On New Year’s Day in 2019, Tarpon Springs police conducted a welfare check on a couple whose son said he hadn’t heard from them in weeks. They arrived at a gruesome scene: the couple and their other son lying dead alongside the family’s three dogs.
Bludgeoned with a hammer, the six decomposing bodies were wrapped in carpets and doused with paint. White spray paint covered some of the blood spatter on the walls of the mobile home.
Prosecutors say Shelby John Nealy killed Richard Ivancic, 79, Laura Ivancic, 59, and their son, Nicholas Ivancic, 25, after they grew suspicious about the whereabouts of Nealy’s ex-wife, whom he killed almost a year earlier.
Charged with Jamie Ivancic’s murder, Nealy, 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2023 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of animal cruelty. Now, a jury must decide if he will be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of Richard, Laura and Nicholas.
During opening arguments in Nealy’s sentencing at the Pinellas County Justice Center on Wednesday, state prosecutor Bryan Sarabia said Nealy “chillingly, heartlessly and methodically” carried out the murders.
“We’re here today because between Dec. 14 and Dec. 16 of 2018, this defendant murdered Richard Ivancic, Laura Ivancic and Nicholas Ivancic so that he could avoid the consequences of his actions for what amounted to three more weeks,” Sarabia told the jury.
Sarabia said the state would present evidence that showed Nealy stayed at the Ivancics’ home for a week after he killed them, ordering Domino’s pizza and pawning off the family’s valuables.
He said the state is seeking the death penalty because of several aggravating factors: Nealy’s prior violent felony conviction, his motive of avoiding arrest for Jamie’s death, and the fact that the murders were cold, calculated and premeditated.
Nealy became acquainted with the Ivancic family around 2014, when he and Nicholas Ivancic worked at the same Burger King in Ohio, Sarabia said.
Nicholas introduced Nealy to his sister, Jamie, and the two quickly fell in love and got married, Sarabia said. The couple moved to Florida, where they lived with the Ivancics for a while before moving into their Port Richey home. They had two young children together.
Nealy previously testified that he and Jamie were arguing in February 2018, and she was armed with a knife. But after he disarmed her, Nealy bashed her with a hammer until she was dead, Sarabia said in court Wednesday. He later buried her body at the home they shared.
Then, for nearly a year, he pretended to be the 21-year-old in texts and social media posts until her family grew suspicious.
That December, Nealy told the Ivancics that he and Jamie were coming for a visit. When he and the couple’s young kids arrived without her, he made up excuses about work, Sarabia said.
He stayed with them for about a week before he murdered them, Sarabia said. Richard was killed first, days after his 71st birthday.
Nealy moved his body into the primary bedroom before Laura returned home from a shopping trip. Then he struck Laura with a hammer at least five times in the back of her head, Sarabia said.
As both bodies lay in the primary bedroom, Nealy mopped the floors so Nicholas wouldn’t suspect anything when he came home from work.
Sarabia said Nealy wanted “one last hang-out” with his friend before he killed him. The two ordered pizza, smoked marijuana and watched movies before going to sleep, when Nicholas awoke to Nealy bashing him with a hammer.
Detectives eventually found Nealy in Ohio, where he had fled with his two children in Laura’s SUV. He was extradited to Florida and has been in jail since February 2019.
The state on Wednesday called two of the family’s Tarpon Springs neighbors to testify, both of whom said they saw Nealy digging a hole outside the home that December.
The state’s final witness on Wednesday was Richard Ivancic Jr., 59, Richard’s oldest son.
In a family impact statement, Ivancic Jr. told jurors he didn’t have enough words to reflect a lifetime of memories with his father. Richard and Laura were gracious souls who fostered children for a time before adopting Jamie and Nicholas, he said.
“They were innocent and lovely parents and grandparents who had so much life ahead of them,” he said, choking back tears.
As Ivancic Jr. spoke, Nealy sat with his hand perched on his chin, staring ahead.
In Florida, the death penalty requires at least an 8-4 jury decision, making it the lowest death penalty threshold in the country.
Nealy’s trial is expected to last two weeks.