A 28-year-old Wheatland woman is accused of soliciting a friend to kill her husband, and wanting the deed done quickly because she was afraid he’d take their three children from her.
Molly Hamby made her initial appearance in Platte County Circuit Court on Thursday, charged with solicitation of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit forgery.
Her alleged plan to have a male friend make her husband “disappear” on Friday was interrupted when her husband saw a text message thread on Hamby’s cellphone about having him killed, Wheatland Police Chief Bradley Otte wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in Hamby’s case.
The husband asked to meet with the chief on Sunday, where “he informed me that he and Molly had been going through a rough point in their marriage, and for the last few days the two of them had been separated,” Otte wrote.
She moved back into the home on Saturday, and “as part of their work on their marriage, Molly agreed to let (him) review her text messages,” the affidavit says.
What her husband found was a conversation from the day before she moved back in with a male friend. In it, Hamby said she had a “job” for him, Otte wrote.
When the friend asked about the job, she answered it was to make her husband “disappear.”
The friend is named in the affidavit but hasn’t yet been charged in the case.
When asked if there could be more charges filed in relation to the allegations, the Platte County Attorney’s Office responded Thursday that it couldn’t comment on an ongoing case.
The Text Messages
Otte duplicated the text thread between Hamby and her male friend in his affidavit.
Hamby, 8:53 a.m.: “Also have a job for u”
Friend, 9:13: “What is the Job”
Hamby, 9:16: “Don’t want to text it”
Friend, 9:16: “Can you meet me at my house my address is (redacted)”
Hamby, 9:20: “No. Can you make someone disappear”
Friend, 9:20: “I Can yes”
Friend, 9:21: “Where can we meet so I know what is going on”
Hamby, 9:22: “It’s (name of husband)”
Friend, 9:24: “What the f*** meet me at the address I have you and tell me what the f*** is going on”
Hamby, 9:24: “Kids”
A little bit of time passes before they pick up the conversation, then arrange to meet in person at a local auto parts store, according to the affidavit.
Friend, no listed time: “I have a call in, and they are going to give me a call back”
Hamby, 11:13 a.m.: “Am at orielys”
Friend, 11:14: “ok I will meet you there I will be the there shortly”
Friend, 11:20: “I am here where are you”
After meeting and talking in person, Hamby appears to pressure the man on the urgency of making her husband “disappear,” the affidavit continues.
Hamby, 12:49 p.m.: “And we need to get this done today if possible he has threaten to take kids away from me a few times”
Hamby, 12:59: “he cant have my kids”
Friend, 1:02: “ok”
What The Friend Said
After reading the text messages the husband brought to the police station, Chief Otte met with the male friend twice, and each time he revealed a little more about the plot, he wrote in the affidavit.
During the first interview Sunday, the man said he knew Hamby and that “they had been friends for several years.”
When asked about the text messages, at first, he told Otte that Hamby asked for his help as a bodyguard to protect her, the affidavit says.
“Molly had asked for his help and that she and (husband) were having marital troubles,” the affidavit says. The friend “admitted that Molly had told him she had a job for him, but that job was to act as her bodyguard as he is a licensed private investigator.”
As the interview went on, the friend admitted that their meeting at the auto parts store included a discussion about making her husband “disappear,” and that “he had told Molly that he would help her hurt (husband),” Otte wrote.
During a follow-up interview Monday, the friend elaborated further, admitting that the text asking if he could “make someone disappear” was a reference to murdering Hamby’s husband, the affidavit says.
She also asked him to forge her husband’s signature on a motorcycle title. He told her he wasn’t good at that but could find someone who could.
What Molly Said
When Hamby came to the police station for a voluntary interview with Otte on Tuesday, she confirmed her marriage was in trouble and that she reached out to her male friend, “asking him for help and protection,” the affidavit says.
When confronted with the Friday text thread, “Molly confirmed that the text ‘No. Can you make someone disappear’ was referring to the murder of (husband),” Otte wrote. “And that she had provided (the friend) with updates of (husband’s) location and potential whereabouts on March 20.”
She also admitted that her text saying she wanted to “get this done today” was a message that she wanted her husband killed that day, the affidavit says.
She added that “she did not want to know the details on how he was going to carry out the murder of (husband),” the affidavit continues.
When asked about her motive for wanting her husband dead, Hamby reportedly told police that “she had been extremely mad at (husband) and was in fear of him taking her three children away from her,” Otte wrote. “She stated that (husband) had made statements about taking her children if they got a divorce.”
Hamby was arrested at the conclusion of her interview with Chief Otte.
She could get life in prison if convicted on the murder solicitation charge. The conspiracy to commit forgery charge is a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
She was bound over to felony court Thursday, and court records don’t indicate a date has been set for a preliminary hearing. Her court file also doesn’t say if she applied for legal representation from the public defender’s office.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
