After Competing on Controversial TV Series ‘Bridalplasty,’ This Woman Was Murdered By Man She Was Having an Affair With

Lisa Marie Naegle was ready for her happily ever after. The California native, 36, appeared on the controversial E! television series Bridalplasty — in which prospective brides competed for plastic surgeries ahead of their big day — in 2010, ultimately coming in sixth place. But just six years after the series aired, her life was cut short by a killer.

In Dec. 2016, Naegle was reported missing after failing to show at her nursing job. According to People, she was last seen attending a birthday party at a restaurant in Torrence, California, the night before. She went to the gathering alongside Jackie Jerome Rogers, 36, a former nursing student of Naegle's at West LA Community College; it was later reported that the two were having an affair.

After reporting her missing, Naegle's family was told by the police that they had to wait 72 hours before they could investigate. Instead of waiting around, Naegle's sister, Danielle Naegle-Kaimoana, told People that the family confronted Rogers, whom they knew she had attended the party with. After initially telling relatives that he left Naegle at the party, Naegle-Kaimoana said that Rogers changed his story once he was confronted with security footage of the two leaving the gathering together, which they found suspicious.

"He started shaking," she said. "I wanted him to leave but at the same time I wanted him to admit [that he knew more.]"

Just days later, Rogers allegedly gave information to investigators which led them to the backyard of his Lennox, California, home, where Naegle's body was found in a shallow grave. He was arrested the next day on suspicion of her murder.

In September 2018, Rogers was found guilty by a jury on one count of first-degree murder and was later sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison. During the trial, prosecutors revealed that Rogers used a hammer to strike Naegle at least eight times while the two were sitting in a car that night on Dec. 18, 2016. According to a press release from the Los Angeles Country District Attorney's Office (via People), Rogers then "buried her body in his backyard and hit her two more times with the hammer to ensure she was dead before covering her body with dirt and manure."

The release added that Rogers then attempted to cover his tracks by "disposing of all the victim’s belongings, [washing] her blood and tissue off the murder weapon and his car."

During the trial, Rogers' defense attorney Jeremy Lessem admitted that his client had committed the crime, but alleged that he "broke" from feeling "toyed with."

Before she was murdered, Naegle and her husband were planning on beginning a family via in-vitro fertilization, according to Naegle-Kaimoana.

"I’m heartbroken," she said at the time. "I’m so angry. I was so sure she would come home."

E!'s Bridalplasty followed 12 soon-to-be brides as they took on wedding-themed challenges in the hopes of winning plastic surgery procedures. Model Shanna Moakler hosted, while Botched doctor Terry Dubrow performed the surgeries.

The show was canceled after just one season after being widely criticized by audiences, critics and medical professionals alike. Falling viewership numbers also contributed to its demise.

"We're technically prohibited from giving procedures away as a prize for a contest. It totally undermines the doctor-patient relationship," Dr. Gayle Gordillo told ABC at the time, referencing the American Society of Plastic Surgeons code of ethics. "The ethical and social implications of this [show] are frightening."