A Wisconsin woman offered a hitman $1,000 and sex to kill her fiance, cops say Jessica Strom, 33, of Wausau, was arraigned Monday on a charge of conspiracy to commit to first-degree homicide.
Late last month she hatched her plan to kill her beau, John Schellpfeffer, according to court documents. Strom allegedly met with an acquaintance who she knew through Northcentral Technical College on Feb. 26, telling him she had a “business proposal.” “Would you ever kill anybody?” she asked, according to documents. Cops said the friend, whose name was redacted from court papers, replied he could never do that. “Well what would it take to do it?” Strom allegedly replied.
She thought the acquaintance was the right hitman for the job because “you’re very thorough and you’re very neat and I think you would be a good person to do this for me. [I’m] 100% serious,” Strom said according to court papers. The man refused no matter what amount of money Strom offered. Strom allegedly suggested stashing Schellpfeffer’s body in the acquaintance’s plane and then disposing of it somewhere remote. The man, a licensed pilot, said he didn’t have space in his plane for a dead body.
“Well, I’ll just wrap him up and put him on my lap and I’ll hold him,” Strom said, according to papers. But the man wouldn’t take the job. “[I’m] really disappointed because I thought you would take me up on this offer,” Strom allegedly said. They agreed to talk again the next day. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” she allegedly said. “I don’t want to have to kill you too.” That’s when the acquaintance decided to alert cops.
Cops said it never became clear why Strom wanted Schellpfeffer dead, only saying her fiance was “a really bad person who has done bad things.” She said she’d plotted the murder for two years, according to cops. At the next encounter, Strom allegedly provided the acquaintance-turned-informant with detailed information about her fiance’s routine and workspace. He could simply “blow his brains out and walk out,” Strom said, according to police.
The next time they met the informant asked for $50,000 to do the job — but then was talked down to $1,000, according to documents. “It’s better than nothing, I guess,” the informant said. “And some sex!” Strom said, according to papers. After the murder she allegedly pledged to meet with the informant and “pay you and f— you and whatever.” She is being on $250,000 bond and faces up to 60 years behind bars.
We pray not to get married to the wrong sets of people. May God guide us!