Valentine’s Day can be especially rough when you have recently experienced a breakup, and while many might think poorly of their former loves on the auspicious day, few go as far as one 14-year-old girl allegedly did.
It started with a website, aptly named “RentAHitman.com.” Easily accessible, the website offers murder-for-hire — in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Everything about the site is sarcastic, but not everyone senses that. As a result, over 150 would-be evildoers have been reeled in and their information handed to police, according to KABC-TV.
Apparently, one of the people desperate enough to attempt to contract a killer through the website was a teenager from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was arrested on Valentine’s Day.
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A website admin, Guido Fanello, contacted the Baton Rouge Police Department in January to let them know of the teen’s intent to have her ex-boyfriend killed, according to WAFB-TV.
“We conducted an investigation on it and through the course of our investigation learned that information was indeed placed on the website,” BRPD Sgt. L’jean Mckneely said.
“We made contact with the 14-year-old and then arrested her for soliciting to kill the ex-boyfriend,” he said.
Police said this teen’s arrest is the first known case of a person in Louisiana attempting to hire a hitman through the website, WAFB reported.
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The girl was taken to the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center and charged with solicitation for murder, according to a news release from the BRPD.
Bond was set at $75,000, which the girl’s mother posted. The judge has also ordered a psychological exam.
Referring to the gotcha website, Mckneely said that it has been around for 17 years and that it has been helping police identify disgruntled suspects.
“People do take it serious and the information they’ve gotten they shared with law enforcement,” he told WAFB. “And they have been beneficial in stopping things from occurring.”
Webmaster Bob Innes, who developed the site, said most people notice the tone of the pages and submit hoax requests, but about 10 percent of the requests that come through are genuine.
“It’s scary because they walk among us,” Innes said, according to KABC. “I mean, I’ve had cases out of Lake County, and Stockton and Los Angeles. I’m working on a case right now with the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
“It really makes you wonder about who’s out there. Are they your neighbors? Are they your business associates? Are they your ex-spouses? You never know.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.