Michelle Murphy, 58, was given a nine-year prison sentence for attempting to use Bitcoin to kill her partner's lover. (Bitcoin photo from GDA via AP Images; Courthouse screenshot from KDFW/YouTube)
A Texas A woman, aged 58, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison this week for trying to pay a hitman $10,510 in Bitcoin on the “dark web” to murder her partner's lover.
Michelle Murphy, 58, was given her punishment on Thursday after she admitted guilt in December to one count of murder-for-hire, as announced in a news release.
She will be under supervision for two years after her release from prison, and the court suggested to the federal Bureau of Prisons that she should take part in mental health treatment programs.
The complaint describes the case that goes back to last summer when Murphy used an ATM to convert cash into cryptocurrency and sent it to a Bitcoin wallet she believed belonged to the person she was trying to hire for the murder.
The case came to attention in August 2023 when Homeland Security Investigations received a report from a source that an unidentified individual on the dark web was looking to have someone referred to as “Intended Victim-1” killed in return for money, according to court documents.
In an interview on Aug. 11, the intended victim informed an agent that she was in a romantic relationship with a man identified in the complaint with the initials O.G. The woman mentioned that O.G. lived in Bedford with another girlfriend named “Michelle,” who, the intended victim added, had recently made over $100,000 by selling her previous home in Colorado, according to court documents.
Murphy’s Facebook page indicated that she was “In a relationship” with O.G. The agent also observed that Murphy’s Facebook page featured numerous pictures of a dog that seemed to be of the “Mudi” breed.
“The individual who tried to hire a hitman to kill the woman used the dark web pseudonym ‘LISTMUDI,’ further connecting Murphy to the murder-for-hire,” court documents stated.
On Sept. 21, 2023, authorities spotted O.G. and Murphy at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and approached the suspect. The couple was taken to an office for questioning, during which Murphy confessed that she had discovered O.G. was involved with another woman and admitted to transferring Bitcoin to hire someone to kill her, according to court documents.
At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that it seemed the “hitman” who received funds from Murphy probably had no intention of carrying out the murder, authorities shared.
Her defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.