Two women are in custody and charged in a murder-for-hire plot in Montgomery County, Maryland.
According to the charging documents obtained by WTOP, a Germantown woman attempted to hire someone to kill her ex-boyfriend in May.
Adelaida Zacarias-Chacon, 53, told Montgomery County police that her ex-boyfriend Marvin Perez Rivera left her for another woman. She referred to him as her “ex-husband,” although they were never legally married.
Zacarias-Chacon said she confided in her former sister-in-law, Reyna Gomez Lopez, 40, who said she should have Perez Rivera killed for leaving her for another woman.
Zacarias-Chacon said she paid Gomez Lopez $1,000 to hire two hitmen in Philadelphia, where Gomez Lopez lived. The women planned for the hitmen to call Perez Rivera for a landscaping job, then meet and kill him.
But, when Gomez Lopez asked for another $2,000 so the hitmen could complete the job, Zacarias-Chacon believed she was being scammed, and the women got into an argument.
The following month, Zacarias-Chacon told a case worker at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Family Justice Center about the plan, who then alerted detectives. During their investigation, detectives obtained a search warrant for Zacarias-Chacon’s cellphone and discovered text messages between the women talking about the murder-for-hire plot.
In the text messages, the women discussed making sure Perez Rivera never walked again and requested the hitmen wear masks, according to the charging documents.
Investigators also obtained bank records and confirmed Zacarias-Chacon made a $1,000 cash deposit into Gomez Lopez’s account.
Both suspects were arrested. Zacarias-Chacon is charged with first-degree conspiracy and first-degree solicitation to commit murder. She is currently being held in custody, awaiting a bond hearing.
Gomez Lopez is also charged with first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and is awaiting extradition to Montgomery County.
