Guilty plea in murder-for-hire case
A Maryville woman charged last year with attempting to hire the murder of her ex-boyfriend’s wife has pleaded guilty in federal court.
According to a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson of the Western District of Missouri, Kristina M. Swinford entered the plea May 20. Public Affairs Officer Don Ledford said no plea agreement was in place, and that a sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.
Dickinson’s office announced on Sept. 23, 2014, that Swinford was taken into custody in the wake of a criminal complaint filed by federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent James M. Green.
The complaint alleged that Swinford communicated with two individuals in connection with the planned murder of a woman identified in court documents as “AM.”
According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Swinford met three times with an undercover ATF agent to negotiate the murder for hire. Following the third meeting, Swinford also allegedly negotiated via Facebook with another person without realizing she was actually communicating with her intended victim, “AM,” who had reportedly created an online profile under another name.
On Aug. 25, 2014, according to the U.S. attorney’s office, a “cooperating source” in Taylor County, Iowa, traveled to Maryville and talked to Swinford. At that time, according to the affidavit, Swinford complained about “AM,” and made it clear she wanted AM kidnapped or killed.
At some point, according to the affidavit, “AM” had become separated from her husband who subsequently engaged in a relationship with Swinford. Later, both “AM” and her husband were reportedly granted orders of protection in an effort to keep Swinford from stalking or harassing them.
Officers instructed the cooperating source to meet with Swinford again in order to provide her with contact information for the undercover ATF agent, who communicated with Swinford on Aug. 28 and arranged a meeting.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Swinford met with the undercover agent on three separate occasions in a vehicle in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Bethany and discussed several scenarios for killing “AM.”
Swinford allegedly agreed to pay $10,000 prior to “AM” being killed and another $10,000 afterward. She also is said to have provided the undercover agent with a photo of “AM,” a map of her house and other information. Swinford allegedly paid the undercover agent $150 for “expenses.”
At the third meeting on Sept. 10, the affidavit states, the undercover agent told Swinford he would pick up “AM” after she dropped her kids off at school, then kill her and cut off her hands and head and toss them into a river. The mutilation was proposed in order to make the killing look like the work of drug dealers.
