Amanda Penny had hoped July would mark the beginning of a quieter chapter in her life. Instead, Arkansas investigators say it became the month she crossed a line she could never return from.

The 40-year-old mother — seven months pregnant and recently divorced — now sits in a Benton County jail cell, accused of plotting the killing of her ex-husband, former WWE NXT wrestler Kevin Nikel. Prosecutors say she didn’t act alone. Her boyfriend, 51-year-old Michael Hogue, is charged alongside her, both facing counts of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by certain persons.

Nikel, 41, was discovered on July 11 lying off Arkansas 12 just east of Rogers, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Deputies rushed him to a hospital, but he didn’t survive. For months, his family waited for answers. Those answers arrived this week — wrapped in handcuffs and felony charges.

According to court records, Nikel and Penny finalized their divorce just three days before the shooting. The two had known each other since high school, a long and complicated relationship that stretched across decades and, eventually, a divorce docket. Penny had since entered a relationship with Hogue, investigators say, a detail that quickly became central to the homicide probe.

Authorities have not yet publicly outlined what they believe unfolded on July 11 or who they say pulled the trigger. But both Penny and Hogue are accused of acting together in a killing that turned a former professional wrestler’s life — and his family’s peace — into a crime scene.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened when he got shot,” Nikel’s mother, Susan Kinderman, told local station 5NEWS. “The detectives have been pretty close-lipped on that, which is good, but we’d still like to know exactly what happened and who did what.”

Her son’s wrestling career began in 2012, performing under the name Knuckles Madsen during his stint with WWE NXT. After leaving the company, he turned his attention to building the region’s independent wrestling scene, founding the Ozark Wrestling Academy and Ozark Mountain Wrestling. Friends and students described him as a talented trainer, a patient mentor, and someone who found purpose in teaching others how to step into the ring.

Now, that community finds itself mourning a man whose life ended far from the spotlight and under circumstances still largely unexplained.

At Penny’s bond hearing on Nov. 19, her public defender told the judge that Penny is seven months pregnant and receiving medical care. The court acknowledged the concern but did not reduce her bond. She is being held on $500,000; Hogue’s bond was set at $750,000.

Neither defendant has entered a plea.

For Nikel’s family, the arrests mark a step toward closure — but only a step. They still don’t know the motive. They still don’t know the sequence of events that led from a finalized divorce to a fatal gunshot. They still don’t know why someone they all once loved ended up dying alone by the roadside.

And until those answers come, family members say, justice feels unfinished.