They dated in high school. Now, they are charged with plotting her husband's murder
If you're plotting to kill someone, you may not want to talk it through during recorded jail conversations.
That's exactly what two Macomb County residents are accused of doing, authorities said, with the alleged murder-for-hire plot discovered after an attorney in a divorce case filed a Freedom of Information Act for transcripts of one of the suspect's calls at the Macomb County Jail.
Aaron Muterspaw, 36, of Warren, and Carmen Marchetti, 35, of Chesterfield Township — who dated in high school — are facing charges in the alleged plot that was brought to the attention of the county Sheriff's Office late last year.
How authorities say the plot played out
Muterspaw was locked up on a drunken driving charge from Warren, according to the Prosecutor's Office. He was communicating by jail phone with Marchetti, with their conversations discussing hurting or killing her soon-to-be ex-husband, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
It stated the conversations were discovered when the attorney made a FOIA request for recordings of Muterspaw's phone calls. The Sheriff's Office began investigating when it became aware of the situation in December.
Muterspaw and Marchetti each face one count of conspiracy to commit homicide-solicitation of murder and malicious use of a telecommunications service. Marchetti also faces one count of homicide-solicitation of murder, which, like the conspiracy charge, is a life felony, authorities said.
Muterspaw is being held in the jail on a $500,000 bond. Marchetti was given a $100,000 personal bond. Both have probable cause conferences April 15 after arraignments earlier this week in 41B District Court in Clinton Township.
The Prosecutor's Office said Muterspaw was in the jail from May 1-Sept. 26, 2023, after pleading guilty in the drunken driving case.
While Muterspaw was in jail, the Prosecutor's Office stated, Marchetti asked him to have her soon-to-be ex-husband killed. He acknowledged her request and said he would facilitate the murder for her, according to the Prosecutor's Office release.
Dawn Fraylick, communications director for the Prosecutor's Office, said the information she has is that Marchetti asked Muterspaw if he knew of someone who wanted work and that she would pay well, the work being apparently to kill her soon-to-be ex-husband. He said he knew people who could do it for her, Fraylick said, adding that she was not aware of anyone else who could be charged.
A twist in the divorce case
J.T. Bowden, an attorney who is representing Marchetti, wrote in an email Wednesday that his office just was retained and was going through all the information provided to it from the Prosecutor's Office. He stated there is "nothing to comment on at this point."
The assistant public defender listed in court records as Muterspaw's attorney could not be reached.
Nina Paolini-Lotarski, an attorney representing Marchetti's husband in a divorce case filed in August in the county Circuit Court, confirmed she made the request for the jail records and discovered the nature of the conversations.
She did not divulge details about the conversations. She stated Muterspaw and Marchetti dated in high school.
"Since this is an open and ongoing criminal investigation, I have no comment at this time," Paolini-Lotarski wrote in an email. "I am focused on advocating for my client and for the best interests of the minor children as we proceed with this pending divorce and custody battle."
The divorce case is scheduled for trial May 7.
Some court records in the divorce case, however, mention the alleged plot.
Motion: She was 'up for anything' to get rid of her husband
In a Nov. 15 motion submitted by Paolini-Lotarski, it stated Marchetti rekindled her relationship with Muterspaw in November 2022 and provided financial support for his legal fees and jail expenses. On Nov. 13, it stated, the jail responded to subpoenas for records, including 102 pages of text communications between Muterspaw and Marchetti from May 19, 2023, and Sept. 25.
The motion stated Marchetti's "disdain of Husband is clear and she was 'up for anything at this point' to get rid of Husband (including wishing/planning his death)" and that she "made multiple representations that she wanted to hurt Husband and/or make up scenarios to establish as 'self-defense.'"
A response submitted by Marchetti's divorce attorney stated the relationship between Marchetti and Muterspaw "was nothing more than a friendship." It denied a relationship was "rekindled" and stated her friend was "going through a difficult time and she tried to help him."
Marchetti's response denied the allegations about getting rid of or hurting the husband, saying they are untrue, and that one of her comments was in response to a joke Muterspaw made about using "black magic" and the other was her "expressing her frustrations" with her husband "in a joking manner."
Maybe inmate was just playing along
A Jan. 3 motion and brief submitted by Paolini-Lotarski mentioned listening to more than 60 recorded phone calls from Muterspaw's 2023 incarceration in the jail.
The document stated Marchetti "concocted vicious tales" of supposed abuse by her husband and told her "boyfriend/friend with benefits" Muterspaw about these alleged abuses "in an attempt to motivate Muterspaw to murder her Husband."
"Unbeknownst to Wife, Muterspaw indulged Wife on the phone calls but appears to have no intention of following through with his threats," it stated, adding Marchetti's husband was unaware if his wife had solicited murder from anyone else.
"Wife was willing to do 'whatever it takes' to help Muterspaw — and she meant it (even to the point that she solicited Muterspaw to murder, mutilate and otherwise assault Husband)," the motion and brief stated.
Marchetti's divorce attorney answered the filing by stating, in part, the brief "rambles on and on about what has allegedly happened in this case."
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2 charged in murder-for-hire plot after attorney gets jail conversations
