Chad Schipper, a financial advisor and father of six, is now serving a 60-year prison sentence after the horrifying truth behind his seemingly perfect life was exposed. According to People, his story, and the devastating impact on his family, is currently featured in a new episode of Betrayal: Secrets & Lies, titled The Bible Study Kidnapper, which premiered on ABC.
Donielle Showvay, Schipper’s ex-wife, remembers their life together feeling “too good to be true” before the shocking events unfolded. She first met Chad at a bible study meeting at her sister Randin’s college, and they quickly hit it off. A college friend of the couple, Barbie Dangond, recalls in the episode that Schipper had a reputation for being “very smart, very kind.” Their first date was a laid-back movie night, watching films like So I Married An Axe Murderer with Showvay’s sister and her date.
Schipper confessed he’d had a sexual “encounter in a public bathroom with a man.” Despite a marriage counselor’s advice to leave him, Showvay was determined to make their relationship work. A couple of months later, they found out they were expecting their first child, a daughter named Grace. Over 17 years of marriage, they would welcome six children together.
He planned the whole thing, down to the check made out to his own LLC
As Schipper’s financial advising business grew, the family moved to a larger house in Erie, Illinois. He spent many hours in his first-floor office, often working late into the night and sleeping downstairs, which Showvay wasn’t thrilled about. At one point, Schipper tried to forge a business relationship with Larry and Connie Van Oosten, a couple from their church who had recently come into a substantial sum of money.
The Van Oostens ultimately declined to work with Schipper, believing he was too early in his financial career. This led Schipper to start buying properties to renovate and rent out for additional income, which meant he was spending even more time away from home, always citing one of the rentals as the reason. His fixation on securing high-stakes deals mirrors other cases where financial meetings have led to horrifying outcomes.
Then, one night in 2017, things took a terrifying turn. One of the couple’s children spotted an unfamiliar car approaching their home. Around the same time, Schipper texted their daughter Grace, asking her to wrap the handle of a sledgehammer in black electrical tape. Grace, thinking it was a weird request, still obliged and was told she’d get a “special treat for a job well done,” she recalls in the episode.
Just a few nights later, Showvay woke up to a loud bang as police officers swarmed their house, looking for her husband and asking questions about the Van Oostens. It turned out Schipper, using the sledgehammer his daughter had prepared, had broken into the Van Oosten’s house in the middle of the night. He kidnapped the elderly couple using a taser, duct tape to cover their mouths and eyes, and handcuffs.
He even used a voice distorter to communicate with them, asking at one point, “Where is your God now?” That’s just awful to imagine. Schipper then drove the couple to a bank, forcing Connie to go inside and retrieve a check for $350,000. He threatened to kill Larry if she didn’t comply. While inside, Connie wrote a note on a church flier in her purse, slipping it to the teller. The note, stating she was in trouble, triggered a massive police hunt for the Van Oostens.
Because the check was made out to an LLC linked to Schipper, police quickly zeroed in on him. Following a car crash, Schipper was transported to a hospital where he confessed to the kidnapping. During a search of one of his properties, police found a room with a television screen broadcasting security footage, showing the elderly couple in a concrete room, shackled to a wall and blindfolded.
They then discovered a steel door in one of the house’s closets, leading to a soundproof underground cellar. In a police interview, Schipper told authorities he “felt desperate” and was “trying to buy time” due to his failing business. It was also revealed that Schipper had allegedly been embezzling funds from clients, stealing from various family members, and forging documents to borrow money against his parents’ house.
Police believe the money he tried to get from the Van Oostens was his plan to pay off these debts. He was ultimately sentenced to 60 years in prison, a result Showvay’s father, Tim Mohs, called “glorious.” Showvay reflects on how challenging it was “figuring out what reality was as opposed to what I thought reality was.”
In navigating her new life, she reconnected with her “first love,” Billy, whom she dated as a teenager, and they eventually married.
Published: Apr 14, 2026 05:15 pm