KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. (Court TV) — A Tennessee woman accused in a murder-for-hire plot to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating site is scheduled to appear in federal court this week.
According to a criminal complaint dated May 11, Melody Sasser transferred $9,750 in bitcoin to a site she found on the dark web called “Online Killers Market” in exchange for having someone kill Jennifer Wallace, the wife of David Wallace.
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Sasser had met David on Match.com. They both lived in Knoxville at the time, and took a number of hiking trips together in 2020. Social media posts depict them taking multiple excursions throughout the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Authorities say when David revealed his plans to marry Jennifer and move out of state, Sasser hatched a plan to have Jennifer killed.
A complaint says Sasser showed up at David and Jennifer’s new home in Alabama in fall 2022 and said, “I hope you both fall off a cliff and die.”
It was also during this time that Jennifer began receiving threatening phone calls from someone who was using an electronic device to disguise their voice. The phone numbers couldn’t be traced. David reported around this time that Jennifer’s vehicle appeared to have been keyed on both sides.
Using the screenname “cattree” online, Sasser allegedly posted the following on January 11: “It needs to seem random or [an] accident. Or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation.”
In her alleged murder-for-hire post, Sasser also provided information about Jennifer’s address, workplace location, and the make and model of her car. Police say she also posted location information about Jennifer from the fitness tracking app Strava back in March, telling the would-be killers, “Yesterday she worked from home and went for a 2 mile walk by herself.”
Authorities say Sasser’s patience was wearing thin by late March, because she was frustrated to learn that Jennifer was still alive. As “cattree,” she allegedly sent a message to the admin of “Online Killers Market,” saying: “I have waited for two months and 11 days and the job is not completed… What is the delay. When will it be done.”
According to The Washington Post, Homeland Security got involved in the case in April, when they were tipped off by a member of law enforcement that there was a murder-for-hire plot against Jennifer.
Sasser has been in custody since May 18, when she was arrested on probable cause that she tried to hire a hitman to commit murder. A hearing in federal court in Knoxville is set for Thursday, June 8.
