DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — Two of the three suspects in the Oct. 25 slaying of Northwest Minnesota missionary Beau Shroyer from Angola were arrested and presented by authorities in the provincial capital Lubango on Thursday. A third suspect is still being sought, according to the Angolan Press Agency ANGOP.

All three suspects are Angolan men in their 20s — one was a security guard at Shroyer’s residence — and all have criminal records for armed robbery and kidnapping, according to the Angolan Criminal Investigation Service.

In an article by the Angolan News Agency on Thursday, CIS claims that Beau Shroyer’s wife, Jackie Shroyer, 44, was the “brain” behind the killing, which allegedly took place after Beau Shroyer, aged 44, was lured to a remote area by the suspects, who faked an engine failure, then fatally stabbed him while his wife was away from the scene.

The article suggests that Jackie Shroyer was only pretending to be upset when the police arrived on the scene and that she was not in Lubango “for ‘alleged’ health reasons” when the other suspects were presented on Thursday.

According to Superintendent of Criminal Investigations Manuel Halaiwa, the motive for the murder was “strong suspicions of a romantic relationship” with the security guard who was charged and “an alleged intention of the wife not to want to leave Angola when her husband’s mission ended. .”

Jackie Shroyer reportedly had $50,000 to pay for the murder; Halaiwa said the evidence included the vehicle used to commit the murder, the murder weapon (a knife from the United States that Beau Shroyer allegedly gave the security guard) and 4.5 million kwanza (about $5,000) that were confiscated.

Jackie Shroyer and the two Angolan suspects are in custody by order of a judge.

Halaiwa said the US embassy is monitoring the situation and contacts have also been initiated with family members.

Beau Shroyer joined the Detroit Lakes Police Department in 2013 before becoming a real estate agent in the area. In 2021, he and his wife and their five children moved to South Africa to become missionaries.