Terrible Tale Of Attorney With Murder In His Heart

A Tennessee lawyer was so gung-ho to have his wife murdered that he didn't care where or when the deed was done.

At least this story has a happy ending. That’s what I kept on telling myself as more and more terrible details were revealed. We’ve mentioned this story earlier, when details were scant and we only thought Tennessee lawyer Fred Auston Wortman III had hired a hitman — that turned out to be an undercover law enforcement agent — to kill his estranged wife. It all gets so much worse.

It seems Wortman was so gung-ho to have his wife, Staci, murdered that he didn’t care where or when the deed was done. As WREG is reporting:

WREG also uncovered documents Friday showing police said he tried to have his wife killed on his young daughter’s birthday and didn’t care if their three kids watched it happen.

Helluva birthday present. Candidate for father of the year here.

And hiring a hitman wasn’t even the first attempt Wortman made on his wife’s life (he has now been indicted on charges related the first incident as well). Forget what you’ve heard about poison being a woman’s weapon, because that’s exactly what Wortman used to try to take out his wife. He laced toothpaste with Aconitum, a plant-based poison. Again he displayed callous indifference to others that may be caught in the crosshairs as one of his children was also poisoned by the cavity fighter turned murder weapon.

Police said Fred Auston Wortman III poisoned his wife with toothpaste before trying to hire an undercover agent, posing as a hitman, to kill her.

WREG was told one of the couple’s children was also poisoned by the tainted toothpaste.

Fortunately, though both the child and his wife were poisoned by the toothpaste they have made a full recovery. I told you this story had a happy ending.

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I also enjoy it when the villain of a story gets taken down by his own incompetence. Cue the onslaught of evidence.

One document WREG found said Collierville police told Staci the defendant used his work computer at his law office to research hitmen, Bitcoin accounts and poisons.

Dude, your work computer? Not even a private browser. That’s some minor league sh*t.

At least his law partner isn’t also dumb, WMC Action News is reporting that the sign that used to hang outside of Wortman’s legal practice has been replaced with one that only mentions the partner’s name. Rebranding, it’s a beautiful thing.

I guess this guy comes from the “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” school of thought. Great quality when it comes to lawyering, terrible quality when it comes to murdering your wife.

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Collierville lawyer indicted on attempted murder charges [WREG]
Lawyer charged with hiring hitman, indicted for poisoning wife [WMC Action News]
Lawyer is accused of trying to hire hit man after poisoning attempt fails [ABA Journal]

EarlierTennessee lawyer tries to hire hitman to kill wife [Nashville Sun Times via Morning Docket]