Man offers $5,000 to kill business partner — and a bonus to cut off his hands, feds say
A man accused of offering up $5,000 to kill his business partner — and a $5,000 bonus to cut off and bring him his hands — was arrested Jan. 16, according to court records.
Ben Patrick Mullavey, 64, of Mechanicsburg, Illinois, wanted his former associate in Florida dead, claiming the man scammed him out of $200,000 in a real estate deal and “a lawsuit over the money was not going well,” charging documents say.
Mullavey presented the job offer to a friend and former employee, who expressed they were looking for work, an affidavit says.
While dining at a McDonald’s in Miner, Missouri, on Jan. 3, Mullavey offered the friend payment if they “took care” of his business partner, according to the affidavit.
“Beating him up bad will not earn the money…” and “if you bag the hands, that’s extra money,” Mullavey told the friend, the affidavit says.
Mullavey was unaware the friend alerted the FBI of the plot that day and started working with agents, according to federal prosecutors.
Now, a criminal complaint charges Mullavey with one felony count of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced in a Jan. 16 news release.
McClatchy News contacted Mullavey’s court-appointed federal public defender for comment Jan. 16 and didn’t receive a response.
The plot to kill the victim inside his wine bar
During the meeting with his friend at McDonald’s, Mullavey advised that killing his business associate with a gun, bomb or a noisy weapon wouldn’t work — and suggested using a crossbow or baseball bat, according to investigators.
He wanted the “close contact” murder carried out inside the associate’s wine bar in Palm Harbor, the affidavit says.
Mullavey planned to pay the friend $10,000 for the killing and bringing his hands to Illinois, according to the affidavit.
By Jan. 11, the friend was staying at Mullavey’s home, where Mullavey gave them a hunting knife “that could be used in the murder,” according to the affidavit.
In recorded conversations reviewed by the FBI, Mullavey presented the friend with several ideas for how to kill his business associate, “including strangulation and stabbing,” shooting him with a crossbow and “how to get the victim’s body out of the victim’s business,” the affidavit says.
“No firearm, no noise. No witnesses is no problem out where the bar is. The problem is the cameras in the place,” Mullavey told the friend, according to the affidavit.
Mullavey asked the friend if they could get lime because “it dissolves the body,” the affidavit says.
Ultimately, Mullavey paid the friend $1,000 as prepayment for the killing and $2,100 cash for expenses, according to investigators.
He also gave him a crossbow, arrows, a Florida license plate to help them “blend in” and written directions to a restaurant next to the victim’s wine bar, according to prosecutors.
The FBI collected these items Jan. 13, three days before Mullavey’s arrest, and no murder was carried out, the affidavit says.
If convicted on the murder-for-hire charge, Mullavey could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the attorney’s office.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Man offers $5,000 to kill business partner — and a bonus to cut off his hands, feds say."
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