Melody Sasser, 48, searched the dark web hoping to order the murder of a
woman she viewed as her romantic rival, authorities said

A Tennessee woman who tried to hire a hitman to kill the then-fianc�e of a
�hiking friend� she met on the online dating website Match.com has been
sentenced to eight years in prison.

On Wednesday, Sept. 18, a federal judge sentenced Melody Sasser, 48, of
Knoxville, to 100 months in prison, the equivalent of 8 years and four
months, in a murder-for-hire plot, the U.S. Attorney�s Office in the
Eastern District of Tennessee said in a release.

As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Sasser admitted to
using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire,
the U.S. Attorney�s Office said.

Sasser met David Wallace on Match.com, in 2020, when he and his now-wife
lived in Knoxville, according to a criminal complaint previously reviewed
by PEOPLE.

Sasser and Wallace were �hiking friends,� according to the complaint. The
two had gone on various treks together, local outlet 10 News reports.

The complaint doesn�t state whether the two were ever in a romantic
relationship.

Trouble began brewing in the fall of 2022, when Wallace moved to Alabama
with his wife, who was his fianc�e at the time, and told Sasser the two
had gotten engaged, the complaint said.

Related: After Meeting Man on Match.com, Woman Allegedly Tried to Hire
Hitman to Kill His Wife

Sasser responded to this news by saying, �I hope you both fall off a cliff
and die,� according to the complaint.

Sasser then traveled to Alabama and arrived at Wallace�s home unannounced,
according to the complaint.

Around that time, Wallace's fianc�e told authorities that her vehicle had
been keyed and that she had started receiving threatening phone calls, the
complaint said.

Sasser was also stalking the couple by monitoring their whereabouts
through a fitness app on their Garmin watches, the complaint said.

The situation turned more sinister in January 2023, when Sasser used a
dark web-hosted site known as the Online Killers Market to hire a hitman
to murder Wallace�s fianc�e, the U.S. Attorney said in the release.

�In her communications with the site, Sasser provided photographs and
location information of the victim,� the U.S. Attorney�s release said.

Sasser also requested that the killing appear �to seem random or accident.
Or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation,� according to the
release.

In exchange for the anticipated murder of the victim, Sasser used the
internet to transmit nearly $10,000 in cryptocurrency to the would-be
assassins.

What Sasser didn�t know is that the website was a scam, according to the
complaint.

Sasser placed her initial order on Jan. 11, 2023, and sent a follow-up
message to the site administrator in March, asking why it was taking so
long to have the woman killed, the complaint said.

�I have waited for 2 months and 11 days and the job is not completed� does
it need to be assigned to someone else? Will it be done? What is the
delay?� she wrote, according to the complaint.

Sasser was arrested in June 2023 after a grand jury indicted her and
charged her with using of interstate commerce facilities in the commission
of murder-for-hire, according to a 2023 release.

During a search of her home, law enforcement uncovered a journal listing
out several other hitman websites, a handwritten account of communications
with the Online Killers Market, and a stack of U.S. currency underneath a
sticky note listing a Bitcoin address, according to the release.

The journal �was a hidden rage that she kept secret for months," federal
prosecutor Anne-Marie Svolto told the judge during the sentencing hearing,
local outlet 10 News reports.

Sasser�s attorney said his client is remorseful about what she did.

"She wants [the victim] to be able to move on with her life," her attorney
Jeff Whitt said, 10 News reports.

"Her actions were the result of a breakdown of massive proportion,"
attorney Jeff Whitt said, according to 10 News.

After Sasser serves her prison sentence, she faces three years on
supervised release.

Sasser must pay an agreed upon amount of $5,389 in restitution to the
victim.

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