Background: Platte County Circuit Court in Wheatland, Wyo. (Google Maps). Inset: Molly Hamby (Platte County Sheriff's Office).
A Wyoming woman was accused of trying to get a friend to kill her husband while the couple were going through a rough spot in their marriage.
Molly Hamby, 28, is in custody at the Platte County Jail after being charged with solicitation of first-degree murder and solicitation of forgery. According to court documents obtained by Wyoming-based news outlet Cowboy State Daily, Wheatland Police Chief Bradley Otte said Hamby was texting a longtime friend about problems with her marriage. During those conversations, Hamby allegedly asked the friend if he could "make someone disappear."
Police said Hamby and her husband separated from each other earlier this month, and Hamby temporarily moved out of the family home. When the couple agreed to work on their marriage, Hamby returned to the home on March 21 and agreed to let her husband view text messages on her phone.
What the husband allegedly saw caused him to contact the police.
According to court documents, Hamby was texting with her friend, who worked as a private investigator, the day before she moved back into her family home. In those conversations that were read by Hamby's husband, Hamby allegedly told her friend that she had a "job" for him, but she did not want to discuss it over text message. A couple of exchanges later, Hamby allegedly asked her friend, "Can you make someone disappear." The friend allegedly answered, "I Can yes."
Police said that Hamby and her friend arranged to meet in person at an auto parts store. After that meeting, Hamby allegedly wrote, "[W]e need to get this done today if possible he has threaten[ed] to take kids away from me a few times," adding, "He can[']t have my kids."
Hamby's husband went to the Platte County Sheriff's Office on March 22 to show authorities the text messages. Police spoke with Hamby's friend, who reportedly revealed details about the alleged murder for hire. The friend told police that Hamby wanted him to act as a bodyguard. But he soon admitted that during their in-person meeting, they allegedly discussed hurting Hamby's husband.
Police said Hamby also asked her friend to help her forge her husband's signature on paperwork for a motorcycle title.
When police spoke with Hamby, she allegedly repeated the claim that she sought out her friend for "help and protection." Hamby was confronted about the text messages she sent to her friend in which she asked him to make her husband "disappear," and she reportedly admitted to wanting her husband murdered.
Hamby also allegedly provided her friend with details about where her husband would be on March 20, the day she tried to have him killed, police said. According to court documents, Hamby said she was "extremely mad" at her husband and feared that he would take their three children if they got divorced.
Hamby was arrested after her interview was over and charged with solicitation of first-degree murder. She is currently in custody at the Platte County Jail. Her next court date was not made publicly available.
Hamby's friend has not been charged, according to Cowboy State Daily.