A Florida woman is charged with trying to hire a hitman to kill a homeless man who she said was giving her grandkids lice, according to police and court records.
Instead of carrying out the plan, however, the would-be assassin turned her in to the cops.
Pamela King Vanorsdale, 50, of New Smyrna Beach — who's also referred to in Volusia County court records as "Vanarsdale" — is free on $25,000 bond pending her arraignment Sept. 17 on a second-degree charge of solicitation to commit murder.
According to the charging affidavit, Vanorsdale called her ex-son-in-law to ask him to "pop" the intended victim with a gun and ammo should would provide.
Referring to a 22-year-old homeless man she said was having an affair with one of her married daughters, Vanorsdale asked the would-be gunman, identified as Daniel E. Dionne of Daytona Beach, to "get him out of here" because the man was "messing with" her grandchildren, according to the affidavit.
She specifically complained that the children were "coming home with lice," investigators said.
Related: New Guidelines: Kids Shouldn't Be Kept From School for Lice
According to police, Vanorsdale had meticulously planned the hit — she had even done the math and determined that the victim was small enough that only one bullet would be needed. She would provide two bullets — just in case — and the gun, which she would then take back and dispose of, it said.
Specifically, Dionne was to "pop him in the head and chest" and "throw him off a bridge" — because, according to the affidavit, Vanorsdale believed no one would be overly concerned if it looked as if the man had committed suicide.
Dionne agreed with the plan — without telling Vanorsdale that he was recording their conversations, police said. He reported the alleged solicitation to Daytona Beach police, who referred the case to New Smyrna Beach police, who arrested Vanorsdale on Aug. 21.
According to investigators, Dionne turned on Vanorsdale because he suspected he was being set up. Police said he is a convicted felon who is in a dispute with his ex-wife — another of Vanorsdale's daughters — for custody of their children.
No attorney for Vanorsdale was recorded in court records. But the police affidavit noted that she first denied the allegations and said she "was going to sue the police department." Under further questioning, she revised her story to say she had hatched the plan with Dionne but never intended to carry it out, it said.
