She Went Too Far

The man and woman in this true crime met on a dating app then became hiking buddies. She wanted more—he didn’t. They were in the same hiking club and logged many miles together.

She was a lonely divorcee. The friends she made in the hiking club were her world. He dated another woman, fell in love and together they moved over three hundred miles away from the area where the woman lived. The rejection pushed her to do awful things.

Through a tracking app, she followed their activity and knew where they lived. Shortly after they moved, the girlfriend started getting phone calls with an artificially generated voice saying horrible things. Then someone keyed the girlfriend’s car.

The couple reported all the activity to the local law enforcement agency, but there was no evidence it was who they thought it was—the woman he had hiked with.

After the scorned woman looked on the dark web for a person she could hire to kill the girlfriend, she landed on a site that was a scam. Not a scam because it was law enforcement on the other side, but because scammers ran the site and happily took Bitcoin from people trying to hire a hitman.

She completed the required online information and sent over $9,000 to secure a hitman to kill the girlfriend. Along with the money, she sent photos, locations, car descriptions, etc., then she waited, and waited, and waited. Frustrated, she contacted the hitman website and asked what was taking so long. She agreed to send more money.

Law enforcement learned of the attempt to hire a hitman and investigated through online resources. Officers showed up at the woman’s home with a search warrant. They found plenty of inculpatory evidence, which included a list of several hitmen, and an accounting of her Bitcoin payments. Her computer had personal information and photos of the girlfriend she wanted killed.

They arrested her, and she confessed, later pleading guilty to using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

A judge sentenced the 48-year-old woman to almost nine years in federal prison, where there is no early release. After she serves her time, she will be on supervised release for three years. Besides her sentence, the judge also ordered her to pay restitution to the victim.

Even though she tried to hire a hitman to have a woman killed, it was reported that a friend of hers said about the woman pleading guilty,

“Proves to me she is honest and realized she went too far.”

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Good Housekeeping, People

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.