Posted on Tue, May. 06, 2008

Weatherford woman accused of trying to have husband killed

By ALEX BRANCH

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Melanie Longoria

• Crime Time blog

Most-read stories

• Turn out the lights, Hillary
• Jerry is happy, but Cowboys may suffer
• Bedford elects 19-year-old councilman
• Gas royalty checks trickling in
• Gil LeBreton: Roy's loss of heart leaves him a misfit with Dallas Cowboys

 

Most e-mailed stories

• Gas royalty checks trickling in
• Turn out the lights, Hillary
• Gas royalty checks trickling in
• Adoptive parents offer thanks to mom, wherever she may be
• A wake-up call for Arlington

 

A Weatherford woman was in jail Monday, accused of trying to hire an undercover police officer to shoot and kill her estranged husband, authorities said.

Melanie Longoria, 41, gave the officer her husband's photograph and a written schedule of his daily routine, police said in court records.

"She basically just said she wanted him dead," said Capt. Mike Morgan of the Parker County Sheriff's Department. "The motive we have right now is just marital discord. That's all we know."

Longoria was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. She remained in the Parker County Jail on Monday with bail set at $100,000.

A male friend of Longoria's contacted the Sheriff's Department on April 22 and told investigators that Longoria was recruiting him to help kill her husband, Morgan said.

The man said he thought she was kidding at first but grew concerned the more she spoke of it.

With the man's cooperation, authorities began recording his conversations with Longoria. They discussed the plot in several phone calls, according to an affidavit for Longaria's arrest.

In the calls, Longoria said she planned to have an alibi by being at work, the affidavit stated. She acknowledged that she would take lots of "heat" after the killing and would have to "talk to people and the whole nine yards."

At one point, Longoria grew suspicious that her friend was working with the police. "I'll tell you right now, you will not outsmart me. Don't try," she said, according to the affidavit.

The friend told Longoria that a man he had met in the Marines named "Doug" would do the job, the affidavit states. Doug was actually an undercover officer supplied for the sting by the Fort Worth Police Department.

Shortly after noon Wednesday, the officer met Longoria in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the 1800 block of South Main Street, police said. The plan called for her husband to be shot somewhere near his residence.

Longoria told the officer that her husband "needs to go ... I mean just be gone," the affidavit states.

She also gave the officer an old bank card with her husband's picture on it and described his pickup, the affidavit stated.

Longoria was arrested at her job that day, authorities said.