Netflix’s reputation as the go-to spot for salacious true-crime documentaries was only reiterated with the release of Worst Neighbor Ever, the third in a trilogy of shows – following Worst Roommate Ever and Worst Ex Ever – collecting terrible true stories of people in uncomfortably close proximity to those who would ultimately ruin their lives. Across four episodes, each chronicling a different tale of a maniac next door, the show highlights appalling and often deadly behaviours that definitely violate the sanctity of a property line. While a lot of attention has rightly been paid to the season finale’s focus on Caroline Joanne Herrling, it actually opens with an equally chilling tale, titled “She Finally Snapped”, about Frances Zaayer.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Frances Zaayer was an old family friend of Shawna and David Scott, a couple living in a small, quiet neighborhood in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. When she reached out to ask if she could stay with them for a while following a divorce, they thought little of it.
Zaayer had been away for a while, but the breakdown of her marriage and a period of time away from home had compelled her, apparently, to seek solace in the familiar, so Shawna and David’s place seemed like a sanctuary. Zaayer bought the house across the street – already a red flag, if you ask me – but moved in with Shawna and David while she renovated the property.
Again, none of this seemed especially weird to Shawna and David, especially since they had known Zaayer for a long time. However, she quickly became grumpy and controlling, and more to the point, she seemed enthusiastic about her participation in various Islamophobic rallies. She would frequently upset David, who was Black, with racist slurs, upsetting children as well as adults, seemingly without a care in the world.
From Bad to Worse
After Zaayer, at Shawna’s insistence, moved into her own property, things only got worse. She illegally built a driveway over the property line and began making false claims against Shawna for supposedly working while claiming disability benefits. She offered no real justification for any of this beyond the simple fact that “she could”, though it seems fairly obvious that it was rooted in racist hatred directed primarily towards David, even though Shawna was often the target of her harassment.
Shawna gave as good as she got, sometimes to her own legal detriment. A physical fight between the two was wildly exaggerated by Zaayer, who took to wearing a neck brace – despite having no physical injuries – and repeatedly calling the police with trivial complaints. She also began mowing the lawn naked, since why not?
Zaayer would repeatedly video Shawna and her family, claiming that the FBI and – all together now – President Trump were getting involved in the case. In conservative nutjob bingo, this is what constitutes a full house. David repeatedly attempted to play peacemaker, but Zaayer blamed his connection to the police for her complaints going unaddressed. The fatal turning point came when her assault case against Shawna was dropped.
“She Finally Snapped”
After a year of living opposite Shawna and David, Frances Zaayer marched across the road with a gun and shot Shawna in the face. Despite the bullet entering through her nose and exiting through the side of her head, leaving her deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, she miraculously survived.
David, however, was not so lucky. Zaayer shot him in the chest, and he died at the scene at 47 years of age. The news was broken to Shawna only when she woke up from a coma induced by the shooting.
The case was open-and-shut, at least. When a neighbor called to report the incident, the police already respected Zaayer after the innumerable calls to the authorities she had already made. She was apprehended at her home.
Where is Frances Zaayer now?
Francis Zaayer was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder, second-degree assault, and first-degree wanton endangerment. She remains incarcerated at the KY Correctional Institution for Women in Shelby County, Kentucky. She won’t be eligible for parole until at least 2038.
Zaayer’s guilty plea was only a means by which to reduce her potential sentence. She never showed any remorse for the crime. At her sentencing, Shawna’s daughter, Haley, who appears in the docuseries, insisted that she didn’t forgive Zaayer and indeed never would.
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