(Trends Wide) — A Tennessee woman has been charged after allegedly trying to hire a hit man to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating site.
Melody Sasser, 47, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was arrested last month for allegedly trying to organize the murder. On June 7, she was charged with “use of the means of interstate commerce in the commission of a contract killing,” according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
According to court documents, Sasser became angry when he learned that a man he had met on a dating website had gotten engaged, and he later attempted to murder his new wife using an online marketplace.
Alabama investigators first learned of the alleged murder-for-hire plot on April 27 after receiving information from a foreign security agency, according to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District Eastern Tennessee on May 11.
The foreign agency information contained messages between a user and the administrator of a “dark web” site known as Online Killers Market, which “purports to offer ‘killer-for-hire’-type services,” the complaint says. The site allows users to submit a “request” for specific services, including “full details of the intended victim,” according to the complaint.
Screenshots taken from the site show that the murder-for-hire order in Sasser’s case was made on January 11, according to the complaint.
The “cattree” user account, which authorities believe belonged to Sasser, describes in detail how he wanted the murder to take place. “It has to look random or an accident. Or plant drugs, I don’t want a long investigation,” the user wrote, according to the complaint.
The user also uploaded a photo of the intended victim, identified only by the initials J and W in the criminal complaint, and details about her home, vehicle, and work schedule. Authorities believe Sasser used the hiking app “Strava” to track the movements of the woman and her husband, even sharing details on the dark web about a two-mile hike the woman had taken. At the time the woman was living in Prattville, Alabama, according to the complaint.
Sasser paid for the order through bitcoin purchases over several months, totaling about $9,750, according to the complaint. Authorities matched his bitcoin purchases at a cryptocurrency ATM with payments sent by “cattree.”
According to the complaint, several weeks after the order was shipped, “cattree” sent follow-up messages to the administrators of the Online Killers marketplace website asking why the job was still not completed. Finally, she sent more bitcoin to the administrators so that they assigned the task to another alleged hitman.
When authorities informed the victim that her life was in danger, they identified Sasser as a possible suspect, according to the complaint.
The woman told police that her husband and Sasser were “hiking buddies” in Knoxville before he moved to Alabama, according to the complaint. The victim said Sasser dropped by the man’s home in Prattville, Alabama, unannounced last fall after he told her he was engaged to be married, to which she replied: “I hope they fall off a cliff and die.” both,” according to the complaint.
The woman also said she began receiving “nasty phone calls” from someone masking her voice through an electronic device after Sasser’s unannounced visit, and that her car was scratched.
The woman’s husband told police that he and Sasser met on Match.com. He also said that Sasser had helped him plan a hike on the Appalachian Trail.
If Sasser is convicted, she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a maximum of three years of supervised release, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Trends Wide has contacted a lawyer for Sasser for comment.
Trends Wide’s Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
(Trends Wide) — A Tennessee woman has been charged after allegedly trying to hire a hit man to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating site.
Melody Sasser, 47, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was arrested last month for allegedly trying to organize the murder. On June 7, she was charged with “use of the means of interstate commerce in the commission of a contract killing,” according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
According to court documents, Sasser became angry when he learned that a man he had met on a dating website had gotten engaged, and he later attempted to murder his new wife using an online marketplace.
Alabama investigators first learned of the alleged murder-for-hire plot on April 27 after receiving information from a foreign security agency, according to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District Eastern Tennessee on May 11.
The foreign agency information contained messages between a user and the administrator of a “dark web” site known as Online Killers Market, which “purports to offer ‘killer-for-hire’-type services,” the complaint says. The site allows users to submit a “request” for specific services, including “full details of the intended victim,” according to the complaint.
Screenshots taken from the site show that the murder-for-hire order in Sasser’s case was made on January 11, according to the complaint.
The “cattree” user account, which authorities believe belonged to Sasser, describes in detail how he wanted the murder to take place. “It has to look random or an accident. Or plant drugs, I don’t want a long investigation,” the user wrote, according to the complaint.
The user also uploaded a photo of the intended victim, identified only by the initials J and W in the criminal complaint, and details about her home, vehicle, and work schedule. Authorities believe Sasser used the hiking app “Strava” to track the movements of the woman and her husband, even sharing details on the dark web about a two-mile hike the woman had taken. At the time the woman was living in Prattville, Alabama, according to the complaint.
Sasser paid for the order through bitcoin purchases over several months, totaling about $9,750, according to the complaint. Authorities matched his bitcoin purchases at a cryptocurrency ATM with payments sent by “cattree.”
According to the complaint, several weeks after the order was shipped, “cattree” sent follow-up messages to the administrators of the Online Killers marketplace website asking why the job was still not completed. Finally, she sent more bitcoin to the administrators so that they assigned the task to another alleged hitman.
When authorities informed the victim that her life was in danger, they identified Sasser as a possible suspect, according to the complaint.
The woman told police that her husband and Sasser were “hiking buddies” in Knoxville before he moved to Alabama, according to the complaint. The victim said Sasser dropped by the man’s home in Prattville, Alabama, unannounced last fall after he told her he was engaged to be married, to which she replied: “I hope they fall off a cliff and die.” both,” according to the complaint.
The woman also said she began receiving “nasty phone calls” from someone masking her voice through an electronic device after Sasser’s unannounced visit, and that her car was scratched.
The woman’s husband told police that he and Sasser met on Match.com. He also said that Sasser had helped him plan a hike on the Appalachian Trail.
If Sasser is convicted, she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a maximum of three years of supervised release, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Trends Wide has contacted a lawyer for Sasser for comment.
Trends Wide’s Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
