RENO, Nev. — A Nevada woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for trying to hire someone on the “dark web” to murder her ex-husband in 2016.
In a news release, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced that Kristy Lynn Felkins, 38, of Fallon, was sentenced to five years in prison for a murder-for-hire plot.
In 2016, Felkins started talking with someone on a “dark web hitman” website, according to The Associated Press. The person she was communicating with claimed to offer a murder-for-hire service, according to an indictment from September 2020.
The indictment also reportedly said that Felkins wanted to have her ex-husband killed while he was on a trip in Chico, California, according to the AP.
According to court documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California said that Felkins sent 12 bitcoin which is about $5,000 to the dark web hitman website called Besa Mafia. She communicated regularly with the site’s administratior from Feb. to May 2016 which consisted of payments and arrangements for the murder including his exact location.
Besa Mafia was a “hidden service” on the Tor network, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California. It worked as an anonymizing internet service which was known as the “dark web.”
Officials said that the website was a scam and took money from people who were unaware, the AP reported.
Felkins was never refunded the bitcoin she sent to the website, officials say.
As part of a plea deal, Felkins admitted her guilt and offered to pay an extra $4,000 to speed up the timeline of the murder plot back in March 2016, according to the AP. She also reportedly admitted that she didn’t care if her ex’s new girlfriend was “harmed during the murder.”
Felkins also said she expected to receive a large life insurance payment after her ex’s death which is why she had requested his murder look like an accident, the AP reported.
She has been ordered to surrender in September for her prison sentence, according to the AP.
