Shelby Nealy brutally murdered his ex, Jaime Ivancic, then continued a horrific killing spree to cover up his lies. But the truth finally caught up with the cold blooded killer
Jamie knew more than most people about the importance of having loving, supportive parents. She was adopted by Richard and Laura Ivancic when she was just a year old, along with her brother Nicholas, four. Richard and Laura had fostered many children before them, but decided to give Jamie and Nicholas a permanent home.
Jamie married Shelby Nealy, also known as Shelby Svensen, in 2017 and they had two children. Jamie met Nealy through her brother as they worked at the same fast-food restaurant. After becoming a mum, Jamie wanted to be around her children as much as possible, so she worked from home in Port Richey, Florida, as a telemarketer. Her parents lived 10 miles away in a quiet mobile home community in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Nicholas, 25, lived with them, too – with their three small dogs, Buddy, Boomer and Bailey. Richard and Laura had both had a difficult upbringing and building a happy home was important to them.
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It was important to Jamie that her children had a stable home, but she started questioning her marriage to Nealy. They argued a lot and there were accusations of domestic violence. Jamie told her biological sister on 25 January 2018, during a FaceTime call, that she was planning to leave him.
After that call, Jamie, 21, seemed to distance herself from her loved ones. They got the occasional text or social media message, and she sent photos of the children occasionally, but the communications were limited. Jamie’s parents questioned whether she was okay and tried to phone her, saying they wanted to hear her voice, but she would reply by text saying she was “busy” or that she was having phone problems. There was always an excuse.
It wasn’t that unusual for Jamie to have quiet periods. She had two young children to keep her busy and the couple weren’t very social. But as the months went by, Richard, 71, and Laura, 59, grew concerned about their daughter. By December 2018, they were suspicious – and they had every right to be. They would eventually learn that Jamie was dead – and buried in the garden of her own home.
Shortly after she told her sister her marriage was over, Nealy killed Jamie. He strangled her then hit her over the head with a hammer. He wrapped her body in a rug and bin bags before burying her two-and-a-half feet deep in the garden. He pretended to be Jamie for almost 12 months, sending messages to her family from her phone to cover up what he’d done. But by December, Nealy knew he needed to take action.
Nealy, then 25, told his in-laws he was bringing the children for a visit and said Jamie was busy with work so she wasn’t coming. He arrived and pretended everything was okay, sharing their home and hospitality. After a week, on 15 December, he attacked Richard in the kitchen with a hammer. He struck him at least seven times.
Laura arrived home shortly afterwards, after shopping. Nealy hit her from behind with the hammer, killing her with five blows. He hid the bodies in a bedroom until Nicholas returned home. The two of them shared a pizza together and watched movies. When Nicholas fell asleep, Nealy bludgeoned him with the same hammer in the early hours of 16 December. He also killed the three dogs.
Nealy stayed at the property. He rolled his victims up in rugs and tarp and kept moving them into different rooms to keep them out of sight. He tried to mask the smell with bleach, cleaning fluids and air fresheners. He used white paint to try to cover the blood on the walls and even the victims’ bodies.
Nealy stole jewellery and video games and was captured on camera pawning the items. He used Laura’s phone to text family members to say they were all in Texas for a “family emergency” involving Jamie. While he was trying to cover his tracks, he ordered takeaways to the mobile home and left containers and food around. After a week, he put his kids, aged two and three, in Laura’s SUV and drove to Ohio.
Richard’s son from his first marriage, Richard Jr, called the police and requested a welfare check as he hadn’t heard from his dad in two weeks. On New Year’s Day, officers went to the home and instantly recognised signs of death. The stench could be smelt outside, and insects were visible on the windows. Inside, the decomposing bodies of Richard, Laura, Nicholas and the dogs were found. The blood-stained hammer was there, too. There were chemicals, open cans of paint and attempts to cover the bodies, but nothing could hide the horrific crime scene. Nealy’s lies had finally caught up with him.
Neighbours told the police Nealy had been staying there. They said they’d seen him digging a ditch at the property. There was also a Domino’s pizza order that he’d made after the killings, which placed him at the scene. His fingerprints were on the jewellery at the pawn shop. There were receipts that showed he’d bought tarp and cleaning products as well as footage of him pushing his two children in a trolley around the store as he shopped.
Laura’s SUV was tracked to Ohio and on 3 January 2019, Nealy was arrested. He had a coin collection with him that had belonged to Richard, valued at $25,000. During questioning, Nealy confessed he’d killed his wife and drew a map to her burial site. He claimed he’d killed Jamie because she came at him with a knife during an argument and he thought she was going to hurt their daughter, so he’d strangled her to get her to drop the knife. Then he’d hit her once on the head with a hammer to “make sure she was dead”.
Nealy told officers he’d had to kill Richard, Laura and Nicholas as his children would be without parents if he’d been arrested for killing Jamie. “It breaks my heart every day, man,” he said. “They were good people.” He said he tried to bury them but after digging the makeshift grave, he found he couldn’t lift his father-in-law’s body. He said he’d planned to work out and bulk up in Ohio so he could return to finish the burials. He noted that if he waited, the bodies might also be lighter, due to decomposition.
In 2023, after initially facing a first-degree murder trial, Nealy pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a weapon for killing Jamie. He was sentenced to 30 years. He also pleaded guilty to the first-degree murders of Richard, Laura and Nicholas, as well as three counts of animal cruelty for the family’s dogs. In July 2025, a jury recommended the death penalty. Five months later there was a hearing where he could argue against it.
His lawyers said he’d had a difficult upbringing, possible head injury, and trauma from the suicide of his dad when he was a teen. They said Jamie had attacked him and her daughter, and he’d fought back – then had tried to cover up his crimes, but badly. The prosecution said the killings of Richard, Laura and Nicholas were premeditated. The jury decided Nealy would get the death penalty and, in April this year, the judge agreed, stating that he had “forfeited the right to live”. The judge handed down three death sentences. Nealy showed no emotion and declined to speak.
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