An American woman has reportedly been arrested after a botched murder-for-hire plot to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating site.
According to news reports, environmental compliance specialist Melody Sasser, 47, allegedly recruited a hitman on a scam site to murder the wife of David Wallace, a retired Air Force veteran, after they connected on Match.com
On Saturday (3 June), The Daily Beast reported that Ms Sasser allegedly plotted to have Mr Wallace’s wife murdered after learning they had become engaged last fall.
According to unsealed court documents filed at a federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee, a foreign law enforcement agency tipped off the Department of Homeland Security about Ms Sasser’s plan on 27 April.
HSI Birmingham reportedly handed over messages exchanged between a user called “cattree” and the admin of a dark web-hosted site called “Online Killers Market” (OKM).
According to the affidavit filed in court, the now-defunct website offers “hitman for hire” services for crimes including “hacking, kidnapping, extortion, disfigurement by acid attack, and sexual violence”.
Assuming the username “cattree”, Ms Sasser allegedly placed an order on OKM to kill Jennifer Wallace on 11 January 2023. The details included her and David’s Alabama address, their vehicle details as well as information about their offices.
Ms Sasser paid OKM 0.4179 Bitcoin, or roughly $7,500 for the hit job, on 31 December last year.
Her message to the admin in January reportedly read: “It needs to seem random or accident. or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation”.
When HSI Birmingham reached out to Jennifer Wallace, she reportedly named Ms Sasser as a suspect, according to the affidavit.
She told the investigators that David and Ms Sasser were “hiking friends” in Knoxville before the former relocated to Alabama.
David told HSI Birmingham he met Ms Sasser on Match.com and “assisted him in his planned Appalachian Hike trail” by making hotel reservations and looking after his car. He informed authorities that Ms Sasser worked at Pilot Flying J.
A spokesperson for the company Stephanie Myers told the outlet that Ms Sasser was “no longer employed” with the truck stop chain.
Jennifer alleged that Ms Sasser showed up at their home unannounced last fall and, upon learning the couple were engaged, reportedly said: “I hope you both fall off a cliff and die.”
Around the same time, Jennifer said she had reported “damage to her vehicle where an unknown perpetrator had gashed the sides” of her car with what appeared to be a key.
Authorities said Jennifer began receiving threatening phone calls “from a person using an electronic device to disguise their voice”.
According to court documents, Ms Sasser’s car was spotted in the vicinity of Jennifer’s workplace in November 2022.
After ordering the hit, Ms Sasser as “cattree” reportedly sent several messages to the admin of OKM asking when the “job” will be completed.
On 22 March 2023, the accused allegedly wrote: “I have waited for 2 months and 11 days and the job is not completed.
“2 weeks ago you said it has been worked on and would be done in a week. the job is still not done. does it need to be assigned to someone else. what is the delay.”
Ms Sasser reportedly paid an additional 0.485 Bitcoin for the “job” to be assigned to a different hitman.
She also shared details about Jennifer’s whereabouts with the admin, and was reportedly monitoring their fitness data on Strava.
The Independent has contacted her attorney M Jeffrey Whit for comment.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Mr Whit said: “I have been representing citizens accused of crimes for 32 years across this state, and this is certainly not the first prosecution I’ve faced alleging some type of murder for hire scheme.
“Our investigation is in its infancy as I was only retained within the last week. As such, I find it premature to comment on the facts of this case until such time as each of the allegations have been vetted and such future responses are in accordance with our state rules restricting public comments during pending prosecutions.”
If convicted, Ms Sasser faces up to 10 years in prison.
