His parents gave him the perfect life\u2014then he tried to take theirs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How to Watch<\/p>\n
Watch Dateline: Secrets Uncovered\u00a0Wednesdays at 8\/7c on Oxygen. Catch up on the Oxygen App<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Texas jewelry store owners Ted Shaughnessy and Corey Shaughnessy spent the evening of March 2, 2018 much like any other night: Eating dinner, watching tv and then heading to bed.<\/p>\n But around 4:30 a.m., one of the couple\u2019s dogs began to bark. Ted got his gun and went to investigate. Moments later, a gunshot rang out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRight after that, there was a barrage of gunfire,\u201d Corey recalled in Oxygen\u2019s Dateline: Secrets Uncovered<\/a>. \u201cIt was very close.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Corey grabbed her own weapon and ran around the side of the bed, where she saw a light coming through the bedroom door as someone shot the family\u2019s dog.\u00a0<\/p>\n Terrified, she opened fire, grabbed her phone, and ran into a nearby closet, where she called 911.\u00a0<\/p>\n As she remembered, \u201cI knew I was going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, somehow Corey managed to survive. By the time emergency responders arrived to her Austin home 15 minutes later, the intruders were gone. Badly shaken, Corey was convinced her husband must have been killed in a robbery gone wrong\u2014but\u00a0the truth was more chilling than she could ever imagine.<\/p>\n Who Were Ted and Corey Shaughnessy?<\/p>\n To those who knew them, Ted and Corey seemed like an ideal couple. While Ted, the more outgoing of the pair, had served as the face of their business, Gallerie Jewelers, the more reserved Corey worked behind the scenes as the appraiser.<\/p>\n At the center of their world was their adopted son Nicholas.<\/p>\n \u201cThey seemed inseparable,\u201d friend Vicki Frenk remembered of the family. \u201cThey were like the three musketeers\u2026They did everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholas Shaughnessy, Jaclyn Edison Provide Support For Corey Shaughnessy<\/p>\n By the time of Ted\u2019s murder, 19-year-old Nicholas was living two hours away in College Station with his high school sweetheart-turned-wife Jaclyn Edison.<\/p>\n \u201cNick, Nick, Nick, Nick,\u201d Corey said in a call to her son that night. \u201cDad\u2019s dead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Traffic Stop Unravels Murder-for-Hire Plot Against South Carolina Socialite<\/a><\/p>\n A seemingly shocked Nick replied, \u201cWait, what?\u201d before he assured his mother that he and Jackie were on their way to Austin.<\/p>\n In the months that followed, Jackie and Nick were a constant source of support for Corey as they moved into her house, helped her to trigger her memory and even began working at the jewelry store, allowing her to keep the business from closing.<\/p>\n Detectives Turn Their Focus to Nicholas Shaughnessy<\/p>\n But while Corey was finding comfort in her son\u2019s presence, detectives began to suspect he was hiding something, especially after learning the killers had entered through the same window Nick often used to sneak out of as a teen.<\/p>\n \u201cI assumed at that point that they were looking at him for the very reasons they were looking at me,\u201d Corey, who hired a defense attorney to protect her son, said. \u201cIt was easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon, detectives learned that at the time of the murders Nick and Jackie\u2014who loved the finer things and fancy clothes\u2014were broke. Nick had blown through the $30,000 his parents had given him to begin a career as a day trader. And, he stood to collect $1 million in life insurance policies on each of his parents as the sole heir to their fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although surveillance footage captured Nick and Jackie at their apartment at the time of the murders, investigators found it odd that Nick had a box at his apartment with the same type of .380 ammunition used in the shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0She Felt Safe Living Near Officers\u2014Instead, Her Killer Was One of Them<\/a><\/p>\n Then, authorities recovered deleted text messages between Jackie and Nick that had inadvertently been saved to a Mac mini device in the apartment.<\/p>\n \u201cDo they want 50k or not,\u201d Jackie wrote to Nick on Feb. 23, 2018. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to pay half before.\u201d<\/p>\n Detectives believed the suspicious communications were related to hiring somebody to carry out the murders. They also learned that Nick had asked others about killing his parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n After reviewing phone records and witness accounts, they eventually linked the killings to hired hitmen Arieon Smith and Johnny Leon.<\/p>\n Nick and Jackie were arrested on May 29, 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Her Naked Body Was Found in an Abandoned House\u2014Then Police Uncovered a Shocking Suspect<\/a><\/p>\n Corey was still holding out hope that Nick\u2019s arrest had been a mistake, until her son\u2019s defense attorney sat her down and explained that Ted had been killed by his own 40-caliber gun, which had been taken from the jewelry store and given to Arieon.<\/p>\n \u201cI finally had my questions answered,\u201d she said, \u201cand I knew that Nicholas had done it.\u201d<\/p>\n What Happened to Nicholas Shaughnessy and Jackie Edison?<\/p>\n Nick pleaded guilty to murder in April 2021 in exchange for a sentence of 35 years with the possibility of parole.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arieon and Johnny also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 35 years with the possibility of parole.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackie admitted to investigators that Nick talked about killing his parents, but claimed in recorded interviews that she didn\u2019t believe he was serious.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackie agreed to plead guilty in 2023 to attempted conspiracy to commit murder. She received deferred adjudication, which allowed her to plead to the offense and be placed on probation without being convicted. She was ordered to spend 120 days in jail and spend 10 years on probation. In addition, every year on the anniversary of Ted\u2019s death, she\u2019ll spend two days in jail.<\/p>\n