Woman arrested after trying to hire hitman to kill husband, Jacksonville police say

A 29-year-old Jacksonville woman was arrested Thursday after police said she attempted to hire someone to kill her husband.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, a man told police in August that Crystal Ely asked him for help finding someone to murder her husband, and JSO began an undercover operation.

Ely unknowingly met with an undercover JSO officer four times in September -- reiterating her desire to have the officer kill her husband in exchange for money.

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An arrest report states she provided the undercover officer with a picture of her husband, a diagram of the inside of the business she and her husband worked at and instead of money she initially mentioned, she gave him a pair of earrings and two rings as payment.

Each meeting was recorded in its entirety, police stated in the report. She was arrested at the fourth meeting on Sept. 13 after giving the officer the jewelry and picture of her husband, one including her family.

Ely faces two capital felony crimes: criminal conspiracy and criminal solicitation.

Cox Media Group