Lisa Lines, the woman accused of bizarre love triangle kill plot against former partner Jonathon Hawtin, lands back in Australia

An ex-Adelaide mum accused of a bizarre, years-long vendetta to kill her former partner has arrived back on Australia soil after being extradited from a Pacific island.

An ex-Adelaide woman accused of twice attempting to kill her former partner – then plotting to kill him and his mother after those attempts failed – has arrived back in Australia after being extradited from a Pacific island.

Lisa Lines, 43, was arrested last week on the tiny island nation of Palau – where she had been travelling under the alias Scarlett Ellis Lee – and was in custody at Koror jail before touching down at Brisbane Airport this morning.

She will spend the night at the Brisbane City Watch House, and was expected to face court in Brisbane on Friday before being extradited to Adelaide where she faces charges two counts of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to murder.

SA Police said as Operation Fabula continued its investigations, further arrests and charges could not be ruled out.

Accused attempted murderer Lisa Lines is back in Australia after three years on the run. She is expected to face court in Brisbane before being extradited back to Adelaide. Picture: 7NEWS

Ms Lines was arrested on a warrant and is accused of attempting to twice murder her former partner Jonathon Hawtin – who was rendered a tetraplegic after one of the attacks – and then plotting to kill Mr Hawtin and his mother Rohnda Hawtin.

Some of the charges relate to an incident at Littlehampton, in the Adelaide Hills, in 2017, with her then-love Zacharia Bruckner. Mr Bruckner was last week extradited from Brisbane and appeared in court in Adelaide on Monday.

Police allege the pair engaged in a bizarre, years-long vendetta, in which they first tried to kill Mr Hawtin and, after he survived, then tried to frame him for attempted murder. Their plotting allegedly culminated in attempts to hire a hitman to kill not only Mr Hawtin, but also his mother.

Lisa Lines, who was arrested in the tiny Pacific Island nation of Palau. Picture: Supplied

Dr Lisa Lines as founder of Capstone Editing. Picture: Supplied

During Mr Bruckner’s extradition hearing in Queensland, police allege he chopped Mr Hawtin in the back of the neck with an axe in the Littlehampton attack, then allegedly shot himself in the abdomen to frame Mr Hawtin as the aggressor.

As Mr Hawtin recovered from his injuries in a rehabilitation centre, Ms Lines allegedly sent a female lover to smother him with a pillow on New Year’s Day, 2018. The woman’s attempt was allegedly thwarted when she was spotted by security guards and fled.

Mr Bruckner and Ms Lines are further alleged to have “conspired to murder Hawtin and Rohnda by the use of a hitman” between December 2021.

BREAKING: After three years on the run, an accused love triangle murder plot mastermind is now back on home soil. Adelaide academic Lisa Lines is being extradited from Palau, charged with trying to kill her ex twice. The latest in 7NEWS Adelaide at 6pm. #7NEWSpic.twitter.com/QpyrHPiSxP

— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) November 23, 2023

During Mr Bruckner’s hearing, Queensland police prosecutor Eddie Fraser said an undercover police operation had recorded Ms Lines speaking to someone posing as a hitman for hire.

“In October 2022, Lines then engaged with a person known to police and stated she knew Bruckner was going to attack Hawtin in the garage and her part of the plan was to stay inside the house,” Mr Fraser told the court.

“The nature of the offending is considered to be prolonged, calculated having taken place over a period of five years.

“Both the defendants Bruckner and Lines have taken extreme measures and gone to great expense to have Hawtin and Rohnda killed.“