Florida | Jury recommends death penalty in Shelby Nealy's sentencing trial

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (Scripps News Tampa Bay) — A jury has recommend Shelby Nealy be put to death for the murders of Richard Ivancic, Laura Ivancic and Nicholas Ivancic after he previously pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated cruelty and first-degree murder.

Richard and Laura were the parents of Nealy’s wife, Jamie Ivancic. Nicholas was her brother.

This comes after closing arguments by both the state and defense in his sentencing trial on Friday. The jury deliberated for about two hours before handing down the sentence.

The closing arguments for the prosecution and the defense were given in a Pinellas County courtroom on Friday.

During the defense's closing arguments, Nealy read a poem to his dead dad, who committed suicide.

In 2023, Nealy pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Jamie Ivancic, and members of her family.

Nealy was arrested in Ohio in 2019 after police caught him with a car stolen from a Tarpon Springs home, where the bodies of Nealy's in-laws and three dogs were discovered on New Year's Day.

Less than a week later, a fourth body connected to the case was found near a Port Richey home.

Investigators later identified the remains as Jamie.

During the investigation, officials learned that after Nealy killed Jamie, he posed as her by sending texts and photos of their two kids to her family to pretend she was still alive.

When her family grew suspicious, Nealy traveled to their home in Tarpon Springs and killed Jamie's father, Richard Louis Ivancic, mother, Laura Ann Ivancic, and brother, Nicholas James Ivancic.

Nealy pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a weapon for Jamie's death, reduced from the original first-degree murder charge, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

He also pleaded guilty to additional aggravated cruelty and first-degree murder charges for the deaths of Jamie's mother, father and brother, as well as the dogs.

In 2023, Florida legislation passed that lowered the jury requirement for death sentences from unanimous to a simple majority of 8 out of 12 jurors. The judge can adhere to the jury’s recommendation of death or opt to give Nealy life without parole.

Florida currently leads the nation in executions this year.

Source: Agencies, Staff, July 25, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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