Dad tried to hire hitman to kill wife, 6 adult kids in Alabama, feds say. He’s charged
An Alabama plumber tried to hire a hitman to kill his family, but actually leaked his plan to an undercover FBI agent, officials said.
Now, he’s charged.
The man, who owns a plumbing business, was arrested Monday, Sept. 23, on charges of using interstate commerce facilities to commission murder for hire.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the father of six offered the agent — whom he believed to be a hitman — $20,000 to kill his wife and $5,000 for each adult child, ages 21 to 34.
He told the undercover agent that his family had “turned against him,” and said his family “set him up to be arrested and removed from his family home,” officials said.
The defense attorney representing the man didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Sept. 25. McClatchy News is not naming the man to protect the identity of his wife and children.
Records show the plumber married his wife in March 2021, and later that year, was arrested and charged with domestic violence after being accused of assaulting one of his daughters.
According to court documents, those charges were dismissed, and later that month, three Protection from Abuse orders were issued in Jefferson County against him, naming two children and his wife.
In the wife’s PFA paperwork, which was handed over to the FBI, she wrote that her husband threatened her and their kids with weapons, prosecutors said.
“(He) said he wanted to shoot my daughter between the eyes,” the wife wrote in the paperwork, according to the complaint.
History of arrests
The plumber has a resume of arrests and incidents in which his family has been put in danger, according to court records.
In 2022, he was arrested and charged with stalking after authorities said he put GPS tracking devices on cars that belonged to his family — explicitly violating PFA orders, according to court documents.
Then, in 2023, a series of vehicle arson incidents were tied to him, including three vehicles belonging to his children, officials said.
He tried to reconcile his marriage over a phone call later that year, but his wife refused, according to a Hoover Police Department report. Less than 12 hours after the call, one of his daughters’ vehicles was burned at her home, prosecutors said.
In the same week, Hoover Police arrested the man, accusing him of violating PFA orders by contacting his wife, records show. During a hearing for another incident, a witness’ audio recording was played for the court.
In an excerpt of the recording, the witness told him he’d be sent to hell if he hurt his family, prosecutors said.
“No, God will reward me,” he responded, according to the complaint.
‘Find me somebody’
Earlier this year, a witness told the FBI the man told him “that he felt his pride and self-dignity had been destroyed throughout the falling out with his family,” prosecutors said. According to FBI records, the witness was then asked to “take care” of his wife and children.
“Find me somebody ... You don’t have to be a part of it. Just get me a name and they number. And I’ll take it from there,” he said to the witness, according to court records.
The FBI agent worked with the witness to pose as a hitman, and according to court records, the father provided the agent $550 as a down payment for the killings, with the full balance to be paid upon the deaths of each of his family members.
This story was originally published September 25, 2024 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Dad tried to hire hitman to kill wife, 6 adult kids in Alabama, feds say. He’s charged."
