'I Want Him Gone': Texas Parents Tried to Hire Hitman to Kill Daughter's Boyfriend
A Texas woman has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after admitting to trying to hire a hitman to kill her daughter’s boyfriend in 2015. Her husband was sentenced last month to 21 years for the same crime.
Christina Peyton, 41, pleaded guilty to murder solicitation on Monday morning, just an hour before she was scheduled for trial. Last month, Jeffrey Peyton, 59, also pleaded guilty.
According to prosecutors, the Peytons approached a man and offered him $300 to kill their daughter’s boyfriend. The man then went to the police with recordings of the discussion.
“I want him gone,” Christina Peyton told the man, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. “Not out-of-town gone. I want him dead gone.”
She told the witness that she and her husband would take their daughter to see a movie while her boyfriend was killed.
Wichita Falls police sent an undercover officer to meet with Jeffrey Peyton. Police say that Jeffrey Peyton believed that the officer was a hit man and offered him $500 to kill the daughter’s boyfriend. Police say that Peyton agreed to pay a $300 deposit and another $200 after the murder was complete.
According to charging documents, the boyfriend cooperated with investigators. He posed for a photograph staged to look as if he had been shot.
On July 2, 2015, the officer showed the photograph to Peyton. According to police, Peyton paid the $200 balance after seeing the picture. He was promptly arrested. Christina Peyton was arrested several hours later.
The boyfriend was unharmed.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Jeffrey Peyton is eligible for parole in December 2025. Christina Peyton’s parole eligibility has not yet been determined.
