Girlfriend of slain Green Beret devastated after his estranged wife is charged with his murder

The girlfriend of the slain Green Beret whose mutilated body was found earlier this year said she is still reeling after recently learning that his estranged wife was arrested and charged for his murder.Kelli Edwards — who was dating father-of-one Clinton “Clint” Bonnell, 50 — said she was shocked to learn that police had charged Shana Cloud, 50, for his murder after the soldier allegedly pushed for the couple to finally get divorced.“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 told ABC News on Wednesday.Edwards said she met Bonnell, of North Carolina, a couple of years after he began living separately from his wife and speaking with divorce attorneys.

The mourning girlfriend said she could tell how much strain his complicated marriage was causing him.He was committed to their new relationship but was also trying to be there for his daughter, whom he shared with Cloud, she said.

“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,” Edwards said.

She last spoke to her boyfriend via text on Jan.27, with the Green Beret vanishing the following day.Bonnell retired in December after 20 years in the military and was studying to become a physician assistant.

He was reported missing on Jan.28 when an employee at Methodist University in Fayetteville requested a welfare check when he failed to show up to class, police said. Deputies located Bonnell’s car, book bag and other personal belongings at his house, where Cloud told authorities she last saw her husband the day before.

Nearly a month later, on Feb.25, police were alerted to a body missing arms and legs floating in...