Murder-for-hire attempt admitted

Man pleads guilty to murder-for-hire scheme

Date published: 11/14/2009

BY KEITH EPPS

A man who disapproved of his former girlfriend's new boyfriend pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire scheme yesterday.

Christopher Roy Knudsen, 25, was convicted in Fredericksburg Circuit Court of solicitation for murder.

He will face a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 21. As part of a plea agreement, an attempted capital murder charge was dropped.

According to prosecutor Darren Marting, Knudsen was upset in part because the woman was dating an African-American.

He told a friend that he wanted the man dead, and the friend went to police and set up an April 7 meeting with Knudsen in the parking lot of the Pizza Hut off U.S. 1.

Marting said Knudsen told a wired, undercover state trooper that he wanted the victim's throat slit and his body dumped in a well.

Knudsen and the trooper negotiated a $2,000 price for the job, and Knudsen said he'd need a few weeks to come up with the money.

He was arrested later by city police, who had listened in on the conversation.

Defense attorney Robin Tarabochia said her client was simply a big talker and never intended to have the hit carried out.

She said Knudsen has no criminal record and called the police informant after the arranged meeting and told him the deal was off.

But Marting said police got Knudsen on tape soliciting for murder again after his arrest.

Police wired his cellmate and recorded conversations in which Knudsen tried to make arrangements to have his former friend, the undercover trooper and a city detective killed.

Marting said police also confiscated a letter in which Knudsen wrote in great detail about people he wanted dead.

Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 11/14/2009

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