CLERMONT, Fla.  — A Lake County woman long suspected in the death, disappearance, and backyard burial of her husband was charged with second-degree homicide Thursday, more than two years after his remains were found.

Laurie Leigh Shaver, 37, of Okahumpka was being held without bond at the Lake County Jail.

Michael Shaver was last seen in 2015 when the couple lived in a house she owned on Sandy Pines Road in Clermont.

His remains were unearthed in March 2018. They were under a concrete slab at the Clermont home.

Deputies say Laurie Shaver told them her husband left in 2015. 

Deputies launched an investigation into his disappearance in February 2018 after a friend said he had not heard from Michael Shaver since late 2015.

They visited the house at 9850 Sandy Pines Road on February 16, 2018.

“Laurie vaguely claimed Michael left in a black SUV” and left her and their two children for a new life in Georgia,” an arrest affidavit said. 

But his friend told deputies the disappearance was suspicious for many reasons. Michael Shaver wouldn’t leave his possessions behind, his friend said. He also said text messages to Shaver’s boss saying he quit were probably written by his wife.

The friend “believed Laurie was pretending to be Michael on his Facebook,” the affidavit said.

She cooperated with deputies during the well-being check to a point.

Laurie Shaver “told deputies to leave her property when they asked for permission to have a cadaver dog conduct a sniff of a concrete slab that was poured around a home-made fire pit in her yard,” the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday.

Authorities returned with a warrant and searched the property in March 2018, finding his remains “underneath that concrete slab,” the statement added. Investigators in June 2018 confirmed the remains belonged to Michael Shaver.

“Detectives have investigated this case diligently since its beginning and obtained the arrest warrant” for Laurie Shaver on Wednesday evening, deputies said in the statement.

She was charged with second-degree homicide (domestic violence) and accessory after the fact to second-degree homicide. 

“The cause of death was ruled homicide. The manner of death is not yet being released,” the statement added.

Investigators originally launched a missing-person case. They learned Michael Shaver had no cellphone. His Florida driver license, passport and FAA pilot's medical certificate all had expired. 

He had no driver license in any other state. His vehicle had been repossessed in February 2016. He couldn’t be served in civil lawsuit for not paying a credit card because no one could find him.

“Every acquaintance of Michael who was contacted advised they hadn't seen him since the end of 2015,” the affidavit states.

Investigators found bloodstains in the track of a sliding-glass door leading from the dining area to the porch. “The substance ran in a drip like pattern down the outside of the trailer between the home and the porch,” the affidavit states.

Swabs from the interior lower door track of the sliding door found a mixture of DNA from three people, including Laurie Shaver. The other two individuals were not related. At least one was from a man.

“Michael Shaver could not be included or excluded as a contributor,” the affidavit states.

Detectives think Michael Shaver was killed between November 7, 2015 (the last day he was seen) and November 10, 2015 (the first day he did not show up to work). 

A man who dated Laurie Shaver from January to April 2016 told deputies she told him this about Michael Shaver: “It's not that he's missing, he's no longer walking this Earth.”