Texas influencer Ashley Grayson has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attempting to hire someone to murder three people- including a business rival and someone who trashed her on social media, the New York Post reported.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, Grayson, 35, gained fame on social media for her online business and courses teaching others how to monetize their skills.  

Acting U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren announced on Monday, Nov. 18, that Grayson was found guilty of a murder-for-hire conspiracy.  

The press release revealed that in September 2022, Grayson offered to pay a Memphis-based couple to kill three targets: her ex-boyfriend, a woman who had criticized her on social media, and a Mississippi woman with a similar business model. Grayson believed the latter had created fake profiles to disparage her work online.  

The Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that “Grayson valued each of these killings at no less than $20,000.” During a recorded video call with the Memphis couple, Grayson expressed urgency in targeting the Mississippi woman, offering an additional $5,000 if the murder was carried out within a week.  

Using photos of police cars from an unrelated incident, the couple falsely claimed they had attempted the murder-for-hire. They demanded half the agreed payment and travelled to Dallas to meet Grayson and her husband, ultimately receiving $10,000 for their fabricated “attempt.”  

In July 2023, a grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee indicted Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson, on a single count of “Use of Interstate Facility in Commission of Murder-for-Hire,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release. On Oct. 31, 2024, United States District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker sentenced Grayson to the maximum penalty of 120 months in prison.  

“This was a twenty-first-century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” said Fondren, as quoted in the press release. “The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet.”

He continued, “Fortunately, no one was physically hurt in this case, but the victim and her family still felt a severe and emotional impact as the result of the defendant’s actions. The proactive response from the investigating agencies and our prosecutors prevented an even more serious crime from occurring.”

 

Melody Sasser, a 48-year-old Tennessee woman, was sentenced to 100 months in prison for attempting to hire a hitman to kill the wife of a man she met on a dating website. According to People, Sasser used the dark website “Online Killers Market” to seek a hitman, offering $9,750 in Bitcoin for a “random” or “accident” killing. According to court documents, Sasser met David Wallace on Match.com and became obsessed after he revealed his engagement. 

Mr Wallace told investigators that their relationship was limited to hiking companionship. Sasser had assisted him on an Appalachian Trail hike and they had also explored trails together in the Knoxville area before he relocated to Alabama and married his now-wife.

However, Sasser’s interest evolved into an unhealthy obsession. After learning of his engagement, she showed up at his Alabama home, making disturbing threats and beginning a campaign of harassment against his now-wife. Sasser monitored the couple’s activities using a fitness app and harassed the wife with six phone calls in one day.

”It needs to seem random or accident. or plant drugs, do not want a long investigation. She recently moved in with her new husband,” she wrote on the website, including details such as the couple’s license plate numbers and the wife’s workplace. 

Sasser also notified the website administrator when he left her home for a mere two-mile walk.

“I have waited for two months and 11 days and the job is not completed. 2 weeks ago you said it has been worked on and would be done in a week. The job is still not done. Does it need to be assigned to someone else? Will it be done? What is the delay? When will it be done,” Sasser wrote in a follow-up message to the website’s administrator.

Ultimately, the plan was unsuccessful. During the search of her home, law enforcement uncovered incriminating evidence, including a journal detailing multiple hitman websites and a handwritten account of her communications with the notorious “Online Killers Market”. Additionally, investigators found a stash of cash hidden beneath a sticky note bearing a Bitcoin address. 

As a result, a federal grand jury indicted Sasser in June last year for utilising interstate commerce facilities to facilitate murder-for-hire. Sasser ultimately accepted responsibility for her crimes through a plea deal. On Wednesday, she received her sentence: 100 months in prison, accompanied by an order to pay over $5,300 in restitution to the victim.