A Washington man was arrested early last week after he wrote a text message detailing his plan to kill his wife and their four-year-old daughter and then accidentally sent it to his boss.
Jeffery Scott Lytle was arrested in Monroe, Wash. after attempting to text someone named Shayne, a hit man who he was planning to hire to kill his family.
“Hey Shayne hows it going,” Lytle wrote. “You remember you said that you would help me kill my wife. I’m going to take you up on that offer.”
He also wrote that he would split his wife's life insurance payout with Shayne, which was worth around $1 million. He wrote that if the man wanted a "bonus," he could also kill the couple's four-year-old daughter, whose life insurance was worth around $500,000.
“I go to work 5 in the morning,” Lytle wrote, according to court records. He said that his wife “goes to work at 2:00pm so if you can make a robbery gone wrong or make it a accident she works at Walmart she gets off at 11:00.”
Lytle was arrested on two counts of felony criminal solicitation for murder of the first degree.
Authorities said that Lytle originally denied communicating with anyone about the plan to kill his wife, and insisted that he doesn't know anyone named Shayne. He said he had written the message as a way to "vent" about an argument that he and his wife had, but never intended to send it to anyone.
Lytle is currently being held on $1 million bail, and is due back in court on March 3.