A new investigation by ABC’s 20/20 has revealed the sheer levels of treachery and betrayal that Stone and Pastor David Love went to in order to not only murder her husband of 19-years, but also to try and cover their involvement up.

‘Her lover was her hit man,’ said Tammy Dickinson, assistant Jackson in the aftermath of her sentence in June last year.

‘She wanted a perfect life with David Love, no matter the cost.’

Leaving her children Michael and Miranda orphaned by her incarceration, the Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Marco Roldan issued the most severe sentence he could.

Murderer: David Love (left) killed his best friend Randy Stone with his friends own gun and even gave the eulogy at his funeral in front of his lover Teresa Stone

He noted that Stone schemed with New Hope Baptist Church minister David Love to commit the March 31st, 2010 shooting of Randy Stone, gave him access to her husband’s gun collection, thought she would get his life insurance and then – horrifically – allowed Love to preside over her husband’s funeral.

The court heard that Stone had allegedly fallen pregnant, despite the fact that her devoted husband had undergone a vasectomy years before.

And in shocking evidence presented during the trial of David Love, the jury heard how killing Randy Stone was only the first part of the jigsaw and that Love wanted to murder his wife too.

Randy Stone was a religious man, and owned an insurance business along with his wife of nearly 20-years, Teresa.

They had been childhood sweethearts, but lost touch when Randy joined the marines only to marry when he returned from his service.

On the last day of March in 2010, Teresa called 911 to report that Randy, 42, had been shot and killed in his office. Investigators discovered no sign of a struggle and $100 was on his deak.

Childhood sweethearts: Teresa and Randy Stone had been married for 20 years when he was allegedly shot dead by David Love in March last year

They came to the conclusion that this was not a robbery gone wrong, but a murder.

At Randy’ funeral hundreds of people came to show their respects to the popular pillar of the community and listened to David Love give his eulogy.

‘We weep not just because of the separation of our loved one but because of the questions that death brings,’ Love can be heard saying during a police recording of his eulogy for Randy.

‘Questions like why, why him? Why now?’

Indeed, police were at the funeral because they suspected that the killer knew Randy and would be in attendance.

It was during this initial investigation that police discovered the vital clue which would unravel the tightly constructed alibis that Love and Stone had created for themselves.

‘One of our people went through … a trash canister next to Teresa Stone’s office desk, and there was … a one-page letter that had been torn up in multiple pieces,’ Detective Keith Rosewaren told 20/20.

The letter was pieced together as a happy birthday or love letter and contained the phrase, ‘Happy Birthday Love. I am not in control of things yet but when we are fully together your birthday will always be exciting.’

Teresa Stone, 40, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit murder in the March 2010 shooting death of Randy Stone of Independence. Stone entered the plea with the understanding that her maximum sentence would be 8 years

The letter was not in Randy Stone’s handwriting and they brought Teresa in for questioning but she provided them with a concrete alibi complete with exact times and receipts from the Sonic drive-thru restaurant she went to.

‘No one who wasn’t preparing for that, would be able to recite their whereabouts down to the minute… the way Teresa Stone did,’ Molly Hastings, David Love’s attorney told 20/20.

However, when detectives asked Teresa about the torn up note they found in her trashcan, she didn’t have an answer.

Police left Teresa alone in the interrogation room, where their camera recorded her saying, ‘Oh great. I forgot about that.’

This sparked investigators into action and it was revealed that Teresa Stone had in fact been involved in a 10-year affair with Love.

In evidence presented at their trials, it was shown that in emails from January 2010, Stone and Love were talking of marriage.

And it was claimed that in February, Love bought her a ring.

It was around this time that they began to plot the deaths of their respective husband and wife and detective Keith Rosewarren told the court that after Love shot Randy Stone he was going to kill his wife by breaking her neck and staging a car accident to disguise her death.

Sad: Randy Stone was the childhood sweetheart of Teresa Stone and was married to her for 19 years and had two children

In addition to the letter, investigators had found a .40 caliber shell casing which they later matched to an eastern Jackson County farm where Stone liked to practice shooting.

This led them to conclude that he had been killed with his own firearm.

A friend of Randy’s, Robert Davis told investigators that he remembered Teresa coming to visit him the night of her husband’s death.

She appeared calm and collected and only wanted to know about how to collect her husband’s life insurance policy.

Davis found it odd: ‘It wasn’t even 24 hours after Randy had been killed,’ he said.

Police came to the conclusion that Teresa Stone and David Love were having an affair and wanted to kill Randy to collect his life insurance.

Little did they know that Stone had left all his money to his two children in his will.

However, detectives pressed Stone on the affair they believed she was having with Love.

‘Yes we had sex,’ she admitted and caved, telling police that her ‘Brother Love’ had shot her husband.

Love was arrested, but refused to admit he killed his best friend. However, Teresa Stone told police that Love, ‘ walked in the office and he just aimed and he didn’t look’.

In November, 2011, Love took a plea deal for second degree murder. He is currently serving a life sentence and will only be eligible for parole in 2036.

Teresa, was indicted for conspiracy to commit murder, and also took a plea deal to have charges reduced, but had to acknowledge her role in the crime.

She was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Read more: Daily Mail