Woman arrested in Pacific, accused of repeatedly trying to murder ex

A woman has been arrested in the Pacific republic of Palau, accused of repeatedly trying to murder her ex-husband in South Australia.

Mother-of-two Lisa Lines, 43, was arrested by Palau law enforcement on behalf of SA Police's major crime investigation branch and was remanded in custody in Koror.

Lines, an author and university lecturer, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to murder.

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Zacharia Bruckner, 30, was also arrested by Queensland Police and has been charged with conspiracy to murder-related offences.

He is currently before the courts in Brisbane, where South Australian police are applying for his extradition.

The extensive series of events began in 2017 when Bruckner, a young editor, was recruited by Lines to her publishing company.

He moved in with Lines and her ex-husband Jonathan Hawtin in Adelaide.

Lines is said to have been in a relationship with Bruckner by the time her marriage broke down with her husband in 2017.

But Lines allegedly had another relationship too - with a woman.

In 2017, Hawtin was attacked with an axe at an Adelaide Hills home.

In the same incident, Bruckner suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

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While Hawtin was recovering in a rehabilitation centre after suffering injuries that left him a tetraplegic - meaning he was paralysed from the neck down - Lines' female lover allegedly was spotted peering into his room.

Police said staff escorted her away, but it's alleged that she'd been sent here by Lines to suffocate Hawtin with a pillow.

Following the alleged axe attack, Hawtin was charged with attempted murder and went on trial accused of shooting Bruckner.

Bruckner claimed in that trial that the axe attack was in self-defence.

However, Hawtin was acquitted by a jury of the charge at the trial.

Lines left Australia in 2020 and took her two children to Taiwan, where Australia does not hold an extradition treaty.

Interpol yellow notices were released for both children in 2021.

Yesterday, Lines landed in Palau where South Australian major crime detectives carried out an arrest warrant on the attempted murder and conspiracy to murder charges.

Police will also allege that as recently as 2023, Lines and Bruckner have been plotting to hire a contract killer to silence both Hawtin and his mother.

Major crime detectives and Australian Federal Police officers are continuing to support local police in Palau in extraditing Lines to South Australia.