Murder-for-hire plot was overheard in jail phone call, North Carolina police say
A murder-for-hire plot was foiled when an alert police sergeant overheard an inmate ironing out the details in a jailhouse phone call, according to investigators in North Carolina.
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That conservation took place in September, when 31-year-old Mark Anthony Love, Jr., of High Point, was an inmate at the Randolph County jail, an arrest warrant reports.
“Sgt. (Matthew) Kiser was investigating a separate incident when he discovered a jail phone call in which Mark Love Jr. was speaking with Ashley Newson. In his conversation with Ms. Newson, Mr. Love made incriminating statements about wanting to ‘exterminate’ another woman,” Asheboro police told The Charlotte Observer.
“He directed Ms. Newson to contact a number and pass along the message.”
Love was in the process of bonding out of jail, so Kiser acted quickly to get an arrest warrant on a conspiracy charge and presented it as Love was about to be released, officials said.
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“Newson was in the jail parking lot awaiting Mr. Love’s release. Sgt. Kiser seized evidence belonging to both Newson and Love,” police say.
Love has been charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder and Newson, 31, is charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder and soliciting first degree murder, police said.
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A motive for the alleged plot has not been released.
Asheboro is about an 85-mile drive northeast from uptown Charlotte.
