FBI Says Illinois Man Sentenced in Bizarre Florida Murder Plot

We live in a twisted world and this is more proof of that. A business man in Illinois will now serve 97 months in prison after he tried to hire a hitman to eliminate a business associate in Florida.

According to a case investigated by the FBI, this murder-for-hire case began in January of 2024 when Ben Patrick Mullavey, 66, of Mechanicsburg, in Sangamon County tried to convince a former employee to kill his business partner in Florida. Fortunately, that former employee when to law enforcement authorities and did not carry out the crime. The US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Missouri says that the FBI then became involved and recorded conversations where Mullavey admitted to obtaining a stolen Florida license plate and tracked the proposed victim to determine the best place and time for the murder to avoid surveillance cameras. They added this detail:

"On Jan. 13, 2024, the employee left Mullavey’s home with orders to kill the victim, a crossbow, arrows, the stolen Florida license plate, handwritten directions to a restaurant located next door to the victim’s business and $2,100 in cash."

The business partner that was the intended target told the court by letter that he now lives in a state of constant fear after learning that he was the target in this murder-for-hire plot.