(CBS/AP) MUSKEGON, Mich. – Julia Merfeld, a 21-year-old Michigan woman, was arrested after being caught on camera trying to hire an assassin to kill her husband. Unbeknownst to her, the man she was trying to hire was actually an undercover cop, authorities said.
Back in April, Merfeld, of Muskegon, allegedly tried to hire an assassin for $50,000 to take down her 27-year-old husband, according to CBS Detroit.

Video from a hidden camera shows Merfeld telling the detective that killing her husband would be “easier than divorcing” him.

“When I first decided to do this, it wasn’t that we weren’t compatible. I mean, I just, it’s easier than, as awful as it sounds, it’s easier than divorcing him. You know, I didn’t do that.” She said: “I don’t have to worry about my family’s judgment, I don’t have to worry about breaking his heart, all this stuff. It’s like how I got a clean resting place.”

Merfeld then discussed her alleged murder plan with the undercover detective in a realistic manner, saying he’d best shoot her husband.

“If you can get him out that would be great… The house would be messy,” she said with a laugh.

Merfeld also emphasized that it couldn’t be the same as a failed robbery..

“I have a girlfriend who wants to move in with me and I don’t want her to be scared to move in with me if she thinks we’re broken up… so I’m a little scared of that because I wanted her to move in with me because I don’t want to live there alone later on,” she said.

The detective tells Merfeld that things won’t stop once she leaves his car and that she can pay him weeks after the murder.

“Surprise me with how you do it because, I mean, the more shocked I am when that happens, the better it will be,” she said. “I just wanted to make it as unsuspecting as possible.”

Merfeld was arrested after getting out of the car, according to CBS Detroit.

Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler said Merfeld’s apparent motive “was one of the oldest known to man: Greed. She wanted to get paid for life insurance.” According to the station, her husband has a $400,000 life insurance policy.

Merfeld pleaded guilty last month to soliciting murder. She was jailed ahead of her sentencing date on July 30 and is expected to face jail time, according to the station.

Investigators said they were told about the entire situation by one of Merfeld’s colleagues, who she initially approached to complete the work.

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