Man Wanted To Help Ex-Wife ‘Out Of Her Misery’ Over Bitter Child Custody Battle, So He Killed Her


The former husband of a woman who went missing has confessed to killing her.

Anne-Christine Johnson went missing on December 8 after visiting her ex-husband, Shaun Hardy, at his League City, Texas, residence. The 32-year-old man had initially lied to police saying that his former wife left his home in the company of a mystery man driving a white sedan. He eventually confessed to her murder after police zoned her cell phone close to his home. A judge had endorsed the order after a geo-tracker picked up a ping from the 30-year-old woman’s cell phone. Kelley Williamson, with the League City Police Department, said it was proof “her phone never left the area.”

According to the Houston Chronicle, Shaun Hardy started sobbing when he saw the police “uniforms and equipment.” Hardy later admitted to the killing of his former wife as police began to search his home in Galveston County. He was arrested when they discovered the mother-of-two’s body stashed in his garage. A detective had noticed the “strong odor of decaying flesh” as he entered the house. It was a smell that grew stronger as he approached the garage door. It was inside the garage that authorities found Johnson’s body.

The 30-year-old woman had been wrapped in dark plastic covered with duct tape. Around the corpse were scented candles with the aim of masking the smell of the decaying body. Police said ammonia had also been used to wipe her blood on the floor.

Shaun Hardy had refused to talk to police without a lawyer present. The 32-year-old man surprisingly changed his mind and later agreed to a taped confession. According to a sworn statement, the pair had a tumultuous relationship. Even though they divorced in 2015, they were still at each other’s throats because they were locked in a bitter custody battle for their autistic five-year-old son. It is believed one of their many arguments spiraled out of control.

In the affidavit, Hardy told officers he violently threw his wife to the ground and left her bleeding on the floor. According to him, Johnson then held a knife to her chest, threatening to kill herself. Hardy said he kicked the hilt of the knife into her chest so hard that it dented the shoe he was wearing.

As the mother-of-two choked on her own blood, Shaun Hardy said he suffocated her with a Kroger bag to put her “out of her misery” and “wanted to see her die.” When policemen recovered her body, Anne-Christine Johnson, who was clad in red Christmas pajamas, still had the Kroger bag over her head. A medical examiner who inspected the body confirmed two puncture wounds to the neck and “a wound that could have been caused by a knife in her chest.” He added that the 30-year-old woman was probably killed December 8, the same day that she was declared missing.

Shaun Hardy was declared a person of interest when it was established that he was the last person to see the 30-year-old waitress before she disappeared. A police source speaking to the Huffington Post said even though the 32-year-old man was not officially a suspect, the violent relationship between the pair made him someone they needed to watch closely.

“You have a contentious couple in a volatile relationship, sharing custody of a child, and he was the last person to report seeing her. The totality of those circumstances is what makes him a person of interest.”

In 2014, Shaun Hardy had filed for divorce from Johnson and was granted primary custody of Roland, their autistic son. In 2015, Anne-Christine filed a restraining order against her ex-husband. She accused him of pistol-whipping her, choking her, and trying to drug her.

“Shaun Phillip Hardy’s violent behavior against me has gotten so bad that he’s assaulted me with a shotgun, threatened me with a knife, and choked me. I am afraid that without this protective order. Shaun Hardy will continue to hurt me or even kill me in the future.”

In a chilling account of the June 2015 incident, Johnson said she and a friend had planned to sleep in Hardy’s home for the night in a bid to be with her son. According to her, Hardy got very agitated because the friend was there. According to an affidavit, Johnson said her friend left, but that did not stop her ex-husband from getting increasingly violent.

The mother-of-two alleged that her ex-husband threw her to the ground, loaded his shotgun, and pointed it directly at her. She claimed that she was hit with the barrel of the gun and choked, before her husband barged into the kitchen and began cutting himself with a knife. She said she tried to leave the house, but as she went to her son’s room to say goodbye, Hardy was stabbing the mattress.

According to her, she said she was attacked a second time by Hardy who squirted a syringe full of Klonopin, Ambien, and muscle relaxers into her mouth and cut her wrists in an attempt to make it look like she committed suicide. Shaun Hardy also filed his own protective order alleging that his ex-wife had “engaged in conduct that constitutes family violence” and was “likely to harass, annoy, alarm, torment, or embarrass him.”

Both requests were granted, but canceled less than 30 days later.

[Featured Image by Aradaphotography/iStock]

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