U.S. woman charged with murdering husband while on Christian mission to Angola

A Minnesota woman has been charged with the murder of her husband in the southern African nation of Angola last year while the couple and their five children were there on a Christian missionary trip, their church has confirmed.

Beau Shroyer, 44, from Detroit Lakes, was found dead in a vehicle in Thienjo, a town in southern Angola, in October. His wife, Jackie Shroyer, was arrested in connection with the death in November and is accused of forming a murder-for-hire plot.

The family’s church, the Lakes Area Vineyard Church, confirmed Monday that she has now been charged as a “co-author” in her husband’s murder.

“It saddens me immensely to have to share with you that we were notified that Jackie has been formally charged as a co-author in the murder of her husband,” lead pastor Troy M. Eason said in a statement on the church’s website.

In a previous statement after her arrest, Easton said: “I’m so sorry and simply do not have words to express my disbelief and sorrow about this news.”

Shroyer will remain in custody in Angola and is scheduled to face trial in the next six months, according to a statement from SIM USA, the organization that arranged the mission to Angola.

SIM USA said in November that Shroyer was represented by an Angolan attorney and two American attorneys. Both the FBI and State Department were aware of the case, SIM USA said.

Bernadino Isaac Elisa, 24, who worked as a security guard for the couple, was also named as a suspect and arrested in November, along with Isalino Musselenga Kayoo, 23, also known as “Vin Diesel,” whom police said was the “mastermind” behind the killing.

A fourth suspect, Gelson Guerreiro Ramos, 22, was on the run, the Angolan Press Agency reported,

The couple’s children, who range in age from 9 to 17, are back in the U.S. and are being cared for by SIM USA and the Lakes Vineyard church.

In November, the Angolan Criminal Investigation Service told the Angolan Press Agency that Shroyer was suspected to be behind the crime and that a payment of $50,000 was promised to the accomplices for carrying out the murder.

Manual Halaiwa, spokesperson for investigation service, told the agency that there were “strong suspicions of a romantic relationship between the person who ordered the crime and her accomplice, the guard at the couple’s residence.”

He also told the agency that police were investigating Jackie Shroyer not wanting to leave Angola at the end of her husband’s mission as a possible motive. A knife brought from the U.S. was found at the scene and was allegedly used in the murder, Halaiwa said, along with 2.5 million kwanzas (equivalent to about $5,000).

Beau Shroyer’s body was found on Oct. 25 in Thienjo among his belongings, with his “distraught” wife also at the scene, police said. Investigators released an image of a blood-stained car to the Angolan Press Agency.

NBC News contacted the Criminal Investigation Service but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Beau Shroyer worked as a student resource officer for the Detroit Lakes Police Department, which prompted students to call him “Officer Nice Guy,” according to an obituary shared by a local funeral home.

“He became committed to finding ways that he, alongside his family, could serve the Lord by providing love, inspiration, and kindness as well as life’s necessities to the children and families in Africa,” the obituary said.

Jackie Shroyer posted extensively about the family’s life in Angola on her Instagram account, including most recently just four days before the alleged murder took place.