OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An Iowa woman charged with first-degree murder for what police say was the killing of a romantic rival has pleaded not guilty. A judge on Thursday also granted 41-year-old Shanna Golyar’s request for a bench trial, set to begin May 10.
Golyar, of Persia, Iowa, is charged in the 2012 disappearance-turned-homicide case of 37-year-old Cari Farver. Golyar was arrested in December of 2016 in connection to Farver’s disappearance, who was last seen in Omaha.
Police say Golyar posed as Farver online and by phone for years after Farver’s disappearance, and also posed as other people confessing to having murdered Farver. A sergeant testified Farver had been dating Golyar’s ex-boyfriend for some weeks when she disappeared.
Farver is presumed dead, although her body has not been found.