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The life insurance payout as motive for murder is sadly a storyline that’s all too familiar, in real life and not just in Hollywood.
And the case of American man Jeff Lytle who wanted his wife out of the picture to secure a $1.5 million insurance windfall was no different in that respect.
However, even an amateur can tell you that a key part of any successful murder plot is attention to detail - so accidentally sending a text asking for help in killing your wife and four-year-old daughter to your ex-boss instead of the hitman you hired would be a sure fire way to make those plans go awry.
According to prosecutors, Lytle, 42, had intended to text a man named Shayne who he’d hired to kill his wife Rhoda Mee Funtanilla Lytle and the four-year-old daughter they had together.
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Instead, the text message about the sinister plan was sent to his ex-boss, who brought the message to the police in Monroe, Washington, who arrested Lytle last week.
The text allegedly said: “Hey Shayne how’s it going. You remember you said that you would help me kill my wife. I’m going to take you up on that offer,” the Daily Mail reported KIRO 7 as saying.
Lytle then allegedly promised to split the money 50/50 with Shayne and told the man the time his wife usually returned from home from her job at Wal-Mart, the documents suggested.
He allegedly planned for their deaths to be staged as an accident, or a ‘robbery gone wrong’.
When interviewed by police, Lytle initially said that his four-year-old daughter might have sent the messages.
But then he claimed he was only sending them to ‘vent’, and did not intend to actually go through with the murderous plot.
Lytle has since been booked into Snohomish County jail and is being held under investigation for two counts of criminal solicitation of first-degree murder, the Daily Mail reported.
