The wife of a Minnesota missionary killed in the African country of Angola last year has been charged with his murder, the lead pastor of the Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes confirmed in a letter to his congregation.
“It saddens me immensely to have to share with you that we were notified that Jackie [Shroyer] has been formally charged as a co-author in the murder of her husband,” Pastor Troy Easton wrote in a letter earlier this week
Beau Shroyer, 44, was killed in a “violent, criminal attack” while doing mission work in the Southern African nation, Easton told the church community in a statement last year. He was found dead in a vehicle in Thienjo, a town in southern Angola, on Oct. 25, 2024.
Beau’s wife, Jackie Shroyer, was arrested a few days later and accused of being the “mastermind” behind the crime, the Angola Press Agency reported last year, citing the country’s Criminal Investigation Service (SIC).
The couple moved to Angola with their five children just over three years ago to serve as missionaries as part of SIM USA, a North Carolina-based interdenominational Evangelical Christian mission organization.
Mark Bosscher, the organization’s chief personnel officer and general counsel said last year that Shroyer had been “killed in an act of violence while serving Jesus.”
According to SIC spokesperson Manuel Halaiwa, there was a “strong suspicion of a romantic relationship between the mastermind and her accomplice,” a man who worked as the couple’s security guard.
The guard, 24-year-old Bernadino Isaac Elisa, 24, was arrested in November, along with 23-year-old Isalino Musselenga Kayoo.
Jackie Shroyer will remain in custody in Angola. Her court date has not been set, but “will likely occur within the next 6 months,” the church’s pastor said.