A Mississippi brother and sister were sentenced Friday for their roles in a murder-for-hire plot.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi, evidence presented during the trial showed that 29-year-old Joshua Druid Bryan and 30-year-old Regan Emily Bryan attempted to hire someone to kill their stepfather in order to collect on life insurance money.
Regan Bryan received 65 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Joshua Bryan was sentenced to 120 months after being found guilty of both conspiracy to commit murder for hire and murder for hire.
Regan testified that in November 2020, she and her brother discussed the idea of killing their stepfather, with her brother suggesting she contact felon acquaintance to find someone who could “handle the problem,” according to a court order that rejected Joshua Bryan’s acquittal motion.
The order highlighted recorded conversations between the pair. During a call on December 8, 2020, Regan mentioned that a recently released felon was coming over, and her brother urged her multiple times to make a “proposal.”
After Regan mentioned the plan to the felon, he notified the FBI and began recording his conversations with the siblings.
In a December 10 parking lot meeting, the informant asked Joshua for approval, and Joshua replied that he should “do what he saw fit.”
The complaint stated that Regan agreed to “take care of him for the rest of his life” after the informant offered to carry out the murder of her stepfather.
The next day, the informant warned the stepfather about the plot. Over the following months, the informant met with Regan and Joshua, recording conversations where they detailed their plan to kill the stepfather.
On January 7, Regan met with the informant and an undercover agent posing as a hitman. Regan provided additional instructions for the planned hit by writing them down, then destroyed the notes afterward, according to Law&Crime.
That same day, the siblings vented about their stepfather and the increasing legal conflicts with him during a call captured on Regan’s cellphone.
Police apprehended the pair shortly after.
”U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee of the Southern District of Mississippi and Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) made the announcement,”’the department said.
[Feature Photo via Virginia State Pokice]
