When a couple decides to divorce, it can get complicated, particularly if adultery is involved. Some couples prefer to remain “estranged” in the same household, particularly if finances are tight. In Texas, one married couple’s break-up involved all of the above, and it ended with an arrest.
Their story made headlines across the state recently. The wife, a crime novelist who penned a book called “Temporary Amnesia,” was arrested after apparently hiring a hit man to kill her estranged husband.
The woman apparently posted on her Facebook page earlier this year that she found her husband cheating at home. She also told an undercover sheriff’s deputy, whom she thought was a hit man, that he had other girlfriends and their home was in foreclosure. They continued living together, however.
According to CBS News, the woman gave the deputy her wedding ring as a down payment and told him she would give him $60,000 once she collected her estranged husband’s $180,000 life insurance policy. She allegedly told the man to stage the murder to look like an accident.
The woman was charged with solicitation to commit capital murder. Before the arrest, the sheriff’s office apparently contacted the husband to alert him that his estranged wife might be attempting to harm him.
The 53-year-old woman was being held on $75,000 bond. The county sheriff noted that the woman had a lot of “personal issues” and she felt like this was what she needed to do, according to CBS.
Source: CBS News, “Cops: Texas crime novelist tried to hire hit man to murder estranged husband,” Dec. 19, 2011