Garden City Mom Hired $20K “Hitman” to Off Husband: DA

Couple was in midst of divorce

A Long Island mother of four has been arrested after offering to pay a hitman $20,000 to kill her husband, officials said Thursday night.

The would-be gunman, of course, was a an undercover Nassau County Police detective.

Susan Williams, 43, was arrested by detectives with the Nassau County Police Department’s DA Squad and charged with Conspiracy in the Second Degree and Criminal Solicitation in the Second Degree.

On February 19, Williams approached a confidential source and informed him that she wanted to have her husband, Peter Williams, murdered and that she wanted the source to arrange it, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Instead of finding a hitman, the source contacted the DA’s Office.

On February 23, while under audio surveillance, the source called Williams to tell her that he could arrange a meeting with a hitman. The meeting took place five days later with an undercover Nassau County detective posing as the hitman. 

During the meeting, Williams said that she and her husband were in the middle of divorce proceedings and that she wanted him dead.

Williams was told by the undercover detective that it would cost her $20,000 to have her husband killed. At a March 3 meeting between the two where she was given numerous opportunities to back out, Williams handed the undercover detective a photo of her husband, his home and work address, license plate number, and a provided a $500 down payment.

“That this defendant so casually decided to organize the murder of her husband shocks the conscience,” said Rice. “She was given numerous opportunities to call this off, yet she pursued it vigorously until the very end. Thanks to the investigative work performed by both the Nassau County Police Department and members of my office, a life was saved and this defendant will now have to answer for her crimes.”

Williams faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in First District Court, Hempstead.

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