A Knoxville girl accepted a plea deal Wednesday for 100 months in jail for hiring an internet hitman to kill the spouse of a person she met on a relationship web site, in line with authorities.
Melody Sasser, 48, paid almost $10,000 in bitcoins to a hitman by the darkish web site “On-line Murderer Market” in 2023, in line with court docket paperwork.
Sasser registered underneath the username “cattree” and contacted the web site administrator to promote his request.
“It ought to look random or unintentional. or natural medicine, don’t want a protracted investigation. She just lately moved in along with her new husband,” she wrote.
The goal of the hit, recognized solely by the initials JW, lives in Prattville, Alabama along with her husband DW. Sasser claims he met DW on Match.com, a relationship web site common with millennials.
DW stated Sasser helped him hike the Appalachian Path earlier than he moved to Alabama and married JW.
Two months had handed for the reason that blockbuster job was awarded, and Sasser grew impatient. In the meantime, she left threatening voicemails on JW’s cellphone, utilizing an app to masks her voice, in line with court docket paperwork.
She additionally tracked the pair’s places utilizing an app known as Strava, an train app the place customers add the mileage and routes of their previous runs. She despatched a message to the darkish web site administrator when JW could be inside a two mile stroll based mostly on the data on the app.
“I waited 2 months and 11 days and the work isn’t accomplished. 2 weeks in the past you stated it was being labored on and could be prepared in per week. the work isn’t finished but. ought to it’s outsourced to another person? will it’s finished what’s the delay? when will it’s [SIC]Sasser wrote in a message to the administrator.
The identical web site affords companies equivalent to hacking, kidnapping, extortion, acid disfigurement and sexual assault, WVLT reported.
Legislation enforcement discovered a diary in her dwelling itemizing quite a few different hitman web sites, a handwritten historical past of communications with the net hitman market, and a stack of U.S. foreign money with a observe hooked up that listed a Bitcoin handle.
On June 7, 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Sasser for utilizing interstate commerce services to commit a murder-for-hire.
Along with the greater than eight-year sentence, she should pay greater than $5,000 in restitution.
