Walt Disney World photo disagreement results in brawl
A photo disagreement at Walt Disney World resulted in a fight. (Fox 35)
Attorneys for a Florida woman accused of killing her husband, a Disney World mechanic, in 2015 and burying his body in her backyard now say a child committed the crime.
Laurie Shaver, 40, was released on bond in 2020 after she was accused of shooting her 36-year-old husband Michael Shaver once in the head, wrapping his body in a sheet and burying him beneath a concrete slab and fire pit outside their Clermont home, according to an affidavit for her arrest.
Shaver's defense recently filed a motion in Lake County court saying it received "testimony from a minor child who confessed to having committed the murder in this matter." The motion, field by Shaver's defense attorney, Jeffrey Wiggs, seeks a psychological exam of the child.
"The minor has exculpatory information" that could prove Shaver's innocence in the case, Wiggs told Fox News Digital.
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Laurie Shaver was accused in 2018 of fatally shooting her husband and burying his body in 2015. (Lake County Sheriff)
"We're concerned about the child being excluded [from trial] because of the emotional atmosphere," he said, adding that the defense is seeking "expert" insight, along with a psychological evaluation "just to make sure that the child is candid" and is aware of any potential crimes she "could be charged with."
The minor, who would have been 7 years old at the time of the shooting but is now 14, has "persisted in seeking to testify," the recent motion states.
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After Michael Shaver's death, Laurie Shaver apparently told Travis Filmer, her boyfriend at the time and the father of her two youngest children, that Michael was "no longer on earth," and that "something bad" happened on their property. Investigators reported finding bloodstains "in the track of a sliding glass door" that led from the Shavers' dining area to their backyard.
Michael Shaver (Lake County Sheriff)
Laurie Shaver allegedly posed as her deceased husband in social media messages to family and used his credit card to make various online purchases. Shaver also tried to sell her late husband's guns and vehicle after his death, police said.
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The court previously denied the defense's motion seeking an evaluation for the minor who allegedly admitted to the murder, but Shaver's team is now asking to renew the request.
WOFL reported that Filmer told a prosecutor at a bond hearing Thursday that he never asked her how the body wound up in the backyard.
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"We believe it's exculpatory. We believe that we have a right to present any and all exculpatory evidence, whether the court approves it or not," Wiggs explained.
The Lake County prosecutor's office told WESH in a statement there is "no credible evidence supporting the claims made concerning the involvement of the child" and that the "child has not made statements to any law enforcement agency."
