LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Attorneys and witnesses spent the majority of Thursday throwing verbal jabs at each other as testimony in the Laurie Shaver trial centered on the accused woman’s conduct as her husband’s body was uncovered in her back yard.
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The fireworks began early when Shaver’s current husband, Travis Filmer, took the stand, seemingly against his will.
Prosecutors attacked his statements and perceived changes in his position over the years. They challenged his assertion that his “celebration” of his bond with Laurie was presented as anything other than a wedding and questioned his claims that the reason the marriage wasn’t legal was due to the couple’s finances.
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They repeatedly pointed out that he poured the concrete slab and questioned his lack of curiosity when told Michael Shaver’s body was discovered several years later.
“You didn’t ask a single question about that?” one prosecutor asked in disbelief, though already knowing the answer.
Several witnesses followed to clarify Filmer’s credibility. A neighbor told jurors she smelled something resembling a rotten corpse wafting from Shaver’s property between when Michael was killed and when the concrete slab was poured. A fellow church member said Filmer made comments indicating the couple knew Michael was dead before his body was found.
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Travis’ brother, Austin, also took the stand, explaining the two had been driven apart by the case and Laurie. He said Laurie had blocked his number on Travis’ phone.
In the afternoon, it was the defense’s turn to sharpen its knives. The attorney attacked Lake County’s lead investigator over the lack of a “smoking gun” tying Laurie to the shot that killed Michael.
The investigator said the evidence, to her, was overwhelming, especially because Laurie hid the death for so many years.
“I don’t know who that would benefit other than the person who killed him and put him in the ground,” she said.
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