MIAMI-DADE COUNTY — A South Florida mother was arrested on Wednesday after she attempted to hire a hitman online to have her three-year-old son killed, according to Miami-Dade police.
Police say Jazmin Paez, 18, filled out a web form on rentahitman.com using a fake name. But she gave her son’s real name and age, uploaded a photo of him, then provided an address. The arrest report says she selected Thursday as the day she wanted her son killed.
But the website was a parody site – initially created in 2005 to advertise a cyber security startup company.
“She was in a hurry to get this done,” Bob Innes, the website’s owner, told the Miami Herald. On Tuesday morning, Innes said Paez completed the website’s service request form, which asks users whom they want to be killed, why and when.
CAUGHT BY DETECTIVES
Innes said he contacted the Miami-Dade Police Department, who texted Paez pretending to be the hitman. According to the arrest report, Paez offered to pay $3,000 to have her son killed.
The woman confessed to putting a hit on her son in hopes of getting her ex-boyfriend back after he broke up with her because she had a child. After she agreed to allow her cellphone to be searched, detectives said they found a text to her ex-boyfriend saying: “It’s being taken care of.”
On Wednesday, a judge ordered Paez to stay away from her son. Paez is charged with unlawful use of a communication device and soliciting murder in the first degree.
HELP LOCATING SUSPECTS
The owner of Rent-a-Hitman – who records IP addresses and digital fingerprints on the site – has helped authorities across the country locate suspects trying to order killings. In June, Iowa officials arrested a 17-year-old after police say she used the website to request a hit on a young child.
In April, federal agents arrested a Tennessee Air National Guardsman who submitted an employment inquiry to the website seeking a job as a hitman.
The website’s administrator said it receives many inquiries about murder-for-hire services and turns them over to law enforcement.
“I’m just happy to help,” Innes said.
