Melody Sasser, a 48-year-old Tennessee woman, was sentenced to 100 months in prison for attempting to hire a hitman to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating website. People, Sasser used the dark website “Online Killer Market” to search for a killer, offering $9,750 in bitcoin for a “random” or “accidental” killing. According to court documents, Sasser met David Wallace on Match.com and became enamored with him when he revealed his engagement.
Mr. Wallace told investigators their relationship was limited to that of hiking companions. Sasser had helped him hike the Appalachian Trail and they had also explored trails in the Knoxville area together before he moved to Alabama and married his now-wife.
However, Sasser’s interest turned into an unhealthy obsession. After learning of his engagement, she showed up at his Alabama home, made disturbing threats and began a campaign of harassment against his now-wife. Sasser tracked the couple’s activities using a fitness app and harassed the wife with up to six phone calls a day.
“It should look like it was accidental or a botched drug operation, not a lengthy investigation. She recently moved in with her new husband,” he wrote on the website, adding details such as the couple’s license plate number and the wife’s workplace.
Sasser also notified the website administrator when he set out for a walk just two miles from her home.
“I have waited two months and 11 days and the work is not done. 2 weeks ago you said it was done and would be done in a week. The work is still not done. Does it need to be handed over to someone else? Will it be done? What is the delay about? When will it be done,” Sasser wrote in a follow-up message to the website’s administrator.
Ultimately, the plan was unsuccessful. During a search of his home, law enforcement uncovered several incriminating evidence, including a journal detailing several hitman websites and a handwritten account of his communications with the infamous “Online Killer Market.” Additionally, investigators found cash hidden beneath a sticky note containing a bitcoin address.
As a result, a federal grand jury indicted Sasser last June on charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire using interstate commerce facilities. Sasser eventually accepted responsibility for his crimes through a plea agreement. On Wednesday, he was sentenced: 100 months in prison, plus an order to pay more than $5,300 in restitution to the victim.
