A California man has been convicted of “orchestrating” the 2018 murder of a podiatrist whom he blamed for his wife’s death following a failed procedure.
Robert Elmo Lee, 83, of Lodi, was found guilty of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain in connection to the killing of Dr. Thomas Shock, San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar announced Thursday in a press release.
Shock was shot and killed in his Lodi home in August 2018 by Lee’s co-defendant Mallory Stewart, who previously pled guilty for his role in the shooting.
“The conclusion of this case sends a clear message that my office will hold those who harm members of our community accountable to the full extent of the law,” Salazar said in the release.
Lee and Stewart are due back in court for sentencing on May 16.
Prosecutors alleged that Lee concocted the murder-for-hire plot after his wife Bonnie Lee died in June 2016 from an infection in her foot.
Lee’s wife had a portion of the same foot amputated after seeing Shock for a procedure to address an ingrown toenail in 2014, according to a 2018 search warrant. Shock was disciplined by the California Medical Board as a result.
The warrant said “a single page from a California Medical Board document” referring to a patient with the initials B.L., believed to be Lee’s wife, “was located in the doorway” by Shock’s body after he was shot.
The warrant also stated that John Fairchild, Lee’s friend of 30 years, had dinner with Lee a year prior to contacting authorities on Sept. 11, 2018, during which Lee told Fairchild that he blamed Shock for his wife’s death and was “angry” about it.
As investigators conducted their search of Lee’s residence, Lee denied his involvement in Shock’s death but said he “was glad that he was dead,” per the warrant.
Two other men, Raymond Jacquett IV and Christopher Costello, have pleaded guilty to crimes in connection to the Lodi podiatrist’s death.
In July 2019, Jacquett was convicted of second-degree murder, according to KRCA. Jacquett, who was the alleged getaway driver, was sentenced to 15 years in prison that December, CBS Sacramento reported.
In 2021, Costello was found guilty of first-degree murder, per the outlet. Costello’s residence was the subject of the aforementioned search warrant.
