(NEW YORK) — The killing of Clint Bonnell, a retired Green Beret whose remains were found in a North Carolina lake earlier this year, left his loved ones reeling. Now, his wife has been charged with his murder.
“We as a community have been devastated,” Kelli Edwards, Bonnell’s girlfriend, told ABC News. “How do you comprehend something like this? There’s really no comprehension.”
She added, “Whatever’s happened to him he didn’t deserve — no one deserves any of that — but he was just a really beautiful human being.”
Bonnell was in his second semester of physician’s assistant school at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and was the president of the cohort, Edwards said.
“This is a Green Beret who was a patriot to the Corps, who served for our country, who helped his fellow teammates with all their injuries, who deployed on teams, who went all around the world and he comes home and retires in three weeks and this is what happens? This is not okay,” Edwards said.
Edwards said Bonnell told her he was already going through the process of getting a divorce. Bonnell said he and his wife had been living separately for a couple of years and he had met with divorce attorneys, she said.
“After trying to make a marriage work for a long time, he decided it was best to cut cords and move on. And so when I met him, he was already at that stage,” Edwards said.
She added, “He was very intelligent, highly intelligent. But I think he really tried to see the best in everybody he was around. You have that personality which is a really great trait to have and sometimes it can be a flaw.”
Police said a wellbeing check on Bonnell was called in by an employee at the Methodist University on Jan. 28 after Bonnell did not attend class. When deputies arrived to the home, they spoke to his wife, Shana Cloud, who said she had not seen Bonnell since the day before, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s office.
Bonnell’s vehicle, school bag and other items were found in the residence, police said. A second wellbeing check was requested later in the evening by a friend of Bonnell, according to the sheriff’s office.
He was ultimately declared a missing person. Police executed multiple search warrants before human remains were found in a lake on Feb. 25.
Several weeks later, the remains were identified as belonging to Bonnell.
His wife has now been charged with first degree murder and felony concealing an unnatural death.
Cloud, a former traveling nurse who worked for the Virginia Department of Corrections, remains in custody without bond. Her attorney maintains her innocence, according to ABC station WTVD in Durham, North Carolina.
“Ms. Cloud looks forward to her day in court,” her defense said.
In court, prosecutors alleged Cloud was seen on video near the location where Bonnell’s remains were found, according to WTVD.
“Mr. Bonnell told his girlfriend that he had let the defendant know about the divorce and his plans the night before,” said Cumberland County District Attorney William West in court Monday. “We believe he was killed the following morning.”
Bonnell was shot multiple times, prosecutors say. A search of the couple’s home uncovered bullet holes in his book bag and laptop, according to WTVD.
Edwards said she started noticing some uncomfortable patterns and things happening in Bonnell’s life as their relationship got more serious.
“He didn’t really talk much about his wife in the beginning. I just knew more about his daughter, how much he loved his daughter and all the things that you know she’d brought to his life,” she said.
Edwards said she saw Bonnell the Monday he went missing and said you could tell he had a lot on his mind.
“The last text was that he was going to bed and good night basically. And that was it. And the next morning I texted an early morning text and there was no delivery,” she said.
Edwards said she called in a welfare check when she wasn’t hearing back from Bonnell the next day.
“I knew that something was wrong because we were in communication a lot during the day — mostly text messaging because he was in school — and I didn’t hear from him on the 28th of January,” Edwards said.
Edwards said she wants people to remember Bonnell as an amazing human who left an impact on many people.
“He was a very, just a jovial, happy human and he was really looking forward to his next part of his life, closing a chapter, coming out of the Army after 20 years, being in PA school — he was looking forward to the next chapter,” Edwards said.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said, “Our hearts go out to the Bonnell family, the Special Forces community, and the Methodist University Physician’s Assistant Program during this difficult time.”
No additional details will be released in the case “out of respect” for Bonnell and the integrity of the investigation, the sheriff’s department said.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
