Valentine’s Day Tragedy: Scout Leader’s Brutal Murder Uncovers Shocking Lies from His ‘Grieving’ Widow

STACEY SCHOECK seemed to be unlucky in love, with four failed marriages behind her, it seemed she may finally get her fairytale ending with Richard Schoeck.

The pair had met three years prior, and Stacey was instantly attracted to his adventurous side.

Richard and Stacey Schoek were married for three years and seemed like a happy familyCredit: nbcnews/dateline He even went on to be a dad to her three sonsCredit: youtube/@mytruecrimenews But tragedy struck when Reginald Coleman shot Richard on Valentine’s DayCredit: Unknown

But tragedy would soon strike as Richard was shot five times and killed while on his way to meet his wife for .

Richard, 46, flew hot air balloons, rode motorcycles and led Cub Scouts. “His personality was such that he got along with everybody,” said his friend, Greg Gaugler.

And like Richard, it seemed Stacey was always looking for the next best thing to keep her entertained.

Her cousin Connie Hearne said: “I don’t know why she had so many husbands.

“When Stacey would get bored, it was on to the next.”

But Stacey seemed to settle down with Richard, after four failed marriages, she had three sons, ages 7 to 12 — two by her third husband and one by her fourth.

“Richard just took them in like they were his own,” explained Richard Trinkwalder, a now-retired investigator.

“Richard was a great father to them, he brought a lot to the table when it came to the ,” Connie told True Crime News .

On February 14 2010, Richard went to meet his wife in a park to exchange Valentine’s gifts.

Richard had spent the night dinner for his wife and her grandparents, who needed around-the-clock care.

They hadn’t yet exchanged gifts or cards, and Stacey said she had to hang back to wait for the night nurse to come over.

She told Richard to drive and stop in the park on their way home to meet up and exchange gifts.

Police worked tirelessly to find out who hired Reginald to kill RichardCredit: youtube/@mytruecrimenews

VALENTINE’S ATTACK

But when Stacey went to join him, he was dead on the ground, covered in bullet wounds.

Stacey phoned the and soon the scene was swarming with officers.

While the scene looked like a robbery gone wrong, they found all valuables were still on Richard, and his £30,000 truck was still at the scene, making the scene look fishy from the get-go.

With little evidence to go on, police focused on tyre prints left in the mud and found three different sets: Richard’s, Stacey’s, and a third party that police were eager to track down.

Hours after the killing, police interviewed Stacey who admitted she was frustrated by their marriage and was having an affair with a co-worker.

Stacey claimed she was nowhere near the murder scene when her husband was killed, but said she had no idea where her lover, Juan Reyes, was during the shooting.

Police soon tracked him down, living in one of the houses Stacey owned along with his ex-wife and two children.

Stacey added that she told Juan she was meeting her husband at the park, but the tire prints found at the scene didn’t match his car.

WIPED CLEAN

The was hanging by a thread when a tip came through from the IT department at the clinic where Stacey worked.

They revealed her emails had been wiped clean for February 12 to 14, which included the day of the murder, reports Oxygen .

Detectives were able to get a copy of the backup and found that Stacey had transferred £7,300 from her real estate account to the account of Lynitra Ross, a fellow employee also a house from her.

She claimed it was for house repairs and police looked at other leads.

After tracing cellular activity in the area, they found that a man named Reginald Coleman, an Atlanta personal trainer who’d served time for violent crimes, connected with Stacey’s co-worker at 8:40 p.m. the night of the murder.

It read: “Happy Valentine’s Day,” police believed it was code to say the hit on Richard was done.

Detectives now believed that the Stacey sent to Lynitra was to pay Reginald to shoot her husband.

And the evidence began to stack up, Stacey had access to her grandparents’ 2009 Impala, and the tire tread on this vehicle was a match for the unidentified ones at the crime scene.

Police brought all three in for questioning and Stacey cracked.

She told them she’d complained to Lynitra about her unhappy marriage. Then, in January, she said she wanted Schoeck dead.

Lynitra put her in contact with Reginald, and Stacey lent him her grandparents’ car to carry out the attack.

Stacey said she thought it would be a robbery, not a murder, but police didn’t buy it.

Later, she revealed she was motivated as she feared that Schoeck was going to her and get custody of her sons.

All three of the people involved with Richard’s murder were sentenced to life in without the chance of parole.

Stacey was ultimately sentence to life in jailCredit: nbcnews/dateline Her co-worker Lynitra Rossfaced the same punishmentCredit: Unknown