Josiah Sher, one of three suspects in a murder-for-hire case, that was allegedly hired to kill a Castle Rock man’s wife and her brother-in-law, admitted in court Tuesday that he killed the two people for $15,000.
While already in jail for another crime, Christoper Wells, 49, is accused of hiring former co-workers Josiah Sher, Micah Woody and Matthew Plake to murder his wife Amara Wells, 39 and Amara’s brother-in-law, 49-year-old Robert Rafferty. The pair were found dead on Feb. 23. Wells, along with the allegedly hired trio of killers, are all facing first-degree murder charges, according to CBSDenver.
UPDATE:
The Denver Post reports that all four co-conspirators -- Christopher Wells, 49, Josiah Sher, 27, Micah Woody, 30, and Matthew Plake, 27 -- will be put on trial for murder, despite defense attorneys efforts to deflect blame from each of their clients.
According to 7News, Judge Paul King listened to four days of testimony and ultimately decided that there was enough evidence to put all four defendants on trial for first-degree murder and felony murder.
EARLIER:
9News reports that Sher admitted on video that Micah Woody asked him to kill both Wells and Rafferty on behalf of Chrisopher Wells, Amara’s estranged husband. Sher said that he was supposed to receive $10,000 for the murder of Amara Well, $5,000 for Robert Rafferty’s death and another $5,000 for the death of Tamara Rafferty, wife of Robert, who was out of town on a business trip the night of the killings.
However, Sher was never paid, he said on the video, according to 7News. Sher, who said he was high on cocaine at the time of the slayings, went on to describe the disturbing crimes. He said he came in through the front door of Wells home and shot Amara several times in the face, stabbed her in the chest and then slit her throat. Sher then confronted Rafferty, who had a shotgun. Rafferty almost bested Sher in a hand-to-hand fight, but Sher used his military training to finally wrestle the gun away from Rafferty, knock out his teeth, shoot and stab him. The coroner said Rafferty’s teeth were found throughout the home.
Christopher Wells’ 6-year-old daughter also happened to be home the night of the double murder plot, The Denver Post reports. The little girl was awakened by her mother’s screams, saw her mother dead on the floor, ran upstairs where she saw a man fighting with her uncle. The scared girl jumped over her mother’s murdered body and hid in her room. Sher said he knew where the little girl was, but chose not to kill her, she wasn’t part of the hit job.
WATCH (via 9News):
