A Tennessee woman who tried to hire hitmen to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating website — and who reportedly was jilted by news of his engagement — learned her fate Wednesday.
Melody Sasser, 48, was arrested in June 2023 over allegations of a murder-for-hire plot. As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Sasser pleaded guilty to using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.
‘I hope you both fall off a cliff and die.’
U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan sentenced Sasser to eight years and four months in federal prison. Following her time behind bars, she will be on supervised release for three years.
Sasser, of Knoxville, also was ordered to pay $5,389 in restitution to the victim.
What’s the background?
In 2020, Sasser met David Wallace on Match.com, according to People magazine.
Sasser and Wallace both were from Knoxville and were “hiking friends,” according to the criminal complaint. Wallace said Sasser had helped him on a hike along the Appalachian Trail.
However, in the fall of 2022, Wallace allegedly informed Sasser that he had gotten engaged and was moving with his fiancée to Prattville, Alabama — roughly 330 miles from Knoxville.
Sasser reportedly responded by saying, “I hope you both fall off a cliff and die.”
Not long after, Wallace’s wife allegedly told police that her vehicle had been keyed and that she had started receiving threatening phone calls. Sasser used an app to disguise her voice, according to the complaint.
Wallace’s wife — identified only by the initials JW — said she suffered trauma from the ordeal. Court docs said she moved out of her home and into a hotel because of the threats, bought a gun, and had her husband search every room of their home to ensure there were no intruders.
In January 2023, Sasser used a dark web-hosted site known as the “Online Killers Market” to hire hitmen to murder Wallace’s wife, according to court documents.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee said in a press release, “In exchange for the anticipated murder of the victim, Sasser used the internet to transmit nearly $10,000 in cryptocurrency to the would-be assassins.”
Sasser also requested that the murder appear “to seem random or accident[al]” or to “plant drugs” on the victim, according to the release. Sasser reportedly stressed that she did “not want a long investigation.”
Sasser became impatient two months after she paid for the assassination attempt.
“I have waited for 2 months and 11 days and the job is not completed. 2 weeks ago you said it was been worked on and would be done in a week. The job is still not done. Does it need to be assigned to someone else? Will it be done? What is the delay? When will it be done?” Sasser reportedly wrote in a message to the administrator of the online assassin website.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office release stated, “In her communications with the site, Sasser provided photographs and location information of the victim.”
The New York Post reported that Sasser tracked the couple’s locations using an exercise app called Strava that allows users to upload the mileage and routes of their past runs.
Ultimately, the murder-for-hire scheme was unsuccessful.
Sasser was arrested following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations Knoxville and Homeland Security Investigations Birmingham with the assistance of the Knoxville Police Department and the Prattville Police Department in Alabama.
During a search of her home, law enforcement uncovered a journal listing several other hitman websites, a handwritten account of communications with the Online Killers Market, and a stack of U.S. currency with a note attached highlighting a Bitcoin address.
Federal prosecutor Anne-Marie Svolto told the judge during the sentencing hearing that the journal “was a hidden rage that she kept secret for months,” WBIR-TV reported.
Sasser’s attorney, Jeff Whitt, told the judge that his client suffered a “breakdown of massive proportion,” and she was deeply remorseful for her actions.
“She wants [the victim] to be able to move on with her life,” Whitt said.
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Alabama, Assassin, Assassination attempt, Assassination plot, Love triangle, Murder, Murder for hire, Murder for hire plot, Murder for hire scheme, Tennessee, Crime, Dark web, Online killers market
