Wife Sought for Husband's Slaying Alters Face

Nov. 5 -- By the time U.S. Marshals knocked on the door of her cottage in southern Florida, 33-year-old Michelle Theer's hair had been bleached from red to blonde, and her face was drastically transformed.

The psychologist's new look was no accident, police said.

Authorities in Fayetteville, N.C., were looking for Theer in connection with the December 2000 slaying of her husband, 31-year-old Air Force Capt. Marty Theer, a C-130 pilot based at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville.

A military jury had already convicted Michelle Theer's lover in her husband's murder, but authorities had long suspected that his wife also played a role.

Just days before she was indicted, Theer, who had moved from Fayetteville and was living in New Orleans, disappeared. Three months ago Theer was arrested and authorities found she had deliberately had her face altered, and changed her hair color and skin tone in order to conceal her identity.

She still had laser burns on her face from recent plastic surgery, police said.

A Fatal Stop

Michelle Theer's story began on the night of Dec. 17, 2000, when she and her husband dropped by the office where she was a psychologist in a clinical practice. She needed to retrieve some documents after a Christmas party, she said. On the stairs leading up to the office, Capt. Marty Theer was shot five times and killed.

Shortly after the shooting, police became aware of another man in Mrs. Theer's life: Army Sgt. John Diamond, a man she reportedly met over the Internet.

Military authorities at Fort Bragg became convinced Diamond was involved in Theer's slaying, and charged him in the shooting in February 2001. When the case came to trial, in August 2001, a military court convicted Diamond of Capt. Theer's murder, and Diamond is serving a life sentence, without parole.

Diamond admitted carrying on an affair with Michelle, but denied shooting her husband.

Deborah Dvorak, Diamond's sister, told Good Morning America that her brother is an innocent man who simply became involved with the wrong woman.