Husband convicted of arranging murder of wife’s podiatrist after her death from infection

67-year-old retired doctor shot to death at his California home in August 2018

An 83-year-old widower in California has been convicted of arranging the murder of his wife’s podiatrist after she had to have her foot partially amputated and later died from an infection.

The office of the San Joaquin County District Attorney said on 24 March that Robert Elmo Lee from Lodi, east of San Francisco, was found guilty of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain for his part in the killing of Dr Thomas Shock.

The 67-year-old was shot to death at his Lodi home in August 2018.

Elmo Lee was convicted of employing hired killers to take out Dr Shock after his wife endured ingrowing toenails, had her foot amputated, and passed away four years later. The 83-year-old put the blame for his wife’s death on the doctor.

Three years after the death of Dr Shock, Elmo Lee went on trial last month and he was found guilty on Thursday of organising the killing. He will be sentenced on 16 May alongside co-defendant Mallory Stewart.

Elmo Lee’s wife, Bonnie Lee, started going to the podiatrist in 2011. Her foot was partially amputated about a year later. Dr Shock was accused of gross negligence in the case of Ms Lee in 2014.

The Medical Board of California discovered “repeated negligent acts” by the doctor who was in charge of her surgery.

She died at the age of 73 in 2016 because of an infection in her foot, but it was never determined that Dr Shock’s actions led to her death. But her husband remained convinced that the podiatrist was behind the death of his wife.

After an investigation, Dr Shock admitted wrongdoing, gave up his podiatrist license and retired from his office in June 2018. He had started the practice in 1985.

Prosecutors said Elmo Lee hired Christopher Costello, who was 26 years old at the time, to kill Dr Shock.

Costello introduced Mallory Stewart, then 27, and Raymond Jacquett, then 26, to Elmo Lee. Costello was paid by Elmo Lee, with Stewart hired to be the shooter and Jacquett acting as the driver.

Jacquett drove Stewart to Dr Shock’s home in August 2018, where Stewart shot him to death. Next to his body, a paper was found, laying out the 2014 Medical Board report and the case of Ms Lee. Costello’s fingerprint was found on the document.

Police obtained the IP addresses of those who had previously downloaded the medical report, finding that Elmo Lee had done so a month ahead of Dr Shock’s death.

Neighbours told law enforcement that Elmo Lee had been unable to move on following the death of his wife.

Neighbour Mario Vanotti told the Lodi News-Sentinel in 2018 that “his wife was his soul mate” and that “he visited his wife at the cemetery every day”.

Elmo Lee denied killing the doctor, but he told an investigator that “he did not like Thomas Shock and was happy he was dead”.

He and the three younger men were arrested in September 2018.

Last month, Stewart pled guilty to first-degree murder and a weapons charge as he was the one who pulled the trigger.

Costello was found guilty last year for his part in the assassination plan and Jacquett was sentenced in December 2019 to 15 years to life in prison.

“The criminal legal system is complex and lengthy to ensure the constitutionality of all those involved,” San Joaquin County District Attorney spokesperson Elisa Bubak told The Washington Post. “A murder trial of this calibre, with four co-defendants, was not unusual in its length.”