Where Are the Criminal Neighbors from “Worst Neighbor Ever ”Now?
Where Are the Criminal Neighbors from “Worst Neighbor Ever ”Now?
Caroline BlairThu, July 2, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC
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Frances Zaayer mugshot; Monserrate Shirley leaves a court hearing in January 2015Credit: Kentucky State Police; Darron Cummings/AP -
Netflix's Worst Neighbor Ever explores four shocking true crime stories involving violent conflicts between neighbors
The docuseries highlights cases of harassment, fraud, arson and murder with devastating consequences for victims and their families
Each episode delves into the criminals' actions and their lasting impact on the affected communities
Worst Neighbor Ever chronicles four tragic true stories about neighbors who turned violent.
The first episode of the four-part Netflix docuseries, which hit the streamer on July 1, follows married couple Shawna and David Scott who lived in a small community in Mount Sterling, Ky., but their lives changed forever when one of their former family friends, Frances Zaayer, moved in next door.
Meanwhile, the second episode documents the story of an Indianapolis couple blowing up their home in an insurance scam, which resulted in the deaths of their neighbors, John "Dion" Longworth and Jennifer Longworth. In the third episode, Miles Armstead begged the police to stop his former neighbor Jamal "JT" Thomas from harassing his family, but it ultimately cost him his life.
Finally, the fourth episode shows how conwoman Caroline "Carrie" Herrling conducted a fraud scheme that resulted in her allegedly dismembering and disposing of Charles Wilding's body to prevent anyone from learning the truth.
Here's everything to know about where the criminal neighbors from Worst Neighbor Ever are now.
Frances Zaayer
Frances ZaayerCredit: Kentucky State Police
Frances Zaayer had grown up alongside Shawna Scott and her tight-knit family in the small town of Mount Sterling, Ky. Upon getting divorced, Zaayer moved back to the community, and Shawna let her move in with her and her husband, David Scott.
However, in January 2017, Shawna told Zaayer that she needed to leave after they had a few fights. Two months later, Zaayer moved into an adjacent home and eventually got into a physical altercation with Shawna that resulted in Shawna being arrested but quickly released, per WKTY.
For the next several months, Zaayer continued harassing both Shawna's family and the police by shouting at their grandchild, disregarding property lines and recording them and making false claims on social media, per The Guardian. She constantly called the police to report her various annoyances.
On May 26, 2018, Zaayer walked into Shawna and David's home and shot Shawna in the face and David in the heart. Shawna was hospitalized and survived with serious injuries, but David — a beloved Montgomery County deputy jailer — died.
Zaayer was immediately considered the prime suspect and, after a standoff with the police, was arrested. She was charged with murder, attempted murder and burglary. In January 2022, she pleaded guilty to murder, second-degree assault and first-degree endangerment.
She was sentenced to 35 years in prison and is serving her sentence at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women, per inmate records. She is expected to serve until December 2046 and is eligible for parole in May 2038.
Mark Leonard, Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley and Bob Leonard
Monserrate Shirley walks to a pre-trial hearing Wednesday, July 10, 2013, in Indianapolis, Ind.Credit: Darron Cummings/AP
Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley had a close relationship with several of her neighbors in Richmond Hill, a neighborhood in Indianapolis, Ind. — a place she had lived since 2004. A few years later, Shirley and her husband divorced, but she remained in the Richmond Hill home with her daughter, per A&E.
Shirley, who worked as a nurse, began dating Mark Leonard in 2011, and some of her neighbors noticed her behavior changing. Shirley alleged that Leonard came from a lot of money, but one neighbor noticed that he was wearing an ankle monitor and questioned why he was moving in with her if he was wealthy.
On the night of Nov. 10, 2012, the Richmond Hill neighborhood was devastated when a massive explosion went off in Shirley's home. Her house and surrounding homes quickly caught on fire and were almost immediately destroyed by the significant blast.
Shirley's next-door neighbors, young couple Dion and Jennifer Longworth, were both tragically killed by the explosion, according to WRTV.
Meanwhile, Shirley and Leonard remained unresponsive for hours until they finally resurfaced after taking a trip to a casino. They maintained that it was a tragic accident, but investigators quickly found several pieces of evidence that contradicted that — including finding gas valves open, a metal bottle in a microwave with a delayed time that could have sparked it and all their belongings and loved ones conveniently gone from the home at the time.
Prosecutors alleged that Shirley and Leonard filled the home with natural gas and used the delayed timer microwave to light the gas on fire in hopes of collecting insurance money. Leonard's brother, Bob, was also involved in the plot and was arrested alongside Shirley and her then-boyfriend.
In January 2015, Shirley agreed to a plea deal in exchange for testifying against the Leonard brothers. She pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit arson and was sentenced to the maximum 50 years of prison. Shirley is behind bars at Madison Correctional Facility and has an earliest possible release date of September 2036, according to inmate records.
Meanwhile, Mark was found guilty on 53 counts, including murder and other felony charges and was received two consecutive life in prison sentences plus 75 years without parole. He died on Jan. 30, 2018.
Bob was convicted on 51 counts, including murder and conspiracy to commit arson, and was sentenced to two life sentences without parole, as well as 70 years.
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Jamal “JT” Thomas
Jamal ThomasCredit: Oakland Police Department via AP
Miles and Melina Armstead were raising their blended family in their dream home in East Oakland, Calif., when one of their neighbors became obsessed with them.
In 2017, the Armsteads became friends with the Thomas family, who lived next door. However, that changed two years later when the Thomas family was evicted after an investor bought the home, per A&E. While the other Thomas family members moved elsewhere, Jamal "JT" Thomas refused to leave and started squatting at his former residence.
Miles warned the new owners of the home that Thomas was secretly living there, which upset him and caused him to think the owner and the Armsteads were in cahoots. Thomas, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs, started to constantly harass the Armstead family by ringing their doorbell in the middle of the night, yelling at them from outside and eventually throwing dozens of rocks into their windows, per The Mercury News.
The Armsteads pleaded with the police to help them, calling 911 over 20 times from November 2019 to May 2020. Though Thomas was arrested for making threats, he was released, so the Armsteads successfully obtained a restraining order against him in hopes of the police taking the harassment more seriously, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The ongoing attacks took a toll on the family so they moved out and prepared to sell their house.
On May 1, 2020, Miles returned to the home to plant flowers and paint it in hopes of making it more appealing for a future buyer. In the middle of the day, Thomas approached Miles, chased him down the street and shot him several times, killing him.
Thomas was swiftly arrested and charged in connection with Miles' murder. He was convicted of first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon with priors in 2024 and was sentenced to life in prison.
Thomas is currently behind bars at High desert State Prison and has a pending parole hearing in May 2035, per inmate records.
Caroline Herrling
Caroline Joanne HerrlingCredit: US Attorney L.A./X
Caroline Herrling, who also went by Carrie Phenix, appeared to be a different person to all of her neighbors. Herrling had a history of finding "vulnerable victims by searching for properties in affluent neighborhoods that appeared unkempt," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.
In 2020, Herrling — along with other co-conspirators — found Charles Wilding's home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and broke in. Then, in September of that year, Wilding died from an "uncertain" cause, per ABC7.
"[Investigators] believe that Herrling and others took over the property while his body decomposed in his home," the office stated. "Rather than reporting his death, Herrling and others in the conspiracy left his body in his house while they looted his assets."
From then on, Herrling forged documents stating she was Wilding's power-of-attorney and stole from his trust, real estate and financial accounts.
More than a year later in October 2021, some of Wilding's neighbors grew concerned over his whereabouts and asked the police to check on him. When officers entered the property, they found Herrling claiming to be Wilding's close friend and his trustee.
For several months, investigators alleged that Herrling kept the scheme going by moving Wilding's body to her apartment and dismembering it, although his remains were never found (investigators claimed it was disposed of in the San Francisco Bay).
By early 2023, investigators had narrowed in on Herrling's financial crimes and were granted a search warrant for her home. Upon entering, police found a myriad of firearms, drugs, fake law enforcement IDs and multiple financial documents from Wilding.
Herrling was arrested and taken into federal custody. While she initially denied knowing anything about Wilding's financial documents or what happened to him, she changed her stance in March 2023 when she adjusted her plea to guilty and pleaded to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In exchange for a lighter sentence, Herrling admitted that she wanted to keep Wilding alive to access his assets, but he had died. She confessed that because of the financial gain, she went to great extremes to convince others that Wilding was still alive.
The following March, she was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $3,887,051 in restitution. She is currently serving her sentence at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, and has a release date of March 18, 2039, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong said the fraud scheme was "particularly cruel and calculating."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
