Left: Jazmin Paez (via Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation). Right: screengrab of the “Rent-a-Hitman” website.
An 18-year-old mother in Miami, Florida, is accused of trying to hire a hitman from a parody website in order to kill her 3-year-old son.
Jazmin Paez reportedly went to “Rent-a-Hitman” — a fake website — and put in a request for her young son to be murdered. According to Miami NBC affiliate WTVJ, she wanted her son killed within a week of putting in her request.
She was arrested on Tuesday.
The website owner, Robert Innes, told WTVJ that Paez sent pictures of the child and the exact location of where he would be. He said that he normally gets hundreds of similar solicitations each week, but the specificity of Paez’s alleged request — including pictures of the boy and his exact location — set off warning bells.
“The ability to research names and addresses and verify the intended target lived in a particular address,” Innes told the station. “That to me is a red flag. If that information is corroborated, to me that is something that needs to be looked at and that’s why I referred it.”
Innes, who apparently runs the website out of an office in South Lake Tahoe, California, said that he flagged the request to Miami-Dade police multiple times, but he was repeatedly referred to CrimeStoppers. When he insisted that the request wasn’t fake, CrimeStoppers reportedly told him they would send a cease-and-desist letter if he didn’t stop contacting them.
Paez has been charged with first-degree murder solicitation and unlawful use of a communications device. Records show that she was given a $15,000 bond, and WTVJ reported that a judge ordered her to stay away from the child.
WTVJ also reported that the child is now safe and with relatives. The Florida Department of Children and Families is also reportedly involved in the case.
Court records do not indicate a future hearing date.
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