After allegedly transmitting nearly ten thousand dollars in cryptocurrency to a hitman, Melody Sasser (48) was sentenced to 100 months imprisonment in the United States District Court for the Easter District of Tennessee. Her victim was a man's wife she met on a dating site. After her release, Sasser will remain on supervised release for three years after her imprisonment and pay over five thousand dollars in restitution.
The United States Attorney's Office release reports that "Sasser admitted to using a dark web-hosted site known as the Online Killers Market for the purpose of hiring a hitman to murder an Alabama resident."
Said site offers other illegal "services" like "hacking, kidnapping, extortion, disfigurement by acid attack, and sexual violence," according to the case's filing. Some sources specify that the website is a scam.
Sasser registered on the site as "cattree" and placed her "order" on the site in January. She posted: "It needs to seem random or accident. or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation. She recently moved in with her new husband."
The Attorney's Office reads: "In her communications with the site, Sasser provided photographs and location information of the victim." The victim was Jennifer Wallace, wife of David Wallace. Sasser originally met him on Match.com before David moved in with her fiancee in Alabama.
A Contract Killing, Uncovered
After her order was left unfinished for two months following her initial post, she followed up with the site administrator two months later: "I have waited for 2 months and 11 days and the job is not completed".
Sasser continued: "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."
Fortunately, the assassination never took place and, in June 2024, police arrested Sasser. This was possible thanks to the effort of investigators that subpoenaed Coinhub. Coinhub administers the Bitcoin ATM Machines Sasser allegedly used to transfer the ten thousand dollars. The investigators later reported their findings to the Department of Homeland Security.
Following her arrest, law enforcement uncovered problematic evidence in Sasser's house. This includes a listing of hitman websites and an account of her communications with Online Killers Market. Additionally, officers found U.S. currency alongside a note that listed a Bitcoin address.
