Leta Faye Douglas, Murder-for-Hire, Missouri 2015

Leta Faye Douglas, a Houston, Mo., woman, has been charged with attempting to hire someone to murder her sister for $2,000, in a shocking case of family betrayal.

According to a federal criminal complaint filed on February 13, 2015, in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., Douglas allegedly asked her ex-husband to help her hire someone to kill her sister.

The affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint states that Douglas sent a letter to her ex-husband in Nebraska, asking for his help in taking care of her sister. The affidavit also states that Douglas's ex-husband believed she wanted to have access to her parents' financial estate, as her parents were in a home for the elderly and her sister was in charge of their finances.

Douglas's ex-husband initially told her that he did not want to help her, but later reported the incident to the Nebraska State Patrol. Investigators recorded a telephone call made to Douglas by her ex-husband on January 27, 2015, during which she allegedly agreed to pay $2,000 after she received her tax return to have her sister killed.

The undercover employee of the Missouri State Highway Patrol arranged to meet Douglas at the Walmart in Houston, and she allegedly gave him a photograph of her sister and a hand-drawn map to her sister's residence. She also gave him a brief description of the interior layout of the house and handed him an envelope containing $2,000.

The charge against Douglas is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

Douglas remains in federal custody pending her detention hearing on February 19, 2015. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher, and it was investigated by the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Nebraska State Patrol.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/houston-woman-charged-sisters-murder-hire-scheme