Informant claims they were offered $10K a month in murder-for-hire plot Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicholas Shaughnessy, left, and Jaclyn Edison (Facebook Photo) [ + - ] Video 
 
 TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The son of a prominent Austin jeweler has been arrested and charged with hiring someone to murder his parents. The man's wife was also arrested and faces the same charge. 
 
 Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy, 19, and Jaclyn Alexa Edison, 19, were each booked Tuesday evening into the Travis County Jail on one charge of soliciting to commit capital murder. They are accused of hiring someone to kill Theodore "Ted" Shaughnessy, the longtime owner of Gallerie Jewelers in central Austin. 
 
 It remains unclear who committed the murder. Shaughnessy, 55, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in his southwest Travis County home on March 2. 
 
 His wife Corey — the suspect's mother — called 911 around 4:45 a.m. that morning to report a home intruder and that shots had been fired inside her home off Oliver Drive, near US 290 and Circle Drive. Investigators said one or more intruders forced their way into the home, and evidence at the scene led them to believe an intruder might have been injured. 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A search of Nicholas Shaughnessy's apartment revealed he was married to Jaclyn Edison. 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A search of Nicholas Shaughnessy's apartment revealed he was married to Jaclyn Edison. 
 
 According to court documents, when Shaughnessy heard the dogs bark, he grabbed his firearm to check the house. Less than a minute later, his wife heard gunshots so she grabbed her gun just as the suspects fired at her. She returned fire "until she ran out of ammunition." 
 
 Corey told detectives she ran into her closet and called 911. She didn't come out of the closet until deputies arrived at the home. 
 
 In a statement by Perry Minton and Rick Flores, attorneys for Nicholas Shaughnessy, they say his mother "stands firmly behind her son." 
 
 “We have been working with the Shaughnessy family over the last several months as they mourn the loss of Ted," the attorneys said. "These allegations are not consistent in any way with the young man we have come to know. Nick has been living with his mother since this tragedy occurred." 
 
 Minton and Flores said they would review evidence as it becomes available. 
 
 According to an arrest affidavit, there were bullet casings throughout the kitchen and in the couple's bedroom. Detectives discovered an open window in Nicholas' bedroom. 
 
 The window screen had been removed but there did not appear to be any signs of forced entry to the window, according to the arrest affidavit. Detectives say the "suspects would have known they had to escape back out the bedroom window" due to the nature of the door locks. 
 
 As authorities were investigating the homicide, the victim's son and his wife arrived at the home around 8 a.m. He said they were in College Station when they received the news about the shooting, according to the affidavit. 
 
 When detectives spoke to Edison at the scene, she began "sobbing heavily" when they told her they would need to test her for gunshot residue. 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Ted Shaughnessy (Facebook Photo) 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Ted Shaughnessy (Facebook Photo) 
 
 Video taken by KXAN at the crime scene in March showed Nicolas Shaughnessy's hands being photographed by investigators. 
 
 According to court documents, the son "was not showing any emotion at all, and showed very little concern" for his mother. 
 
 When asked about the window, Nicolas Shaughnessy said he would use that window to get in and out of the home sometimes. 
 
 The home's alarm system showed the system was remotely accessed three different times the night of the shooting. Detectives say it was traced back to Nicolas' apartment in College Station. Police add that the video corresponding to the time of the break-in was gone. They believe someone logged into the system and manually deleted the videos, the only person who had access at that time was Nicolas. 
 
 A few days after the murder, a woman who worked at the apartment complex where Nicolas and his wife lived in College Station called police and said Nicolas contacted her on social media and said if she wanted to make some cash to let him know. 
 
 When she asked what he meant, he allegedly responded "illegal activities" and anything "from strippers to murders." He said he would pay her $20,000 a head with a $15,000 incentive and ended the message with skeleton emojis, according to court documents. 
 
 A friend of Nicolas' told detectives Nicolas had talked to him about faking his own death and getting insurance money as well as his parent's life insurance policy, though he never mentioned anything about killing his parents, the affidavit continued. Records show Nicolas was the sole beneficiary of $2 million in the event his parents died. 
 
 As detectives continued investigating, they discovered Nicolas and his wife had gotten married in July 2017. A search of their apartment revealed bullets which matched the casings found at the crime scene. 
 
 Cellphone records show the two were texting back and forth at the end of February regarding a possible transaction. Records show Edison message Nicolas with "Do they want 50K or not" and "we can't afford to pay half before." Nicolas responded, "Working on it tho." 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy being photographed the day his father was shot to death in their home on Oliver Road on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo) 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy being photographed the day his father was shot to death in their home on Oliver Road on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo) 
 
 Detectives found a text conversation Nicolas had with a friend on Aug. 2, 2017 saying "plastic gloves ski masks," and when his friend responded "no no no," Nicholas responded, "Fine fine. Just walk in shoot a family steal all their s--t." 
 
 On March 3, one day after the shooting, Nicolas asked the same friend if he wanted to see pictures of the crime scene and "joked about being 'demoted' from a person of interest.'" 
 
 An informant told detectives that Nicolas had approached them about killing his parents. He said he would pay the informant $10,000 per month. The informant said one conversation happened inside a car where Nicolas and his wife were present. 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy, right, and his girlfriend, Jaclyn Edison, walking with a deputy on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo) 
 
 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy, right, and his girlfriend, Jaclyn Edison, walking with a deputy on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo) 
 
 Nicolas Shaughnessy is being held on a $3 million cash bond. Edison is being held on a $1 million cash bond. 
 
 Family friends who did not want to speak on camera told KXAN's Brittany Glas they were shocked to hear of Tuesday's developments, with one saying he "never saw anything but love in that family." 
 
 In an April 27 post on the Gallerie Jewelers Facebook page, it was announced that the store would return to its normal hours starting May 1. "We are happy to announce that Nicolas, Ted's son, will be carrying on his legacy here at Gallerie," the post says. 
 
 Customers described Ted Shaughnessy as a family man who was always talking about his son's accomplishments and doting on his wife. 

 See more of Gallerie Jewelers on Facebook 

 Ted Shaughnessy, owner of Gallerie Jewelers in Austin, died defending his wife, who lived, his obituary says. 
 
 A 19-year-old and his wife are accused of conspiring to hire someone to kill his Travis County parents. 
 
 Nicolas Shaughnessy received a call from authorities in the wee hours of the morning March 2. His father had been shot to death in a home invasion; his mother survived the attack. 
 
 Shaughnessy said he drove three hours before dawn from his home in College Station to his father’s house in southwestern Travis County. A detective at the scene would note that when Shaughnessy arrived, he showed no emotion and seemed unconcerned about his mother. 
 
 Shaughnessy and his wife, Jaclyn Alexa Edison, now are accused of hiring a hitman to kill his parents. Both 19-year-olds are charged with solicitation to commit capital murder for their alleged roles in Theodore “Ted” Shaughnessy’s killing. 
 
 The day of the shooting at the Shaughnessys’ home in the 9900 block of Oliver Drive, Travis County deputies put out word that they were searching for a shooter in a home invasion who might have been wounded in the attack. Both Ted and his wife, Corey Garman Shaughnessy, were armed. She fired back. 
 
 But as the investigation pressed on, clues surfaced that pointed to an apparent murder-for-hire plot that might have been orchestrated by the young couple, authorities said. 
 
 The next day, Nicolas Shaughnessy asked a friend if he wanted to see pictures of the crime scene and joked about being “demoted” from being a person of interest because investigators returned his cellphone to him, the affidavit said. 
 
 Detectives searched Nicolas Shaughnessy and Edison’s College Station home and found evidence that Shaughnessy had asked several people if they would like to be paid for killing someone weeks and months before his parents were attacked, the affidavit said. In messages sent in February and found on a home computer, the couple appeared to discuss costs, the affidavit shows. 
 
 Just two weeks before the shooting, Shaughnessy asked a woman working at his apartment complex if she wanted to make some extra money doing illegal activities, including “anything from strippers to murders,” the woman told investigators. According to the affidavit, Shaughnessy offered her “$20,000 a head,” plus a $15,000 incentive. 
 
 Detectives did not find signs of a forced entry into the home. All the doors and windows were locked, except for one that had been opened in Nicolas Shaughnessy’s bedroom, according to the affidavit. They said the home’s security alarm system had been remotely deactivated from Shaughnessy’s College Station residence three times that morning after alarms had gone off. 
 
 “The only people with access to the alarm system were Ted, Corey and Nicolas,” the affidavit said. 
 
 Security videos during the attack were also deleted from the home alarm system, according to the report. 
 
 After the attack, Corey Shaughnessy told investigators that their dog’s barking woke her and her husband about 4 a.m. Ted grabbed his .45-caliber Glock handgun and went to investigate, the affidavit said. 
 
 Seconds later, she heard a barrage of gunshots close to the couple’s bedroom. She grabbed the .357-caliber handgun she kept at her bedside and got up, she told investigators. 
 
 Someone fired at her, Corey Shaughnessy said, and she shot back until she ran out of ammunition. She then hid in her closet and called 911 at 4:46 a.m. 
 
 When dispatchers asked Corey Shaughnessy to leave the closet and open the door for deputies, she found her husband lying unresponsive on the kitchen floor. 
 
 Ted was lying in a large pool of blood and bullet casings from two guns littered the kitchen, the affidavit said. Bullet holes perforated kitchen fixtures, walls and windows. One of the couple’s pet Rottweilers was shot dead in the bedroom. 
 
 On the opposite side of the house, in Nicolas Shaughnessy’s bedroom, a window was open. Authorities did not arrest anyone that day. 
 
 Ted Shaughnessy was pronounced dead at 5:14 a.m. The Travis County medical examiner said he died of multiple gunshot wounds. 
 
 When Edison arrived with her husband at the Shaughnessys’ home after the shooting, she started to cry when detectives told her she would be tested for gunshot residue. 
 
 She told investigators that her husband worked as a day trader and his business was doing well. He had a good relationship with his parents, she said. 
 
 But according to the affidavit, Nicolas Shaughnessy had told multiple people he would receive more than $1 million from his parents’ life insurance. 
 
 Detectives confirmed Shaughnessy would receive $2 million in the event of his parents’ death, the affidavit said. 
 
 While both Shaughnessy and Edison have been charged in connection with the case, authorities said they are still searching for the shooter. 
 
 Travis County sheriff’s office spokeswoman Kristen Dark said nothing has been ruled out in the search. “Our detectives are pursuing every lead they encounter as they work the case,” she said. 
 
 The affidavit points out that nine .40-caliber handgun casings were found near Ted Shaughnessy’s body, the affidavit says. During the search, detectives located an empty box for a .40-caliber handgun in a dresser drawer in the bedroom next to the open window. Corey Shaughnessy told investigators that bedroom belonged to Nicolas Shaughnessy, the affidavit says. 
 
 Additionally, detectives found five .380-caliber casings near Ted Shaughnessy’s body, the affidavit says. Investigators found a box of .380-caliber ammunition at Nicolas and Jaclyn’s College Station apartment, with six rounds missing from the box, the affidavit says. 
 
 “This ammunition matched the caliber and brand of the fired .380-caliber casings found in the area of Theodore’s body,” the document says. 
 
 Perry Minton and Rick Flores, Shaughnessy’s attorneys, issued a statement Wednesday saying they have been working with the Shaughnessy family since Ted’s death. 
 
 “These allegations are not consistent in any way with the young man we have come to know. Nick has been living with his mother since this tragedy occurred. Ms. Shaughnessy stands firmly behind her son. We will review the evidence as it becomes available to us,” Minton and Flores said. 
 
 After Ted Shaughnessy was killed, his store, Gallerie Jewelers, was closed for about a month. Eventually, business neighbors said Nicolas Shaughnessy and Edison began visiting the store frequently, sometimes accompanied by Corey Shaughnessy. 
 
 At the end of April, Nicolas Shaughnessy visited 32Dental, a dentist’s office next door to Ted’s store in the 3500 block of Jefferson Road, and told the staff he would be taking over for his father at the store, said 32Dental office manager Sasha Sayenko. On Wednesday, a sign at the jewelry store said the business was temporarily closed. 
 
 “(Nicolas) was saying that ‘It’s been tough.’ But they’re going to be reopening, he’s going to be taking over and that they’re going to be getting a new puppy,” Sayenko said. “I think he was just trying to mingle, maybe the way Ted was.” 
 
 She said Nicolas Shaughnessy seemed chipper despite what had happened. 
 
 Michelle Acosta, a patient coordinator at 32Dental, said she knew Ted Shaughnessy for five years. He would wave when he passed by and occasionally stop into the dental office to see how everyone was doing, Acosta said. he was passionate about his job and would bring by stones before they were set into jewelry, she said. 
 
 Every now and then, Nicolas Shaughnessy would join his father at work and Acosta would see the pair walking and talking on the way into the store. 
 
 “It looked like a good relationship,” Acosta said. 

 A Texas man and his girlfriend were charged with hiring a hitman to kill the boy's father, a Texas jeweler who was gunned down in March during a home break-in. 
 
 Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy and Jaclyn Alexa Edison, both 19, who live together in College Station, were arrested on a count of criminal solicitation to commit capital murder, Travis County sheriff's officials said. They remained in jail Wednesday, with Shaughnessy's bond set at $3 million and Edison's at $1 million, according to the Dallas Morning News. 
 
 Neither had an attorney listed in online jail records. 
 
 According to investigators, Shaughnessy's mother, Corey Shaughnessy, called 911 on March 2 to report a home intruder. 
 
 Deputies headed to the home only to find Theodore Shaughnessy dead of multiple gunshot wounds. A family dog was also killed. Authorities say the plot called for Corey Shaughnessy to be killed as well, but she was physically unharmed. 
 
 The shooter hasn't been caught, but sheriff's spokeswoman Kristen Dark said in a statement that detectives "are following new leads in the case." 
 
 Theodore Shaughnessy was killed March 2 after his son allegedly hired a hitman to kill him. (Facebook) 
 
 Theodore Shaughnessy was the owner of Gallerie Jewelers in Austin. In late April, the company announced that Nicolas would be taking over the family business. 
 
 “We are happy to announce that Nicolas, Ted's son, will be carrying on his legacy here at Gallerie,” the post read. 
 
 An obituary for the elder Shaughnessy published in the Austin American-Statesman said he was "a proud father to his son, Nicolas." 
 
 In the months before the shooting, Nicolas Shaughnessy approached several people asking if they were willing to kill someone for pay, prosecutors allege in an arrest affidavit. The younger Shaughnessy estimated that he'd receive some $8 million upon his parents' death in life insurance payouts, from the sale of their home and sale of the jewelry store. 
 
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 A College Station couple is in jail in Austin. They are at the center of a Travis County Sheriff's Office investigation involving a murder-for-hire plot. Both suspects are only 19 years old. 
 
 Tuesday night, Nicolas Shaughnessy and his wife Jaclyn Edison, a Texas A&M; Student, were arrested in Austin for soliciting to commit capital murder. 
 
 On March 2, Nicolas's father Theodore Shaughnessy was shot dead in his Austin area home by an intruder. Police say his murderer was a hitman hired by Nicolas and Jaclyn. Footage from the crime scene showed Nicolas being interviewed by Travis County investigators outside the home. 
 
 Nicolas and Jaclyn had been living in College Station together, recently married. Just days after the murder in March, investigators showed up to search the couple's College Station home in the 2300 block of Cottage Lane. Nearby neighbors are reacting to the crime. 
 
 "They were here for several hours. There was at least a dozen cop cars," said Caleb Miller, a neighbor. 
 
 Miller said their interactions as neighbors were strange. 
 
 "He was just a weird guy, a weird character. Really out of place with the college setting," said Miller. 
 
 He also told News 3 Nicolas Shaughnessy would talk about his family's money and have socially awkward conversations. 
 
 "He made a lot of, he made sure to make a lot of points on his family's wealth and stuff like that which is weird. And just some of the things he would say kind of and so it's not really surprising at all," said Miller. 
 
 Investigators say Nicolas stood to gain $2 million on a life insurance policy for his parents where he was sole beneficiary. He could have also gained up to $6 million more from the family home and jewelry store, Gallerie Jewelers in Austin. 
 
 "It's really selfish and it's really sad what people would do to acquire a little bit," said Miller. 
 
 Neighbors tell us the couple moved out earlier this spring. 
 
 "He was just moving out and asked me if I wanted a bench and yeah he was taking his cameras down," said Miller, as he sat on the bench they gave him. 
 
 Court documents tell us Nicolas's parents' home security system was accessed from his College Station apartment the morning of the murder. Surveillance video from inside was also deleted remotely. 
 
 His mother Corey Shaughnessy shot back at the intruder and wasn't hurt. 
 
 "They'll throw away friends, family, even their whole lives just for a little monetary value in their lives, so it's really sad," said Miller. 
 
 Jaclyn Edison and Nicolas Shaughnessy were both in jail in Austin Wednesday afternoon. Edison's bond is $1 million, while Shaughnessy's is $3 million. 
 
 Travis County Sheriff's officials tell us they've not arrested the gunman yet and haven't ruled out more than one shooter being involved. 
 
 Investigators also say in the arrest affidavit that they received tips the couple was hiring a hitman, including from a confidential informant who was told they'd receive $10,000 a month for the killings.
– His father was gunned down in a home invasion in March; in April, Nicolas Shaughnessy was named to take over the family business, Gallerie Jewelers in Austin, Texas. Authorities now have other plans for the 19-year-old, per the New York Daily News. Arrested Tuesday on charges of criminal solicitation to commit capital murder, Shaughnessy and his 19-year-old wife, Texas A&M student Jaclyn Edison, are accused of hiring a hitman to kill his parents. Theodore and Corey Shaughnessy traded fire with an unknown intruder on March 2; 55-year-old Theodore and a dog were killed. Authorities say Shaughnessy, an only child, approached multiple people about a hired murder as early as August 2017 and discussed the subject in texts with Edison. Investigators allege he planned to collect $2 million in life insurance; his parents' home and business were worth another $6 million, per KBTX. He's accused of remotely deactivating his parents' security system and deleting surveillance video while at the apartment he shared with Edison some three hours away in College Station, according to an arrest affidavit. The affidavit also outlines possible evidence related to the guns used: Six rounds of .380-caliber ammunition were missing from a box at the couple's apartment, police say, per the Austin American-Statesman, and five .380-caliber casings were located near Theodore's body. Edison's bond is set at $1 million, while Shaughnessy's is set at $3 million. His attorney notes he's been living with his mother, who "stands firmly behind her son," per KXAN. The shooter has not been arrested.