A Tennessee man was arrested after his wife discovered text messages on his phone that he exchanged with another woman detailing plans to kill her.
Jerry McDonald, 49, an an Erlanger Lifeforce special operations manager from Chattanooga, was charged with solicitation of murder after his wife found the texts on his phone while he was passed out drunk, according to court documents obtained by the Chattanoogan.
The wife was trying to contact his employer to inform them that he won't be coming in to work that afternoon when she read the troubling texts and immediately alerted an off-duty police officer, saying she feared for her life.
McDonald was Planning to Collect Wife's Life Insurance After the Murder
The messages were exchanged with 39-year-old Vanessa Nelson, and revealed a plan to reap the financial benefits of a murder, authorities allege.
According to the affidavit, In one exchange Nelson asks McDonald, "Do I need to kill her?"
"Please kill her, babe, please. I'm begging you," McDonald responds.
"This b-tch is worth a million," McDonald writes in a separate exchange. "I'm saying we kill her and I collect a million and we live like the kings and queens we are."
'I Won't Get Caught'
"So she has a million in life insurance?," Nelson asks.
"Then let's kill her," McDonald bluntly responds, adding that there's over a million dollars in his father-in-law's safe. "I'm saying I won't get caught."
"We aren't criminals," she says back in one message. "And we don't care about money. At least I don't."
"I don't either but I'm saying we have a way if we choose to. I'm not even joking. All I want is you babe. That's all I care about," McDonald said.
McDonald's wife told police she had been married to him for two years but had known him for two decades. She told police she had never heard him speak or even joke about murdering someone for money before.
McDonald was booked at the Hamilton County jail where he is being held on a $75,000 bond, records show. He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 30.
