A woman accused of trying to murder her ex, with the help of an alleged "rival love interest", has been revealed as the founder of a Canberra business.
Lisa Lines, founder of academic editing company Capstone Editing in Manuka, was allegedly part of two love triangles where people are accused of conspiring to murder the father of her children.
Lines, 43, was extradited from the archipelago of Palau on Thursday after she was arrested by local police on November 15.
The Pacific nation, 1600km east of the Philippines, is made up of multiple islands and has a population of about 18,000. Lines was found in Palau after detectives in Adelaide put out an Interpol alert.
South Australian authorities said Lines, who used to live in Canberra and then moved to Adelaide, was arrested on the same day as her then-lover was in Brisbane. He has been named as 30-year-old Zacharia Bruckner.
Authorities said Lines and Bruckner face charges of attempted murder and conspiring to murder her former partner, Jonathan Hawtin, on two occasions.
The first alleged attempt took place in 2017 at Lines' home in Littlehampton, about half an hour's drive southeast of Adelaide. The second attempt was allegedly between December 2021 and August 2022 where they are accused of targeting Hawtin as well as his mother Rhonda Hawtin.
Police said Bruckner allegedly attacked Hawtin with an axe in 2017 leaving the 36-year-old with quadriplegia, meaning he was paralysed from the neck down.
Alleged axe attack in 2017
SA Police accused Lines of being the woman at the centre of a "violent love triangle" with Bruckner and Hawtin which led to the "gruesome" incident in Adelaide Hills on October 29, 2017.
The alleged attack took place in the garage of Lines' Littlehampton home. Bruckner allegedly repeatedly struck Hawtin in the neck with a hatchet (small axe) and then allegedly shot himself in the abdomen.
At the time, police assumed Bruckner had acted in self-defense because Hawtin had shot him.
Supreme Court case against Jonathan Hawtin in 2019
A Supreme Court trial ensued in 2019 where Hawtin was accused of shooting Bruckner and attempting to murder him.
After three hours of deliberation, a jury of six men and six women unanimously decided Hawtin was not guilty of shooting Bruckner and acquitted him of all charges in September 2019.
During the trial, the jury heard Lines had told Hawtin in June 2017 she wanted to separate and that her new relationship with Bruckner had begun by August that year.
Following the verdict, defence counsel Stephen Ey told media outside court it had been a "long and harrowing journey" for Hawtin and his family.
Another alleged attack in 2018
During the 2019 trial, the court also heard that Lines dated an unnamed woman whom she met on an app after the shooting, and the two had allegedly discussed suffocating Hawtin in 2018.
The jury heard the two women had lived together in the same Littlehampton home for a short period and that the unnamed woman was seen at a rehabilitation centre, where Hawtin was recovering, on New Year's Day 2018.
Lines then told the court she was never in a relationship with the woman and had not discussed suffocating her ex.
Charges laid in November 2023
SA Police's major crime investigation branch reopened the investigation in 2020 and a warrant was issued for Lines' arrest.
After an Interpol alert tipped off police in Palau, they arrested Lines on November 15 this year.
Around the same time Bruckner was arrested in Brisbane and charged with conspiring to murder. Police said he faced a Queensland court on November 16 where an extradition order was granted to take him to South Australia.
SA Police said they have also arrested the unnamed woman allegedly seen at Hawtin's rehabilitation centre on January 1, 2018. She has been charged with attempting to murder Hawtin.
Police said they have not ruled out further arrests or charges in relation to the incident.
The Canberra connection
Lisa Lines founded Capstone Editing in Canberra in 2007. As of November 24, 2023, Lines is still pictured on company's website and is mentioned as its founder.
The former academic has PhDs in history and creative writing. She also taught history at UNSW's Canberra campus at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
The ABC reported Lines met Bruckner in 2014 at the ADFA where he was an Arts student and invited him to work at Capstone Editing in 2016. He then moved into Lines' family home in Canberra and in early 2017 moved with them to South Australia.
Lines' latest online public appearance was in December 2022. She featured in a video titled 'Introduction to How to Launch Your Lucrative Editing Career' on her company's YouTube channel.
Capstone Editing was contacted for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.
New court case in South Australia
Upon Lines' arrival at Brisbane Airport, homicide detectives took her into custody. She did not appear before a Queensland court on Friday. She was instead represented by a lawyer who said Lines knew about the warrant for her arrest and had consented to being extradited.
The court heard Lines has no criminal history in Queensland and will be extradited to South Australia for a court appearance on Monday, November 27.
