Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

September 21, 2012

Maine woman wanted husband killed in 'straight hit,' police say

The Associated Press

DOVER-FOXCROFT — A mother of 13 from Brownville offered a friend money to kill her husband and make it look like a hunting accident, telling him she wanted a "straight hit" and "nothing fancy," according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court.

Wendy Farley, described as a church-going mom who home-schooled her children, was captured on tape telling her friend that she wanted "nothing fancy, nothing stupid, nothing traceable," the affidavit said. She even suggested the type of rifle.

Farley, 46, remained in jail on Friday, held on $10,000 cash bail, a day after her initial court appearance in the murder-for-hire plot. Her court-appointed lawyer couldn't be reached for comment.

An affidavit indicated Farley told an investigator that she and her children had not been physically abused and that she pursued a hit man because she needed her freedom. "Can you imagine for 29 years being told that you were not good enough? I finally snapped," she said.

Mike Anderson, nicknamed Mafia Mike, went to police after being approached by Farley. He recorded Farley saying her husband was strict and that her children didn't like him, with several adult children moving out. Six or seven children still lived in the house, police said.

Police Chief Nicholas Clukey said Friday that police moved quickly because they feared that Farley might approach someone else to carry out the act.

According to an affidavit, Wendy Farley told Anderson that there would be no suspicion if her husband Luther died because she went to church and people thought she was happily married. Anderson was offered between $3,000 and $10,000 to either kill Luther Farley or to find someone to kill him.

Police said Luther Farley was stunned when he was told of the plot.

Clukey said Friday that people in town figured there had to be serious abuse for Wendy Farley to seek out a hit man. Instead, there was no clear motive for her actions, though she did mention to police that she'd been seeing other men, that she no longer loved her husband, and that she'd thought for several years of getting rid of him.

"It's just a freedom thing," Clukey said. "My personal opinion is that she'd had enough and for whatever reason she felt like this was the better option. I think only she knows the answer why."

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