LAKE COUNTY, FLA. — It was a sometimes emotional but resilient 15-year-old Isabelle Shaver who testified Thursday about shooting her father to protect her mother when she was 7 years old on Nov. 7, 2015.
She testified that the atmosphere in the house was “very combative, a lot of tension,” when Michael was in the home. He worked the night shift and was often absent.
She said she was in her bedroom when she heard her parents arguing. “He was not supposed to be there.”
Michael had been ordered by the court to stay out of the house due to an earlier injunction for protection.
She said her mother was saying, “We can work this out!”
“Not this time,” he shouted, and told her that he was going to kill her.
She said her mother was on the floor and he was kicking her in the stomach and holding her down with his foot pressed against the side of her face.
She said she ran into her mother’s bedroom and grabbed a pink handgun.
“I shot him and nothing happened,” she said. “He was still sitting in the chair.”
She said she didn’t see any blood but he did appear to be shaking. It was then that Jereme Townsend suddenly appeared and grabbed the gun and fired it.
Townsend came to the house every morning, according to Laurie.
“He was telling my mom, ‘Take them to school.’”
“He said we can’t say anything or he would do the same thing to me and my brother.”
Amazingly, she said she said nothing about the incident to anyone at school and acted as if nothing had happened, though she said she was “in shock.”
On cross-examination, she was hazy about dates.
Laurie’s testimony was much more detailed and emotional. Defense attorney Jeffrey Wiggs led her through her life with Michael, going back to their school days in a small town in New York and the years they were married.
She also testified about her relationship with Townsend. That started, she said, when he saw “marks on my face.” Their children went to the same school. One day he slipped her a note that said: “I know what you’re going through.”
He told her that he had been in Special Ops in the Army and led her to believe he could protect her, she said.
The thing that touched off Michael’s rage on that final day was that he learned that she had become pregnant with his child.
“I already had an abortion,” she said, but Michael did not know that.
After Michael was shot, he told me to get the children out of the house and said “he would take care of it. “
He also threatened her and the children if she told anyone what had happened. “He didn’t want to be blamed,” she said.
When she returned to the house after dropping the children off at school, Jereme was gone.
She said she assumed that Townsend had buried Michael’s body on some property his family owned.
Isabelle said Jereme was at the house fixing a door when she got out of school that afternoon.
Laurie said she was stunned when Michael’s body was unearthed in the back yard.
On Friday, prosecutors played a recorded conversation between a sheriff’s detective and Laurie. The detective told her about all of the items collected in their recovery of Michael’s body, including “skeletal remains” and a bullet. She seemed to have no reaction to the shocking news.
Townsend took the stand Thursday to deny any involvement in the crime.
He admitted having an affair with Laurie. “My wife and I were not in a good place,” Jereme said.
“At any point were you at a place where Michael Shaver was shot?” Assistant State Attorney Nick Camuccio asked.
“No.”
“Did you shoot or injure Michael Shaver?”
“No.”
“Did you dispose of the body?”
“No.”
He denied staying overnight sometimes with Laurie, but Isabelle said he was a frequent guest. He also denied spending much time with Laurie and the children, saying he visited during his lunch hour when the children were in school. That claim was refuted by both Laurie and Isabelle.
Jereme ended the affair in April 2016 and restored his marriage.
Much of the state’s case, especially in the charge of accessory after the fact, dealt with scores of text messages and Facebook posts made in Michael’s name after he was dead.
Included in those messages were missives to Townsend’s wife, Vanessa , disclosing the affair with the aim of breaking up their marriage.
Computer experts testified that the same computer IP address was used in Laurie’s and Michael’s accounts.
Laurie countered that numerous people had access to her Wi-fi password at her house, including Jereme.