Home Chicago Press Releases 2009 Two Arrested in Murder-For-Hire Plot
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Two Arrested in Murder-For-Hire Plot

FBI Chicago July 08, 2009
  • Special Agent Garrett Croon (312) 829-1199

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was joined today by Jody P. Weis, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff, in announcing the arrest of two southern Indiana residents in a murder-for hire plot.

HEIDI L. FRIEDBURG, age 30, and WILLIAM C. ALEXANDER, age 31, both of New Carlisle, Indiana, were arrested Monday afternoon, without incident, by members of the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF) in south suburban Lansing, Illinois. The arrests culminated a two-week investigation that began when a third party brought the plot, which targeted an unnamed Illinois man, to the attention of the Chicago FBI.

FRIEDBURG and ALEXANDER were both charged in a criminal complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count each of Conspiracy to use Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder-for-Hire, which is a felony offense. According to the complaint, FRIEDBURG approached a former co-worker, asking for their assistance in finding someone to kill her ex-boyfriend, who was the father of one of her children. The complaint further alleges that FRIEDBURG wanted her former boyfriend murdered as he was seeking to gain custody of the child that he fathered and that she wanted his death to look like an accident.

The former co-worker cooperated with the FBI and arranged for the introduction of an FBI undercover Special Agent (UCSA) to FRIEDBURG, who posed as a potential “hit man.” During subsequent conversations with the UCSA, FRIEDBURG provided essentially the same reason for wanting her former boyfriend killed and offered him $200 cash and an above-ground swimming pool as payment for the murder.

FRIEDBURG and ALEXANDER were arrested when they arrived at a pre-determined meeting location in Lansing and provided $200 cash and a photo of the intended victim, along with his address, to the UCSA. They also had with them, a four-foot, above-ground swimming pool, which was in the back of a pick-up truck driven to the meeting by ALEXANDER.

FRIEDBURG and ALEXANDER both appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier in Chicago yesterday afternoon, at which time they were formally charged.  Both defendants were ordered held without bond, pending their next court appearance, which is scheduled for Thursday, July 9th at 1:30 p.m. Until then, they will be held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If convicted of the charges filed against them, both FRIEDBURG and ALEXANDER face a possible sentence of up to ten (10) years incarceration.

This case was investigated by the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force, which is comprised of FBI Special Agents, Detectives from the Chicago Police Department and Investigators from the Cook County Sheriff’s office.     

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Copies of the criminal complaint filed in this case are available from the Chicago FBI’s press office at (312) 829-1199.