According to a criminal complaint, a woman from Tennessee is believed to have paid someone to carry out a murder-for-hire plot targeting the wife of a man she met on a dating site.
The accused, Melody Sasser, was taken into custody on May 18 and is currently being held for allegedly attempting murder with the intention to hire. Federal agents stated in the complaint, dated May 11, that Sasser transferred approximately $10,000 in bitcoin to a website called “Online Killers Market” in exchange for the murder of her match’s wife.
According to the complaint, Sasser and the man she met on Match.com had become hiking buddies. However, when Sasser discovered that her match was planning to relocate with his future wife, she allegedly turned to the dark web.
Using the pseudonym “cattree,” Sasser purportedly placed her order for the hit on the website.
Authorities claimed that in a post on January 11, Sasser allegedly stated, “It needs to seem random or [an] accident. Or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation.”
In the fall of 2022, Sasser reportedly showed up unannounced at the couple’s newly acquired residence in Alabama. Upon learning of their plans to marry, she allegedly told them, “I hope you both fall off a cliff and die,” according to the complaint.
Around that time, the soon-to-be-wife of Sasser’s match reported that her car had been vandalized on both sides by an unidentified individual, as stated in the complaint. Authorities added that the woman began receiving threatening phone calls from untraceable numbers.
According to authorities, Sasser provided a potential hitman with intricate details about her match’s wife, including her address, workplace, and vehicle. The complaint also mentioned that she supplied specific information about the intended victim’s whereabouts, which she apparently obtained from the fitness tracking application Strava, which connects to Garmin fitness watches and shares location data.
“In March, she worked from home and went for a 2-mile walk alone,” Sasser allegedly wrote to the murder-for-hire website, as stated in the complaint. Authorities later verified the accuracy of the information Sasser provided to the “Online Killers Market” through the hiking app.
As her target remained alive by late March, Sasser grew impatient, according to authorities in the complaint. Allegedly using the “cattree” alias again, she messaged the administrator of the dark web site to inquire about the progress of her murder request.
“I have waited for two months and 11 days, and the job is not completed… What is the delay? When will it be done?” she allegedly wrote.
On May 18, Sasser was arrested for allegedly attempting to hire a hitman to commit murder, based on probable cause.
