commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Apparently there are times in this life when a man or a woman needs a hitman, or rather they think they need one. In reality, it’s probably very rare to actually need a murderer-for-hire, but we humans specialize in making bad decisions when locked in a cycle of negative emotions.
So what do you do if have convinced yourself you need to hire a killer to whack someone? I guess the first step would be to look around and someone reliable. Whatever you do, you don’t want to enter into a contract with a undependable hitman. One possible solution would be to surf the Darknet where hitmen allegedly advertise their services. Then, at least you could be reasonably sure that your killer was the real thing and probably wouldn’t turn you into the authorities which, after all, is precisely what you want to avoid.
So what do you do if you think you need the freakin’ hitman and you don’t have sufficient realm coin to hire a real one? The smart thing to do in that case would be to fuggedaboutit. But when we humans get the proverbial wild hair up our nostrils, we’re not very good at seeing the forest for the trees. This is something that 33-year-old Jessica Strom, a Wisconsin resident, learned the hard way which is why she stands to spend a long long time in a Wisconsin state penitentiary.
The Smoking Gun has the story:
Though she claimed to be willing to kill her fiancé herself, a Wisconsin woman opted instead to offer an informant $1000 plus sexual favors to carry out the murder, according to police.
Jessica Strom allegedly wanted her boyfriend, lawyer John Schellpfeffer, taken out at his office, according to Wausau Police Department reports. According to law enforcement, in order to make the gunman/informant’s life easier, Strom, who is a mother of three young children, provided the informant with a diagram of the 49-year-old Schellpfeffer’s workplace. Not only that, she provided the informant with details about the daily routine of some of the attorney’s neighbors.
The wannabe murderess by proxy told the gunman that he could “blow his brains out and walk out,” which was arguably true. As many murderers have learned the hard way, however, that would not mean that the informant would get away with the heinous crime. Strom also told the informant that she would kill her bothersome boyfriend herself except she would be the first one they would come after.
As it turned out, there was never any question of Mr. Murder-for-Hire having to make his getaway because there was never any possibility that he would carry out the murder. Rather, the informant, a licensed pilot, quickly contacted investigators. Here’s what he told them:
Strom asked the informant to meet in person so that they could discuss a “business proposal.” Their conversation went something like this:
Strom: “Would you ever kill anybody?”
Mr. Murder-for-Hire: “No way.”
Strom: “Well, what would it take to do it?” She reportedly added, “You’re very thorough and you’re very neat and I think you would be a good person to do this for me.”
Strom also informed Mr. Murder that she had been planning to kill Schellpfeffer for two years. She claimed that the attorney was overly “controlling” and that he had “done bad things to her and others.” Making like a psychologist, Mr. Murder remarked that she was in control and could “just get out of the relationship if she wanted to.”
Strom rejected this sensible advice stating that simply leaving “wouldn’t give her any satisfaction,” according to the investigators.
Even though Mr. Murder turned down the job, Strom asked him to think about it overnight. She also warned him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want to have to kill you too.”
If Mr. Murder had not already decided to turn Strom in, the “I don’t want to have to kill you too” probably convinced him. When the man subsequently contacted the police, they were all ears and did their standard cop thing, asking the informant to record a meeting with Strom.
Although he had initially set a price tag of $50,000 to kill the lawyer, at the second meeting, our reluctant killer generously told Strom that he would settle for $1000, adding “It’s better than nothing, I guess.” At that point, Strom offered him some sex to go along with the bargain basement killing telling him that once Schellpfeffer was dead she would pay and get naked with him to boot.
Just before the meeting ended, Strom told the reluctant assassin, “If you chicken out let me know, okay?” adding that in that case, she would set it up with someone else.
Strom’s home was raided by police the next night and she was arrested for conspiracy to commit first degree murder, which carries a maximum 60-year prison term.
Strom naturally told police that she was not serious about having Schellpfeffer whacked, and had intended to call the whole thing off.
Strom is being held in lieu of a $250,000 bond. Her preliminary hearing is March 12th.
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What this demonstrates with impeccable precision is that you should never try to talk an amateur into doing a professional’s job. And you shouldn’t even consider a murder-for-hire unless you have sufficient cash to fund the escapade.
By the way, the Taycheedah Women’s Correctional Institution, where Ms. Strom will presumably do her time after she is sentenced, is on the Highway K near the town of Fond du Lac, a mere 15 miles from where I spent the first 12 years of my life.