Background: 500 block of Fulton Street in Daytona Beach, Florida (Google Maps). Inset: Shantell Adkins (Volusia County Jail).
A Florida man has been found guilty of murdering his wife in front of her parents who were at her home to help her.
Shantell Adkins, 37, was found guilty of first-degree murder with a firearm and two counts of aggravated assault after a two-day trial and 17-minute deliberation, the Volusia County State Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
It was Oct. 19, 2023, when a fight broke out between Adkins and his wife, Shawntai Adkins, 34, at their Fulton Street home in Daytona Beach. As the argument escalated, she called her parents, according to authorities, asking for their help.
When Shawntai Adkins’ parents arrived and led their daughter out of her home, Shantell Adkins used a rifle to shoot his wife in the neck. She died at the scene.
“It is every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said. “Adkins executed our victim in front of her parents and then threatened to do the same to them. Another domestic murder and another devastated family.”
After shooting his wife on that October evening, Shantell Adkins shot himself in the shoulder, police said, per The Miami Herald. Arriving officers found him in the front yard and took him to a nearby hospital.
Shawntai Adkins’ mother, who was not named, reportedly said during a deposition that her daughter had found out earlier in the day that her husband was cheating on her — learning of the infidelity through messages on his Apple Watch. The mother said her daughter vowed to her that she was going to divorce him.
That same day, Shawntai Adkins accused her husband of taking her motorcycle while he was intoxicated, doing so just days after being admitted to an alcohol recovery center, according to court documents reviewed by the outlet.
It was later that same day that Shawntai Adkins called her parents and asked them to come over. When the parents arrived at about 6:30 p.m., her husband grabbed the rifle, according to law enforcement, and shot his wife in the neck.
Shawntai Adkins’ father, who was also not named, broke his leg while running away from his son-in-law, the state attorney’s office said, but he recovered from his injuries.
Shantell Adkins is set receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison on June 23.
