A Tennessee woman has been accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill the wife of a man she met on dating app Match.com, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Melody Sasser is charged with murder for hire, according to the complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court in Knoxville obtained by CBS affiliate WVLT.
An account linked to Sasser during an investigation used a dark-web hosted site to order the killing of a woman in Alabama, the station reported, citing the complaint.
Screenshots in the filing show Sasser used the username "cattree," and offered $9,750 in payment to the Online Killers Market administrator through Bitcoin, WVLT reported.
The screenshots, the station reported, show Sasser telling the administrator "it needs to seem random or accident. or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation. she recently moved in with her new husband. [SIC]"
Sasser later complained about the "job" not being done, WVLT reported, citing the complaint.
"i have waited for 2 months and 11 days and the job is not completed. 2 weeks ago you said it was 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. will it be done. what is the delay. when will it be done, [SIC]" "cattree" said in a message to the administrator, the station reported.
Knoxville woman hired online hitman to kill wife of man she met on https://t.co/xR5n8zQnd3, court documents say https://t.co/tNrDVKJHWA
— wvlt (@wvlt) June 5, 2023
A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security received information about the plot from a foreign law enforcement agency on April 27 and an investigation revealed that Sasser and the woman's husband met through Match.com, the complaint said.
When the intended victim was informed of the threat by authorities, she said her husband and Sasser were hiking friends in Knoxville before he moved to Alabama, the complaint said. The victim also said Sasser had harassed and threatened her and her husband since finding out they were engaged, according to the complaint.
Sasser, of Knoxville, was linked to the account that made the "order for murder" through Bitcoin purchases that were used to send money to the account, the complaint said.
An attorney listed for Sasser did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Sasser is expected in federal court in Knoxville on June 8, WATE-TV reported.
