Two Texas men allegedly plotted to kidnap, rape, and murder a woman, with plans to disguise themselves as pizza delivery drivers, according to police.
Dustin Yates, 51, and Brad McKinney, 53, were being held in Smith County Jail on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and stalking. The victim in the case was described as Yates' ex-girlfriend in court documents, CBS-19 reported.
Yates had previously been arrested on Dec. 27 on charges of stalking the woman. The station reported that the stalking included threats of violence that included pictures of the woman's house. The arrest affidavit stated that Yates used different phone numbers to harass the woman and also used email.
Yates admitted to police that he had run a background check on the woman and used "texting apps" to disguise his number, CBS-19 reported. He also, according to the station, told police that he did not plan on killer her, that he only wanted to scare her, and if he wanted her dead he'd have killed her months ago.
In investigating the case, police gained a search warrant for Yate's phone.
"We found the disturbing information where there had been actual furtherance of the crime - conspiracy to commit murder against this victim," Sheriff Larry Smith said during a press conference.
The messages included discussions of McKinney's expertise as a hunter and sniper, CBS-19 reported. Yates also offered McKinney $650 for advice, and McKinney responded that he was willing to "help in any way I can."
"It's best to catch one in this stage to get it stopped before it goes any further," Smith said, referring to the need for people to contact the police proactively if they are being stalked. "Because they talked about using a sniper rifle to do this with. You can just imagine coming out on your front porch to get your mail or whatever, and all of a sudden, you get shot."
Yates and McKinney also discussed, according to CBS-19, that McKinney disguising himself as a UPS delivery driver or a pizza delivery driver.
