Megan Virginia Shaffer, 21, was charged with a second-degree murder of her boyfriend Alexander Stevens, 24, on Thursday, Miami Herald reported. The murder happened in January in a Maryland forest where the officials found Stevens naked with his throat cut several times and broken bones. In March, the officials ruled his death as a homicide. The attorney of the Garrett State, Lisa Welch, said that Shaffer is guilty of an attempt to kill herself and assisted another person to commit suicide.
The accused woman did not plead guilty
According to Shaffer's claims, on January 3, she went for hiking in the state forest with Stevens. At night, they fell from the cliff, the High Rock overlook, so she thought that Stevens could have died after falling from the 33-foot cliff and left him there on a logging road near the cliff. The young woman added that she was lost in the forest and spent the whole night there, but managed to find her way home the next morning.
She called the emergency services as soon as she reached her home. The medical examination showed that Shaffer broke her shoulder and possibly her back.
She was taken to the hospital. Steven's body was found on January, 4. The transcripts of Garrett County emergency communications confirmed that the dead man fell from the cliff, Daily News reported. It is not yet clear how the victim got deep cuts on his throat.
A reason for the homicide
The court also stated that Alexander Steven's father, Jay Stevens, noted that Alexander's behavior had changed lately. Jay Stevens explained that his son wanted to find his place in the society and had many plans for the future. Nevertheless, he added that "I never, never, ever, ever thought that he was suicidal. I know my son."
A few days before the incident, Stevens had opened a TOD (transfer on death), the designation which allows for nomination of particular beneficiaries to receive assets at the time of the person's death without going through probate, but the named beneficiaries have no access to or control over a person's assets as long as the person is alive.
He listed Shaffer as the beneficiary. The court agreed with Stevens' father's request to stop the transfer of $188,000.
Shaffer will remain in the Garrett County Detention Center until her first court appearance. On Thursday afternoon it was announced that Shaffer's lawyer Stephen R. Tully had not gone through her charges yet.