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Woman Cashes One Last Check From Husband Before Ordering His Murder: 'The Whole Thing Was Just Cold'
“I want him gone,” Jacquaeline Z. Williams told the undercover agent posing as a hitman.
On October 15, 2015, Jacquaeline “Jackie” Z. Williams thought she was meeting with a member from a local Denton, Texas, motorcycle gang to discuss the details of her husband James “Garth” Williams’ murder. Jackie told the “hitman” — played by undercover Texas Department of Public Safety Special Agent Stephen Reynolds — she needed his help with a “situation.” Her husband was threatening to end her nearly $10,000 monthly allowance — and she wanted him dead.
“He does have a retirement that, if he passes, it comes to me,” said Jackie in video footage captured by a hidden camera.
Though Jackie and Garth had been married for 20 years, the two were apart for the majority of their relationship. While Jackie lived with her children in Denton, Garth owned several homes in Pasadena, Texas, and provided substantial financial support for his wife from afar.
But as Garth reached his 70s, he thought about retiring and gave Jackie an ultimatum: She would have to move in with him and become a true family, or she would no longer receive her monthly checks. Jackie refused. Instead of looking for additional income elsewhere, she started shopping for a hitman.
When Special Agent Reynolds asked Jackie how soon she wanted the hit to take place, she told him “not before the 23rd of this month” so she could still “cash [her] check.”
“The whole thing was just cold,” former Denton Police Department sergeant Brad Curtis told “Murder for Hire,” which airs Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen. “To her, he was a paycheck.”
In an attempt to give Jackie an out, Reynolds offered to “scare” Garth instead of killing him.
“Oh no, I want him gone,” she said.
Jackie then revealed she did not have enough money to cover the cost of the hit, but she could give Reynolds $1,500 once she gained access to Garth’s retirement funds. She gave Reynolds $50 for gas money and agreed to hand over the rest of the payment six months later.
The morning of October 24, 2015, Jackie was arrested and charged with criminal solicitation of capital murder, reported the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She was found guilty and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She will be eligible for parole in 2020.
To hear more about Jackie’s case, watch “Murder for Hire” on Oxygen.
