Investigators: Man accused in 2-state rampage targeted wife, killed others first to clear way

Agents: Tenn. man’s wife was target of rampage

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee authorities say the man accused of killing six people was targeting his estranged wife and killed the others first so they couldn’t stop the attack on her.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said Tuesday that agents believe 38-year-old Traci Shaffer was the last person to die.

Her husband, 30-year-old Jacob Shaffer, was arrested Saturday in Fayetteville. He’s charged with stabbing five people to death in two Fayetteville homes and fatally beating a sixth person in Huntsville, Ala.

Helm says agents believe Traci Shaffer’s father and brother were killed so they “wouldn’t interfere with him killing his main target.”

Investigators think Shaffer then crossed the street and killed his stepson and a neighbor, both 16, before killing his wife.