A Charlottesville man has admitted he hired someone to kill his wife.
Patrick Scott Shemorry, 28, pleaded guilty this morning to murder for hire in Charlottesville’s federal court as part of a plea agreement. He will face nine to 10 years in prison at sentencing on Dec. 9.
During today’s hearing, authorities played video and audio clips of Shemorry reaffirming to a man known as “Witness One" a wish for his wife to die.
U.S. Attorney Julia C. Dudley said Shemorry and his wife had been having marital difficulties. They took a trip in March to New Orleans, where they befriended Witness One. Shemorry’s wife, Starla Knight, eventually left Shemorry and moved to New Orleans.
Authorities said Shemorry hired Witness One to kill his wife in exchange for $1,200 and a start in the drug business. Witness One recorded the conversation, played it for Knight and brought it to the local FBI office. John Pittman, a special agent for the FBI, testified that his office wired Witness One for another conversation about the murder for hire plot.
Clips from two conversations were played in court. In the audio clips, Witness One is heard asking Shemorry what he wants him to do and asking him if he can live with himself. The two are heard repeating the phrases “kill her” and “kill Starla” several times.
“Make her have shame and remorse for what she did,” Shemorry said on the audiotape.
Pittman described Shemorry as calm and stoic on the tapes. Authorities said Witness One told Shemorry that he had bought a gun, shot Knight, tied her up and put her body in a lake. At one point, Witness One asked Shemorry if this is what he wanted.
“ … She disgraced everything,” Shemorry said on the video. “She disgraced herself, family, me, you. She wrecks people.”
Shemorry remains held at the Central Virginia Regional Jail.
Read more of this story in Wednesday’s Daily Progress.
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