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HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Before this case propelled veterinarian Valerie McDaniel into the spotlight, few people besides her friends and clients knew who she was. We are learning a whole lot more thanks to court documents.
In 2014, she filed for divorce from her husband Marion McDaniel--the man she would eventually be accused of trying to kill. According to her divorce decree, her ex-husband fared quite well in the split. He got the property on Tiki Island, half a share in Padre's Bar they co-owned , 100 percent of their pet cremation service and several bank accounts. She also owed him $1.25 million in cash. The divorce became final last August.
Her codefendant is a man named Leon Phillip Jacob. On the March 10, police arrested the couple for hiring what they thought was a hit man to murder her ex-husband and his ex-girlfriend. He allegedly wanted his stalking case to go away. We don't know her motive yet.
The two live together in a River Oaks condo, but sources tell Fox 26 that at one time Jacob lived right next door to the McDaniels when they lived in a house in West University Place. No one answered the door when we rang that bell next door. Property records show it belongs to a Golda Jacob. Sources tell us that's Leon Jacob's mother, and you will find the same name at the bottom of the McDaniel's divorce decree. She was Valerie's divorce attorney.