He’s Going to Kill Me

Divorce is ugly more often than it’s not. Custody battles. Financial settlements. Division of property. Oftentimes, when the wife is a stay-at-home mom who didn’t contribute financially to the family, the money settlement is especially aggravating for the working husband.

In this true crime, all the settlement issues made the ex-husband bitter beyond comprehension. According to court documents, he asked his brother to kill his ex-wife. The brothers were close.

One day, she was at a nearby church speaking with a friend when her ex-husband showed up. The friend said she became visibly upset at his presence, and after he left—she told the friend,

“He’s going to kill me.”

A few days before the murder, the ex-husband's brother’s cell phone tracked him traveling out-of-state and directly to his ex-sister-in-law’s neighborhood. A neighbor noticed a man on a motorcycle parked in from the woman’s home. He felt it so odd, he called her to tell her someone had been watching her place.

Cell phone records showed the brother parked in front of her home texted his brother and said, “I’ve been here at the deer stand for over an hour - no show, no deer.”

His cell phone continued to tell the story of him and his brother conspiring and of him being near her home every day until the day of the murder. In the early morning, a neighbor heard gunshots. A few minutes later, a neighbor’s barn recorded the brother’s motorcycle passing by. His cell phone showed him leaving her town heading home. The ex-husband had a solid alibi but still became a suspect.

The 38-year-old ex-wife did not survive her injuries. A co-worker checking on why she didn’t show for work found her. Her two sets of twins lost their mother that day, a local schoolteacher loved by her students.

Federal authorities arrested both brothers and charged them with murder-for hire. Because they used their cell phones to conspire in the crime, it became federal jurisdiction.

The 50- and 54-year-old brothers went to trial. A jury found them both guilty. A judge sentenced them both to life in federal prison, where there is no early release.

Source: U.S Court of Appeals, U.S. Department of Justice, Law & Crime

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.