Court documents reveal that a Tennessee woman paid a dark-web hitman to kill the spouse of a hiking partner she met through Match.com, and tracked the woman’s location on an app for fitness.
Melody Sasser didn’t seem to like when her friend D.W. told her that he had gotten married last autumn. This was revealed in court documents recently released.
According to an affidavit from May 11, she told him, “I hope that you both die.”
Sasser faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment if convicted. He was charged in May with murder for hire by the Eastern District in Tennessee.
The affidavit states that an outside law enforcement agency tipped the Homeland Security Investigations Unit in Birmingham, Alabama about the alleged conspiracy in April.
Court documents indicate that investigators received messages between “cattree”, an online user, and the administrator of “Online Killers Market,” a dark web site offering hitmen for hire.
According to the criminal complaint, screenshots of the site revealed that “cattree”, a user from the website, ordered a murder on hire for the date Jan. 11.
Officials claim that she gave the address of the target and the bitcoin equivalent of $9.750 to the woman. She also provided a description stating: “it must appear random or accidental.” Or, plant drugs if you don’t want to be investigated for a long time. She moved in recently with her husband.”
The documents also state that “Cattree”, a hacker, uploaded a picture of the target identified by its initials J.W.
The investigators sent patrols and alerted the police in Prattville (Alabama), where the victim lived.
J.W. When J.W.
D.W. told the investigators he met Sasser on the dating site Match.com. She helped him by making reservations for hostels and rest stops and watching his car when he left, according to an affidavit.
Sasser visited D.W.’s Alabama home after D.W. informed him last fall that J.W. was his fiancée.
J.W. She reported that it appeared that her car had been keyed, and that she was receiving “unpleasant” phone calls from someone using a device to mask their voice. According to the affidavit, “threatening” phone calls were made by computer-generated numbers or internet calls.
Sasser has been accused of tracking the couple’s activities and whereabouts on Strava, a fitness app that was linked to their smartwatches.
According to the criminal complaint, Sasser had sent several messages as “cattree”, expressing his frustration at not having completed the job.
According to the court documents, “cattree”, on March 22, sent a message stating “I’ve waited 2 months and 11 day and the work is still not complete.”
“Two weeks ago, you said that it had been done and would be finished in a week. It is not finished. Is it necessary to assign the task to someone else? It will be completed. What is the reason for the delay? According to the criminal complaint, she also added “When will it be completed?”
The affidavit says that after some back and forth she agreed to pay a little more.
Sasser, who was arrested on May 18, is currently being held at the jail until her next court date scheduled for Thursday.
NBC News has contacted her attorney to get a comment.
