Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy is a resident of College Station, Texas. In May 2018 Nick and his wife, Jaclyn Edison were arrested for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill his father in order to get his inheritance of $8 million and a $2 million life insurance payout.

Nick Shaughnessy grew up in Austin, Texas. He is the only child of Theodore Shaughnessy and Corey Shaughnessy. Theodore Shaughnessy was the owner of the jewelry store, Gallerie Jewelers at 35th and Jefferson streets in north central Austin, Texas.

Nick and Theodore Shughnessy both enjoyed go kart racing together. Nick Kuk Sool Won, a Korean martial art and competed in the sword form event at the WKSA World Tournament in 2014.

Brian Coflack a neighbor said, "He comes from a well-to-do family.

He's been given pretty much everything he wants or wanted as a young man," Colfack said.

"I have no idea what happened in his life that caused him to turn so violent and cause him to turn away from all the things he had been brought up with."

Colfack says he is close friends with Nicolas’ grandfather and says his grandfather tried to do everything he could to keep Nicolas on the right track when he was younger.

"He was involving him in his work, he was taking him on trips, he was taking him on different excursions around the community," he said.

But a year ago, he said things seemed to change, "A year ago, I said 'how's the grandson doing' and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders and said ‘agh,’ and so I kind of took that to mean they weren't in really close relationships anymore," Colfack said.

In July 2017, Nick Shaughnessy married Jaclyn Edison according to a marriage certificate found in the apartment shared by Nick and Jaclyn. Nick had moved into the apartment in College Station, Texas with Jaclyn after she began attending Texas A&M.

Nick Shaughnessy liked the Facebook pages of several car and car racing related pages including McLaren, Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, Mills Racing, Sebastian Bourdais, and others. He also posted a photo of the Porsche logo on his Facebook profile.

Nick Shaughnessy liked the Facebook pages of several Republican Party politicians and pundits including Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, and Judge Jeanine Pirro. He also posted a photo of a Blue Lives Matter flag on his Facebook profile.

On Tuesday, May 29, 2018 Nicolas Shaughnessy and his wife Jaclyn Edison were both charged with criminal solicitation, a first degree felony. He was booked into Travis County Jail with bond set at $3,000,000. Jaclyn Edison's bond was set at $1,000,000.

On Friday, March 2, 2018 the Travis County Sheriff's Office says Shaughnessy's mother called 9-1-1 and reported that an intruder had entered her home in the 9000 block of Oliver Dr. and that multiple shots had been fired. When deputies arrived on scene they discovered the body of 55-year-old Theodore Shaughnessy with multiple gunshot wounds. One of the family's Rottweiler dogs was also found dead on the ground with a gunshot wound.

The sheriff's office now says Nicolas Shaughnessy and Jaclyn Edison conspired together and hired someone to murder Shaughnessy's parents.

Shaughnessy's mother told deputies that she found Nicolas' bedroom window open and none of the doors, which unlocked from the inside with a key, were unlocked, meaning that the gunman would have known they had to leave through the window.

Nicolas told deputies he regularly used the window as an entrance and exit to his bedroom, and many friends had done the same.

When investigators spoke with an employee at the apartment complex where Nicolas and Jaclyn live in College Station, Texas three days later, she said Nicolas contacted her two weeks before by social media asking if she were looking to make extra cash. When she inquired what he meant, Nicolas allegedly responded "Illegal activities" and "Anything from strippers to murder."

The employee says Nicolas told her he would pay her "$20,000 a head" with a $15,000 incentive.

The woman told investigators he followed up that statement with skeleton emojis, at which point she stopped responding to him.

Detectives spoke to one of Nicolas' friends, Spencer Patterson, who Nicolas had claimed had used the window in his bedroom as an entrance and exit before.

Spencer said Nicolas has talked about faking his own death for the insurance money, and mentioned his and his parents' life insurance policies.

Patterson also said Nicolas told him he would get over a million dollars upon his parents' death, and that Shaughnessy has repeatedly called him since his father's death, asking him what the detectives knew and what Spencer was telling them.

Investigators confirmed that Nicolas Shaughnessy was the sole beneficiary of a $2 million policy if his parents were dead.

A search warrant was obtained for Nicolas' and Jaclyn's apartment in College Station where a marriage certificate was found, indicating they were married in July of 2017, and that Patterson was the officiant. Investigators also found a box of brass SIG Sauer .380-caliber bullets--the same brand and caliber found in the body of Theodore Shaughnessy. There were six rounds missing from the box.

On a computer seized from the residence, investigators found a chat log between Nicolas and Jaclyn from February 23 and 24 discussing a payment of $50,000 for a "job."

Search warrants for Spencer's cell phone and iPad turned up a conversation between Nicolas and Spencer on January 30.

Nicolas asked if Spencer wanted to make $20,000.

He later added the total would be $50,000, with "20 for each and 10 extra because 50 is a nice whole number."

On February 15, Nicolas told Spencer to look up how to start a Ponzi scheme, according to the affidavit. On February 26, Nicolas told Spencer he would need his help doing "cash drops," referring to dropping money off somewhere and leaving. On March 3, Nicolas allegedly asked Spencer if he wanted to see photos of the crime scene, and joked about being "demoted" from a person of interest since investigators gave him his phone back.

During the search of Spencer's iPad, investigators found a text conversation with Nicolas from August 2, 2017. Nicolas told Spencer he needed more cash. Spencer responded "u have questions or suggestions." Nicolas responded "Plastic gloves Ski masks."

Investigators say Spencer responded "no no no" and Nicolas answered back "Fine fine.

Just walk in shoot a family steal all their s--t.

No mask needed cuz they'll be dead."

Police believe these comments are an allusion to the shooting death on March 2, 2018.

Authorities obtained a search warrant for ADT, the alarm company that provided security at the Shaughnessy home. Investigators found that a remote login to the system happened 3 times the night of the murder, each done from the IP address of Nicolas' home in College Station. Police say on Nicolas and his parents had access to the system, and it had been accessed from Nicolas' IP address after his father's death, when his mother did not have access to her cell phone.

Court documents state that a confidential informant met with investigators on May 29, stating that Nicolas had asked the informant to kill his parents in exchange for money. Nicolas allegedly offered to pay the informant $10,000 per month, and stated that he would get $2 million from life insurance and $8 million upon the sale of their home and business. The informant also told investigators about a conversation inside a vehicle with Nicolas and Jaclyn. The informant says Nicolas mentioned a plan for "financial gain" and that if it did not work out, there was "Plan B." According to the informant, Jaclyn had a shocked look on her face. Nicolas told her not to worry about it, that the informant already knew about it. The informant believes the "Plan B" referred to Nicolas' plan to kill his parents based on their previous conversations.

Perry Minton and Rick Flores, attorneys for Nicolas Shaughnessy, released the following statement on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 30, 2018 :

“We have been working with the Shaughnessy family over the last several months as they mourn the loss of Ted.

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.”