Seeking to kill her lover’s wife, a Michigan woman attempted to hire a hitman on the unlikeliest of places: Craigslist.

Reuters News reported Anne Marie Linscott, 49, pleading guilty to the charge of conspiring to commit murder. She faces 10 years in prison for each of three federal charges against her, according to a joint statement made by the U.S. Attorneys for the Western District of Michigan and the Eastern District of California.

Linscott was probably naive thinking that no one would report such an ‘unusual’ listing. It was in November last year when three California residents found her ad for a “freelance” position and then contacted California police. Linscott had sent email to two of the respondents asking them to “eradicate” the victim. She even helpfully provided the victim’s personal details including name, age and employment address. Her offer price for the hit? $5,000 dollars.

“This IS a serious proposition,” Linscott said in her e-mail. Curious what her account name was? Well, it’s something rather appropriate -”bourne2run.”

This thwarted crime of passion was the result of Linscott’s affair with a man she met while taking an online college course. They corresponded online, leading to a sexual affair, meeting at least twice in Reno, Nevada in 2005 and 2007. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop charges that she had left an incendiary device outside where her lover’s wife stayed in April 2007. No further details on sentencing have been released as of press time.

A few days ago, Suffolk police made arrests of five women from Hampton Road for prostituting themselves on Craigslist. Though the Suffolk Police Special Investigations Unit might have had time to police local Craigslist listings, should other law enforcement bodies attempt to do the same? Or perhaps Craigslist might end up having to do some self-regulation of its own else it become used as a convenient cover for other less than savoury activities.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 3:58 pm under Web2.0.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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