Man Caught Hiring Hitman to Kill His Asian Family After Accidentally Texting His Boss

February 15, 2017

An American man’s alleged plan of having his Filipina wife and daughter killed for insurance money was averted by his own stupidity.

The suspect, a 42-year-old man from Monroe, Washington, was apprehended by authorities on Wednesday after he inadvertently sent his former boss a text message reportedly intended for a hired killer.

Court documents revealed that Jeffery Lytle sent an SMS message addressed to someone named “Shayne” with the apparent intent to give a go signal for the murder of his wife Rhoda Mee Funtanilla Lytle, and their 4-year-old daughter.

According to Kiro 7, the text message read: “Hey Shayne how’s it going. You remember you said that you would help me kill my wife. I’m going to take you on that offer.”

His wife’s life insurance, he wrote in the message, is worth $1 million. He also told the hitman that killing their young daughter would mean an additional bonus as her life insurance is worth half a million dollars ($500,000).

He also added a request to make the hit appear that it was either a robbery or an accident that led to their death. The job would’ve netted the hitman with a 50/50 split with Lytle.

The detailed text message, however, was mistakenly sent to Lytle’s former boss, Robert Alexander. Upon receiving the “murder-for-hire” text, Alexander notified the authorities about it by immediately calling 911.

Lytle in now facing charges of domestic violence and two counts of criminal solicitation of murder in the first degree, with the bond set at $1 million.

The suspect would later claim that he wrote those texts to simply “vent” his anger at his wife. He claimed he had no intention of sending them to anyone. He also attempted to blame his 4-year-old daughter for sending the text messages.

Asked about the kill order, his wife of six years told investigators that while she was aware that they are having financial troubles, she did not know of any other marital issues that would cause her husband to plot murder against her and their daughter.

Share this Article