Green Beret’s Wife Charged After His Dismembered Body Turns Up in Pond

A North Carolina woman is behind bars after authorities say she killed and dismembered her Green Beret husband, then dumped his remains in a pond—allegedly all because he planned to leave her for another woman.

Shana Cloud, 50, was arrested after human remains were discovered three miles from the home she shared with her husband, Clint Bonnell. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office reports that Bonnell’s body had been dismembered, missing both arms and legs – a grim revelation that finally put an end to the weeks-long mystery of his disappearance.

According to court documents cited by The Daily Mail, Bonnell had made it clear he was done with the marriage. His girlfriend, Kelli Edwards, told deputies he met with a lawyer on January 27 to start divorce proceedings. Afterward, he dropped by her yoga studio – because nothing says “new beginnings” like downward dog and legal paperwork.

That evening, Bonnell went home and texted Edwards that he had broken the news to Cloud and was calling it a night, local station WRAL reports. It was the last time anyone heard from him.

The next day, he failed to show up for class at Methodist University, where he was studying to become a physician assistant, according to CBS 17. A concerned school official contacted the sheriff’s office, and Edwards reported him missing. Cloud, notably, did not.

When deputies knocked on the door, Cloud allegedly told them she hadn’t seen Bonnell since the previous day. She claimed they had left in separate cars, with him heading off to study. But inside the house, investigators found a different story: Bonnell’s wallet, laptop, and a backpack riddled with bullet fragments, suggesting he hadn’t just walked out the door.

Over the next several weeks, authorities scoured the home, Cloud’s vehicle, her phone, and even a rental property she owned in Virginia, searching for any trace of Bonnell. At one point, Cloud admitted they had argued – apparently over a note from Edwards – but she remained tight-lipped about what happened next.

Then came the gruesome discovery on February 25, when a passerby stumbled upon a dismembered body floating in a pond. The remains were sent for DNA testing, and on March 1, the results confirmed what investigators had suspected all along. It was Clint Bonnell.

That very day Cloud was arrested and charged with murder and concealing a death. Prosecutors say she ‘failed to notify law enforcement of Clinton Barnell’s death while knowing or having reason to know Clinton Barnell’s death was not due to natural causes’.

Bonnell’s sister, Stefanie Firkins, wasn’t surprised by the arrest. “I’ve known from the first time I talked to Shana on January 29 she did something to my brother,” she said in a statement. “What she did to him was pure evil.”

Cloud is currently being held without bond at the Cumberland County Jail, where, presumably, she has plenty of time to reflect on the fact that murder is a much messier way to end a marriage than a simple divorce.