A bitter Texas divorcee is facing felony charges in a botched plot to kill her ex-husband first by hiring a hitman who got cold feet and then by trying to send him fentanyl-laced chocolates as a congratulatory gift for his new engagement, according to police.
Pamela Jean Stanley, 63, was caught on tape by an undercover officer with the Parker County Sheriff’s Special Crimes Unit inquiring about injecting fentanyl into a box of “high-end chocolates” she wanted to deliver to her newly engaged ex, 66-year-old Jeffrey Kauth.
The package would also include a faux “honeymoon” incentive from a travel agency, according to the sheriff’s office.
The deadly delivery was apparently Stanley’s fall-back plan.
According to her victim, she had first hired a hitman “to assassinate” her ex nearly 18 months prior, but the paid assassin suddenly grew a conscience and warned Kauth.
“I’m just fortunate that the hitman had a conscience and reached out to me. I’ve spent pretty much the better part of a year and a half with the lights off in the house, floodlights and cameras in the backyard. It’s been an experience,” Kauth told The Independent, adding that he contacted police soon after.
Kauth alleged that his vengeful ex wanted him dead so that she could covet his son’s inheritance and reclaim the home they shared before their 2020 divorce in an act of “hatred and revenge.”
“I’m the lucky fella. I’m just thankful she’s behind bars,” he told the outlet.
Stanley was finally caught after undercover officers lured her to a fake “purchase of what she believed was fentanyl” in a motel parking lot in late May.
She was cuffed immediately after the sale and booked on charges of criminal solicitation with intent to commit murder, criminal attempt to commit murder, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
Cops also found a whopping 9.5 grams of meth on her at the time of her arrest.
Stanley has not been charged with anything relating to the alleged assassination hire.
The accused attempted killer was released in late May on $450,000 bond. She was indicted on July 10 and is set to be arraigned Tuesday.
She had a previous run-in with the law in 2019 when she pleaded guilty to deadly conduct for the unlawful discharge of a firearm. She was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and 50 hours of community service.
For many exes, sometimes parting isn’t such sweet sorrow and instead advances homicidal tendencies.
