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Army Sergeant Jeremiah Peikert of Azle, Texas, age 30, was arrested on charges connected to his brother's alleged scheme to have four people killed and extradited to Connecticut on Wednesday, May 1, Connecticut State Police announced on Friday, May 3.
According to state police, Peikert's brother, 31-year-old Joshua Peikert, had plotted to have the four victims killed while serving a sentence at Corrigan Correctional Institute in the New London County town of Uncasville. Joshua Peikert's alleged plot targeted a 29-year-old woman, a 10-year-old girl, a 1-year-old girl, and a 23-year-old man, authorities said.
The investigation into this scheme began in October 2022, when a former inmate at Corrigan alerted one of the targeted victims of the plot. Joshua Peikert had begun planning the murder-for-hire plot with this former inmate while they had been cellmates, police said.
The former inmate had learned of Joshua Peikert's plot after a short time of being cellmates and had told him he knew some people who could have "taken care of it for him" and said it would cost around $10,000 per person. Peikert then agreed to these terms, according to a state police affidavit.
Although this former inmate, who was not named by police, had no intention of hiring a hitman or actually carrying out his cellmate's plan, he feigned interest and asked for payment to "arrange" the scheme. He eventually received a $100 and $150 installment as a "finder's fee" that was transferred to his tablet by Jeremiah Peikert, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also detailed several phone conversations had between the former inmate and Jeremiah Peikert in which they discussed the scheme and payments related to it. After these conversations, Jeremiah Peikert also allegedly had a phone call with his brother in which they talked about the possibility of one of the targeted victims moving to Arizona and the distance between that and Peikert's home in Texas.
In December 2023, state police investigators flew to Texas and interviewed Jeremiah Peikert about his role in the scheme. During the interview, Peikert allegedly admitted he knew his brother's scheme would involve a victim getting hurt but denied knowing that kids would be targeted or that anyone would have been killed, the affidavit said.
Jeremiah Peikert also claimed that his brother showed "violent tendencies" growing up and that he is "manipulative," according to the affidavit.
As a result of the investigation, Jeremiah Peikert was charged with acting toward the commission of a crime and assigned a $500,000 bond. He was unable to post bond and was assigned a court appearance for Friday, May 3.
His brother, Joshua Peikert, was charged in connection with the scheme in early April.
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