Clinton Man Charged with Murder for Hire

CLINTON, CT — A Clinton man is accused of offering an undercover ATF special agent $5,000 to murder his ex-wife and offered additional money if her current boyfriend was also killed, according to authorities.

James Erik Godiksen, 54, has been charged with murder for hire by federal authorities, U.S. States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced on Friday.

The ATF received information that Godiksen was seeking a person who would be willing to kill his former wife, according to the complaint.

Between Sept. 10 and Sept. 14, Godiksen and the undercover ATF special agent spoke multiple times by phone.

“During these conversations, Godiksen offered to pay the undercover agent $5,000 to murder his ‘ex-wife,’ and provided the agent with a physical description of his former wife, her phone number, her home address, her place of work and the route she typically drove to work,” Daly wrote in a press release. “He also told the undercover agent how he would like his former wife to be murdered. Godiksen offered the undercover agent additional money if he encountered his former wife’s current boyfriend and killed him, too.”

Godiksen was arrested on Sept. 14 after he met with the undercover agent and provided him with a “down payment” of $80, some of which was to be used to purchase a knife.

Godiksen appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons Thursday in New Haven and was ordered detained.

The charge of murder for hire carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

This matter is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Clinton Police Department and Connecticut Department of Correction.

Image via Shutterstock

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