Bitcoin
Bedford Woman Convicted in Bitcoin Murder-for-Hire Case
NTX Woman Convicted in Bitcoin Murder-for-Hire Case
A North Texas woman will spend the next nine years in prison after paying someone more than $10,000 in Bitcoin to murder her boyfriend’s lover.
BEDFORD, Texas – A North Texas woman was sentenced to nine years in prison after using Bitcoin to pay for a murder.
Federal prosecutors said Michelle Murphy, 58, of Bedford used the dark web to find a killer for her boyfriend’s lover.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time this has happened in Texas, but it has happened in many places throughout the United States,” said former U.S. Attorney Richard Roper.
Investigators found that she used an ATM to convert cash into cryptocurrency at least three times and transferred about $10,500 to the killer’s Bitcoin wallet.
The person who accepted the money notified the Department of Homeland Security.
“In August 2023, HSI received information from a source that an unknown suspect on the dark web was seeking to victimize […] murdered in exchange for money,” the criminal complaint says.
The dark web is part of the Internet that cannot be accessed through traditional search engines.
HSI’s cybercrime group got to work shining an investigative light into dark virtual places.
“They are able to pick up the trail of these criminals who are trying to solicit someone’s murder,” Roper said.
Investigators were able to identify Murphy by following his digital footsteps.
Records reveal that cryptocurrency ATMs were used three times by Murphy to convert cash into Bitcoin.
She then used this Bitcoin to murder a woman who was in a romantic relationship with her boyfriend, according to the complaint.
Agents confronted Murphy with her boyfriend at DFW Airport.
She confessed to being upset because her boyfriend went out with another woman. She admitted to trying to hire someone to kill the woman, prosecutors said.
In September, Murphy pleaded guilty to one count of murder for hire.
Judge Mark Pittman sentenced her to nine years in federal prison and two years of supervised probation on Thursday.
“The reality is that law enforcement has been able to turn around and collect evidence on how to deal with these types of crimes,” Roper said.
The person who took Murphy’s money likely never intended to commit the murder, prosecutors said.