Tennessee Woman Hired Hitman to Kill Love Rival Over Online Match

Hired Hitman Through Dark Web

Melody Sass­er, a 48-year-old woman from Knoxville, Ten­nessee, was sen­tenced to 100 months in prison for hir­ing an online hit­man through the dark web­site “Online Killers Mar­ket” to mur­der the wife of a man she met on the dat­ing site Match.com.

Paid $10,000 in Bitcoin for Hit

Sass­er paid near­ly $10,000 in Bit­coin to the dark web admin­is­tra­tor to have the woman, iden­ti­fied only as JW, killed. She want­ed the mur­der to “seem ran­dom or acci­den­tal” in order to avoid a lengthy investigation.

Stalked and Harassed Victim

In the months lead­ing up to the planned hit, Sass­er grew impa­tient and began stalk­ing the cou­ple, track­ing their move­ments through the exer­cise app Stra­va. She also left threat­en­ing voice­mails on the vic­tim’s phone.

Caught Through Evidence Trail

Law enforce­ment uncov­ered Sasser’s jour­nal detail­ing her com­mu­ni­ca­tions with the hit­man web­site, as well as a stack of cash with a Bit­coin address note, lead­ing to her indict­ment and conviction.

Sentenced to Over 8 Years in Prison

In addi­tion to her 100-month prison sen­tence, Sass­er was ordered to pay over $5,000 in resti­tu­tion. The case serves as a dis­turb­ing exam­ple of the dan­gers of online obses­sion and the dark web’s illic­it services.

Highlighting Risks of Online Dating

The mur­der-for-hire plot stemmed from Sasser’s rela­tion­ship with a man she met on the pop­u­lar dat­ing site Match.com, under­scor­ing the poten­tial risks involved in online dat­ing and the need for caution.