The District Court of Utah sentenced a 23-year-old local resident to 78 months in prison in federal prison for trying to hire a hitman through the darknet to kill her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend.
Krista Renae Stone of Salt Lake City pleaded guilty to attempting to organize a contract killing. In addition to the real prison term, Stone was sentenced to three years of probation - the girl will have to regularly report to the police.
According to prosecutors, in March 2023, Stone found a killer on the darknet and paid him $5000 in bitcoins for the man to commit murder. The young woman provided him with a detailed description of the victim, a photo, an address - and described in detail the process of how the murder should be committed.
"It was a brazen attempt on the life of another person. Contract killings violate the sanctity of life, turning it into a commodity, and society becomes vulnerable to further acts of violence. If law enforcement had not discovered the darknet platform that Stone was using and had not conducted a large-scale investigation, the situation would have had a sad outcome," said Utah County Attorney Trina Higgins.
In July, the NYPD arrested a woman who offered a killer bitcoins and sexual favors for the murder of a former lover and his entire family. Fortunately, the contract murder did not take place either. In the same month, a Nevada woman went to jail after trying to take the life of her ex-husband for 12 bitcoins.
Krista Renae Stone of Salt Lake City pleaded guilty to attempting to organize a contract killing. In addition to the real prison term, Stone was sentenced to three years of probation - the girl will have to regularly report to the police.
According to prosecutors, in March 2023, Stone found a killer on the darknet and paid him $5000 in bitcoins for the man to commit murder. The young woman provided him with a detailed description of the victim, a photo, an address - and described in detail the process of how the murder should be committed.
"It was a brazen attempt on the life of another person. Contract killings violate the sanctity of life, turning it into a commodity, and society becomes vulnerable to further acts of violence. If law enforcement had not discovered the darknet platform that Stone was using and had not conducted a large-scale investigation, the situation would have had a sad outcome," said Utah County Attorney Trina Higgins.
In July, the NYPD arrested a woman who offered a killer bitcoins and sexual favors for the murder of a former lover and his entire family. Fortunately, the contract murder did not take place either. In the same month, a Nevada woman went to jail after trying to take the life of her ex-husband for 12 bitcoins.
