Online dating has become a growing culture for people of all ages. Once upon a time, Dave Kroupa, too, jumped on the bandwagon of downloading the app to meet some new people. After all, he was separated from his long-term partner, Amy Flora and had just relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, to start a new job as a manager in the auto repair shop.

Kroupa downloaded the app, interacted with a few ladies, and came across a woman, Shanna Elizabeth Golyar, aka Liz. Little did he know that her entry would make his life a living hell and put him straight into a path of a cold-blooded killer!

Enter the third character in the story.

Cari Farver was a single mother looking for a casual relationship to fit her busy work life. She was a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, and had a mother and son. One day, she accidentally crossed her paths with Kroupa, and sparks began to fly between the two.

At that time, Kroupa himself was an unattached bachelor with two kids of his own, casually dating Liz.

Cari and Kroupa began to date after their encounter at the auto repair shop.

It was 2012. Kroupa was working in his auto repair shop like the regular days when he saw Cari dropping off her Ford Explorer for maintenance. Their connection was immediate. David stated, “While we looked at each other, there was a little spark. She was showing me something inside the vehicle, and we were standing there. We were very close, and there was some tension.”

Cari Farver’s friend Amy Long also told the media, “She had something about her. You couldn’t help but notice Cari, who always lit up a room.”

Perhaps that’s what drew Kroupa to Farver.

Soon, their first date happened, and Farver informed Kroupa she was not looking for anything serious. The two returned to Kroupa’s apartment. While leaving, Farver ran into Liz Goylar in the hallway.

The meeting between two ladies was like two ships in the night, for the women barely acknowledged each other.

In November 2012, Farver was staying with Kroupa as she was in the midst of a work project, and he lived close to her office. On the morning of her disappearance, he kissed her goodbye. Unfortunately, he never saw her after that.

What’s unusual was that Kroupa would still hear from Farver for the next four years.

After leaving his apartment, Farver texted Kroupa that she wanted to move in with him officially. It was something that neither of them had wanted, which made Kroupa decline the offer immediately. Upon receiving a cold shoulder, Farver’s texts grew angry and would continue to escalate.

She would even text him that she hated Kroupa so much and would date another person.

The spree of bizarre texts from Farver wasn’t limited to Kroupa alone.

Nancy Raney, Farver’s mother, and her 15-year-old son, Max, would also receive odd messages from her. In her texts, she claimed to have found a job in Kansas and would make plans to pick up her son. But she never showed up.

According to Farver’s mother, Cari was diagnosed with depression in her late 20s and had bipolar disorder. She was even seeing a therapist and taking medication. But when she started dating Kroupa and found her new job, things seemed to be falling in place.

When Farver regularly texted her mother, the latter tried to get her on the phone multiple times. However, the daughter would never call back, which would make Nancy suspicious. When Farver did not show up on her half-brother’s wedding day, Raney reported her missing.

Initially, the police did not take her missing seriously and concluded that such erratic behavior could be due to her medication or mental condition.

While Farver’s mother was worried about her disappearance, Kroupa continued to receive harassing text messages and emails from her girlfriend.

“I will do what I can to make you suffer.”

“We belong together, Dave.”

Most of Farver’s messages focused on Golyar, the same woman that Koupar was previously dating and who crossed paths with her in his apartment building hallway.

Farver also texted Golyar. The latter told Kroupa that she was receiving harassing texts and emails from Farver. One day Golyar even found her garage to be vandalized.

The vandalized garage had “Whore from Dave” spray painted on one of the walls.

Things went a little overboard, and by this time, Golyar reported the incident to Omaha Police.

After receiving a spree of harassing messages from Farver, Kroupa began seeing Golyar again. But texts from Farver wouldn’t stop. What was weird was that on some days, he would receive a text detail to what he was doing at the exact moment.

For instance, he reported to the media, “On one specific occasion, I was sitting in my La-Z-Boy with my feet up, watching TV, trying to relax and it’s night time and I get a text saying, ‘I see you. You are sitting in your chair with your feet propped up, wearing a blue shirt.’ And those things were true.”

Farver neither saw Kroupa nor her mother and son but continued texting them. A spree of messages and odd events also continued.

In January 2013, Dave noticed Cari’s car in the parking lot. He took a picture and sent it to the police. They searched the car and were only able to find one fingerprint. It did not match Cari or anyone in the FBI’s database.

In August 2013, Liz’s house was burnt down. Unfortunately, her two dogs, a cat, and a pet snake succumbed to death in the fire.

Meanwhile, Cari’s mother was desperately looking for her daughter with little help from the authorities, who claimed she had left of her own will.

Finally, following such bizarre texts and other events in the case, the authorities decided to intervene. Detectives Ryan Avis and Jim Doty did not take a lot of time to narrow down who was behind these texts. It was not Farver, who they suspected was dead.

When the authorities started investigating the case, they were immediately suspicious of Liz, who had only had that brief encounter with Farver.

The two detectives dug into the details of the case files and also checked the contents on Liz’s phone, which she had agreed to allow the police to download during the investigation that took place in 2013. While searching the details on her phone, they found a photo of Cari’s car. It was taken weeks before the police found it. There was another photo – a woman was tied up in the boot of a car. They matched the fingerprints found in the car to Liz.

In December 2015, Liz walked into the police station to file a complaint against Amy Flora, Kroupa’s ex. The next day, she said she was shot in the leg while walking alone at the night and claimed Amy was the shooter. She had already reported Kroupa’s guns as missing.

Following their investigation, they once again asked to download the contents of Liz’s phone, and the woman agreed. They discovered evidence that Liz had set up 20-30 fake email addresses and was using an app to schedule messages ahead of time.

They confirmed their suspicion and devised a plan against Liz.

The detective told Liz they believed her and asked her to reach out to Amy to see whether she would incriminate herself. Liz sent Amy an email and immediately started forwarding emails to the detectives that were supposedly Amy’s confession to shooting her in the leg.

In her further emails, she also confessed to stabbing Farver three to four times and stuffing her body into a garbage bag.

The authorities called Liz for questioning. In the meantime, police searched her apartment and discovered some of Cari’s possessions like a camcorder and digital camera.

Finally, in December 2016, four years after the disappearance of Cari, they arrested Liz and charged her with first-degree murder.

After Liz’s arrest, the truth finally surfaced. On November 13, 2012, Liz gained entry into Cari’s residence and demanded her cell phone and password. She kidnapped her. Liz then proceeded to stab her repeatedly in the chest and stomach. She burned the body, dismembered it, and deposited the pieces in trash bags in remote locations.

To this day, not a single trace of Cari Farver’s body has ever been found. However, police discovered a photograph of her severed foot that had been deleted from Liz’s phone, which was enough to charge her with Farver’s murder despite the lack of a murder weapon or any other physical evidence.

In 2017, Liz was found guilty of first-degree murder and second-degree arson. Currently, she is serving life without parole for the murder and an additional 18-20 years for the arson. She was even profiled on episode seven of Season 13 of Deadly Women ‘Fatal Fixation’.

Dave Kroupa realized the woman he was currently dating was actually the person who had been stalking him for more than four years. Liz burnt her own house, killed her pets, and went to the extent of shooting herself in the leg. And this whole time, Cari had been dead.

“I don’t think it even sunk in when I heard her pronounced guilty. It was surreal. If I read this book, I wouldn’t believe it.”