Gig Harbor woman charged in murder-for-hire plot
Feb 24, 2012, 2:03 PM | Updated: 4:05 pm
A woman in Gig Harbor is accused of trying to hire a hitman to
kill her husband.
“She decided the way to get out of an unhappy marriage was to
hire a hitman,” said Mark Lindquist, Pierce County
Prosecuting Attorney.
Karen Lofgren, 47, is charged with First Degree
Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Solicitation to Commit
Murder in the First Degree.
According to Lindquist, she contacted an acquaintance to
help hire a “hitman,” who happened to be on federal
probation. He notified his probation officer who in turn
notified Pierce County Sheriff’s detectives.
Lofgren allegedly met with an undercover detective who did
everything possible to talk her out of the plot, but she
remained insistent, Lindquist said.
She agreed to pay with diamond earrings worth a reported
$5,000 and the pair agreed to stage a botched robbery
where her estranged husband was shot in the process.
“But of course the money they were after wouldn’t be his
wallet but the million dollars in his life insurance
policy,” Lindquist said.
Lofgren pleaded not guilty on Friday and remains held on $1
million bail.
“I don’t know why she wouldn’t just get a divorce and get
on with her life,” said Lindquist.
