A woman who paid an undercover police officer she thought was a hit man to kill her daughter's ex-boyfriend by burning him alive pleaded guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges on Thursday.
The state will recommended 52-year-old Denise Nagrodski, of Easton, Pennsylvania, be sentenced to 10 years in prison under the terms of the plea agreement.
Nagrodski, who'll be sentenced in October, claimed the ex-boyfriend was abusive and caused her daughter to have a miscarriage years ago when she was pregnant with twins, Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said.
She told the detective to burn the ex-boyfriend alive and make sure he knew she was responsible. She also wanted to kill two other people who lived with him in Somerset County.
No one was harmed, authorities said.
"Nagrodski wanted all of the murder and mayhem she could buy," said Elie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice. "Instead, she purchased a long stay in a state prison cell."
Nagrodski paid $1,000 to a man who she thought was a hit man but who turned out to be an undercover New Jersey state police detective. She met with the undercover officer at a mall to outline how she wanted to kill the ex-boyfriend plus his sister and her boyfriend. She said she wanted those two victims to be shot twice each in the forehead, "one for each twin," but she couldn't provide a gun and agreed they should be bludgeoned to death instead. She also wanted their house burned.
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Nagrodski was arrested in November 2014 after her second meeting with the undercover detective, when she provided him with photos of the targets and a map to the house where she believed they lived. She has been jailed since her arrest.
