You can watch our half-hour stream-only special, Green Beret Murder: What Happened to Clinton Bonnell?, wherever you stream ABC11.
My Brother Clint
"Clint was a unique guy. Like you talk to anybody who spent time around him and he was he had a big personality. He loved people, big."
Stefanie Firkins says that growing up, her brother Clint Bonnell was an athlete with an artsy side. He played football but was also passionate about music and theater.
"And he had a constant yearning for growth and for education and just continuing to strive for excellence..."
Stefanie says Clint was inspired to join the military after 9/11; becoming a Green Beret and a medic in the military deepened his interest in medicine.
She says her brother met Shana Cloud at an Oklahoma hospital during a training assignment. They eloped and began raising Shana's daughter together before Clint was reassigned to Fort Bragg.
Shana then started working as a travel nurse at a prison in Virginia.
ABC11 asked Stefanie if she ever sensed something was wrong.
"I know that Clint had shared with me that...they had started living separate lives.
"Whenever he spoke to me, he said that they were in agreement, that it was they were both on board. They both wanted a divorce. They both realized that they had grown apart over many years."
Stefanie says she last saw her brother in December.
"He was happier than I'd ever seen him before, honestly. And he was in such great spirits. He had just finished his first semester of school at Methodist and got all A's except for one B, he was doing amazing. That's why when she was telling me that he ran off, I did not believe for a second that because I knew his state of mind less than a month ago."
Stefanie says it was Shana who told her that her brother had disappeared, accusing Clint of running off with another woman.
"She had a story that she was telling me that he ran off and then elaborated on this wild, elaborate story about what had Clint had been doing. And it was she was describing somebody who had, it was so far fetched that I didn't believe a single word of it, to be quite honest."
About a month later, a torso was found in a pond near Clint and Shana's home.
"Whenever part of him was found in the pond, in my gut, I knew it was him," Stefanie said.
A few weeks later, the torso was identified as Clint's, and Shana was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a death. Despite Shana's attorney's insistence that she's innocent of all charges, Clint's sister has strong feelings about what happened.
"There's zero doubt in my mind that Shana Cloud is responsible for my brother's murder," Stefanie said. "(N)ot just the facts that have been shared at her hearing, but things that I know that she told me specifically, things that I know about my brother, the facts of the case that no doubt will be shared in court, that she is responsible."
Months later, now Stefanie says a million questions still haunt her every day.
"Where's the rest of my brother?"
"The medical examiner is still doing their portion of the investigation, and so we haven't been able to have a funeral for him or lay him to rest," Stefanie said.
"Why would you do this to somebody who you spent 16 years of your life with? The fact that he is gone is something that I think about every single morning until I go to bed. It is so traumatic what has happened that you can't forget. I'd say that. That life completely changed for everybody in our family. It will never be the same."
Stefanie has a special message for her brother.
"I know he can hear me. I know he's in a better place. That gives me a lot of peace. Since I know he's home, he's with our heavenly father and is at peace there. All I can hope is that I make him as proud as he made me, living the life that he led. And I just hope that I can make him proud by continuing to fight for justice for him and to make sure that what's happened to him does not get pushed to the side, forgotten, excused in any way, shape, or form. And that she's held accountable."
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Green Beret Murder: What happened to Clinton 'Clint' Bonnell? Full Episode