Amanda Zortman (Centre County Correctional Facility).
A woman from Pennsylvania is accused of plotting with her boyfriend to murder a police informant whom he believed was responsible for his incarceration. Both individuals are now in custody as a result of their alleged plan.
The woman, Amanda Lynne Zortman, aged 45, is facing charges of solicitation of murder in the first degree, conspiracy, and criminal use of a communication facility. Zortman is currently being held at the Centre County Correctional Facility without the option of posting bond. According to a criminal complaint from Altoona CBS affiliate WTAJ, Zortman was in frequent communication with her boyfriend, Mark Hackett, aged 63, who was already in jail on charges related to drugs.
More from Law&Crime: Man and stepson tried to make murder-for-hire look like road rage, prosecutors say
Hackett suspected that a police informant had played a role in his arrest and was convinced that he knew the identity of this individual. The complaint states that Zortman and Hackett discussed ways to handle the informant on multiple occasions. Allegedly, Hackett informed Zortman that he had a plan to resolve their issue.
The plan, cops said, was to give the so-called informant a “hotshot,” which is an illicit narcotic spiked with fentanyl. Zortman also had been speaking with a “hitman” Hackett had met in jail, the affidavit reportedly said. He was allegedly willing to pay $10,000 to carry out the hit. Zortman also reportedly said she would buy the “hitman” a pound of methamphetamine plus cash to bail him out of jail.
Hackett said once the informant was dead, he would be freed, the affidavit reportedly said. But the plan hit a snag when the “hitman” said the couple would also have to pay his bail in another county. After his release from jail, the man had to go to a halfway house or rehab facility. Once the stint was completed, Zortman would take him to deliver the “hotshot” to the informant, the affidavit reportedly said.
Troopers alleged Zortman took “substantial steps to plan and facilitate the murder,” the affidavit said, per StateCollege.com. Cops reportedly spoke with the informant who said someone had broken into his home a few days after he moved out, making him think someone was trying to kill him.
Zortman has a court date scheduled for March 12.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
