, I don’t know if something happened between there and here.”
Though Beau Shroyer told friends that God led him to become a missionary in Angola, family friend Cleone Stewart said it was all Jackie Shroyer’s idea. “Jackie had visions of helping poor children and Beau was right beside her,” Stewart said. Beau Shroyer had helped her work on the annual Detroit Lakes’ Festival of Birds, and she said, he was a great volunteer.
“He was really good as a field trip leader, really good at describing things,” Stewart went on to say. “He really knew his birds.”
Please pray for Shroyer’s family, friends, and church. The turmoil and devastation left by his horrific crime will be difficult for them to bear.