An environmental compliance specialist allegedly tried to hire a hitman to murder the wife of a man she had met on Match.com.
Melody Sasser is said to have placed an order using a website called Online Killers Market to hire a hitman to kill Jennifer Wallace, the wife of a man she had met online.
In an affidavit seen by DailyMail.com prosecutors shared details of a transaction made in January of this year concerning the alleged murder for hire scheme.
Authorities were first made aware of Sasser’s alleged scheme in April, when a foreign law enforcement agency notified the Department of Homeland Security’s that Jennifer Wallace was the target of an assassination plot.
The overseas agency had discovered messages between a user in the U.S. named ‘cattree’, who prosecutors claim is Sasser, and the administrator of the Online Killers Market, according to the complaint.
Melody Sasser is said to have placed an order using a website called Online Killers Market to hire a hitman to kill Jennifer Wallace, the wife of a man she had met online.
David Wallace, pictured here, told police he had met Sasser on Match.com and that Sasser had gone on to help him hike an Appalachian trail
The first, dated January 11 2023, included Jennifer Wallace’s full name and address in Prattville, Alabama, along with an escrow payment being made.
For the services, Sasser allegedly made payments totaling $9,750 in Bitcoin, an untraceable cryptocurrency.
Alongside the transaction, Sasser had added a description of how she wanted the murder executed and details about the Wallace’s life.
According to court documents, Sasser asked the site: ‘It needs to seem random or accident, or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation.
‘She recently moved in with her new husband, she works at home and in office in Birmingham.
‘She drives a blue Subaru Outba97ck, her husband drives a maroon Jeep Grand Cherokee.
‘Her husband works at Publix part time, they have three dogs that bark and jump.’
According to the affidavit, the information submitted about Jennifer Wallace and her husband was verified to be 100% accurate.
Sasser had also uploaded an image of Jennifer to the site so she could be positively identified by the assigned ‘hitman’.
After officers informed the Wallace’s of the threat on their lives, Jennifer is said to have told officers immediately about Sasser.
Wallace told cops that Sasser and her husband David had been hiking friends in Knoxville, Tennessee, prior to David moving to Alabama to be with his fiance Jennifer.
Prosecutors say that Sasser had added a description of how she wanted the murder done and details about the Wallace’s
Jennifer Wallace told police that Sasser then turned up at their home in Alabama and told them: ‘I hope you both fall off a cliff and die’.
The two then say they started to receive threatening phone calls from a person using a device to disguise their voice.
Using the fitness app Strava, prosecutors say Sasser was able to follow the couple on their hikes and she then relayed this information back to the hitman marketplace.
David Wallace told police he had met Sasser on Match.com and that Sasser had gone on to help him hike an Appalachian trail.
According to the affidavit, Sasser had several back and forth messages regarding the murder for hire and frequently messaged the site asking for updates.
Investigators managed to follow the money in the case and subpoenaed Coinhub, which operates Bitcoin ATM machines that Sasser had allegedly used.
Prosecutors say Sasser was able to follow the couple on their hikes due to them using the fitness tracker Strava, and she then relayed this information back to the hitman marketplace
The company responded with transaction data and customer info that identified Sasser as ‘cattree’, according to the complaint.
She had purchased Bitcoin with cash on at least four occasions at Coinhub ATMs in Knoxville.
After which she sent the funds to a digital wallet controlled by Online Killers Market, the complaint states, and the phone number ‘cattree’ provided to complete the transactions was Sasser’s.
According to the Daily Beast, Sasser was arrested on May 18th and remanded in custody where she remains until a further court appearance on June 8th.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk