Three former United States army personnel are on trial related to a 2012 murder that is being described as an orchestrated hit. Former Special Forces soldier Joseph Hunter is accused of recruiting ex-US military personnel Adam Samia and Carl David Stillwell to work for an international crime boss to help settle a score that he had. The plot sounds like it belongs in a Hollywood movie, but the truth is scarier than fiction.
A report by Yahoo! presented most of the information used in this article.
Hunter is being described as the ringleader of the trio, coordinating a murder against Philippines estate agent Catherine Lee. All of this was allegedly done on the behalf of a South African arms dealer names Paul Le Roux.
All three have pleaded not guilty and their lawyers are confident that there is not enough evidence to convict the men of being behind the murder for hire.
Hunter is currently in jail on an unrelated incident where he was secretly recorded planning to kill a United States DEA agent in Thailand. He apparently made references and comments about Lee's murder during the sting that helped implicate him in her death.
What happened to Catherine Lee?
Real estate developer Catherine Lee was allegedly in a dispute with Le Roux, but it is unclear over what exactly. Regardless, Le Roux allegedly hired Hunter, who allegedly recruited Samia and Stillwell to take out Lee.
Hunter allegedly provided $35,000 cash to each man and also gave them pistols and silencers to carry out the hit.
Samia is reported to be the alleged triggerman, shooting Lee twice in the head and dumping her body in a pile of garbage. It wasn't until the men collected their payment that they were ordered back to the US by their superiors and promptly arrested.
Life after the military
Many military members often find it hard to return to civilian life after their service is completed.
Some find the best way to move on after military life is to find a similar occupation. This is one of the driving factors in the shadowy world of contract mercenaries. Every major country that conducts international operations uses these contractors to varying degrees, though their use has increased exponentially over the last decade.
The behavior of these contractors sometimes flies in the face of the military's where they were originally trained. The lucrative payments and lack of restrictions make becoming a contractor appealing to many ex-soldiers. Unfortunately, that leads to cases like these, where soldiers use their talents in search of a payday, as opposed to serving their country.