Wisconsin woman accused of paying Bitcoin on dark web to hire hit

MADISON, Wis. (TCD) --

A Wisconsin woman is charged with attempting to hire someone on the dark web with Bitcoin to murder an unidentified individual.

Columbus resident Kelly Harper, 37, was arrested on Friday, Feb. 5, on a federal criminal complaint charging her “with using the internet to hire someone to commit murder,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Wisconsin announced Monday.

Harper allegedly used a murder-for-hire site on the dark web from October 19 to December 10 in 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in an attempt to find someone to kill the unidentified intended victim.

Harper allegedly gave out information about the intended victim, including a physical description of the person and their vehicle, where the person worked, as well as the person’s cellphone number, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Harper allegedly made a Bitcoin payment in the murder-for-hire attempt. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Harper was arrested Friday after federal and local investigators were tipped off by the intended victim and journalists who reportedly uncovered the plot.

When the person claiming to be the site administrator of the murder-for-hire site asked for proof of payment, Harper responded by sharing a screenshot of a Bitcoin wallet with $5,633.87 in it, the State Journal reports.

A search of Harper’s home on Friday “uncovered screenshots from a murder-for-hire dark web site, as well as one of the pictures (Harper) sent to the murder-for-hire site administrator,” the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Madison says, and Harper allegedly admitted to the special agent that she’d tried to hire someone to kill the man.

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