A Vicious and Intricate Plot

It started with a car fire investigation. The investigation discovered that the fire set to a woman's car whose son was in a complicated relationship was only the beginning.

The fire was a threat to intimidate his mother to not testify in his upcoming custody hearing. To further intimidate the mother, someone also put a threatening message in the beak of a dead Canada goose left on her doorstep.

When the arsonist was confessing to his crime, he also shared that the same associate who asked him to intimidate the mother asked him to kill his girlfriend's baby-daddy. His murder-for-hire payment would be loan forgiveness. The plan included feeding the dead man’s body to pigs on a pig farm.

From that point forward, the arsonist worked with the FBI to get more information about the murder-for-hire plot. Through recorded conversations, the FBI heard the associate instruct the arsonist to rent a van from a nun that had a toll pass sticker, kill the baby-daddy and take him to a pig farm for disposal. He gave the arsonist money for the nun, the pig farmer, and fuel for the van.

With enough information to secure a warrant, the authorities arrested the associate.

Rather than go to trial, the 58-year-old man pleaded guilty to using an interstate commerce facility (cell phone) in a murder-for-hire scheme. A judge sentenced him to over seven years in federal prison, where there is no early release. The judge also imposed a $15,000 fine and ordered 3 years of supervised release after he serves his sentence.

After the sentencing, one of the special agents associated with the case said,

“The details of [the boyfriend’s] callous plans are deeply disturbing and prove he had every intention of ending a life. Instead, his vicious and intricate plot has landed him in federal prison.”

Source: U.S. District Court criminal complaint, U.S. Department of Justice, Oxygen True Crime, NBC News