A Tennessee woman is accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire scheme against the woman who married her former hiking buddy.
Melody Sasser was arrested last month for trying to contract a hitman to kill Jennifer Wallace, according to the Daily Beast. The suspect is being held in a Knoxville jail as she awaits her next appearance in federal court Thursday.
Ms. Sasser, 47, began looking for potential hitmen on the fake assassination website Online Killers Market in December, according to court documents.
She sent $9,750 worth of bitcoin to the site as part of her contract. She uploaded photos of Mrs. Wallace and shared the couples’ workout locations from fitness app Strava as well.
“This needs to appear to be random or accident. Or plant drugs, don’t want a lengthy investigation. She recently moved in with her new husband,” Ms. Sasser is accused of writing under the username Cattree. The Killers site has since been taken offline.
By March, the suspect became agitated that her hit had not been completed, according to court documents.
“Waiting for 2 months and 11 days and the work is not done. 2 weeks ago you said that on this The work has been done and will be completed in a week,” user Cattree wrote on March 22. “The work is still not completed. Does it need to be assigned to someone else. Will it be done. What is the delay, when will it be done.”
Federal investigators were tipped off to the solicitation in April, and Ms. Sasser was arrested on May 18.
Ms. Sasser and former friend David Wallace matched on online dating site Match.com in 2020 and regularly hiked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It wasn’t clear if the relationship was romantic at any point.
When Mr. Wallace shared the news of his marriage last fall, Ms. Sasser said, “I hope you both fall off a cliff and die,” according to court documents.
Court documents said Ms. Sasser stalked the couple on Strava and even drove from Tennessee to Alabama to key Mrs. Wallace’s car.
Ms. Sasser is also accused of making threatening calls to Mrs. Wallace with a disguised phone number and using a voice changer app to conceal her identity.
Ms. Sasser faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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