Man With Groton Connection Charged In Murder-For-Hire Plot: Police

GROTON, CT — A man with ties to Groton attempted to hire a hitman to have a woman, a man, and two children killed, according to an arrest warrant from state police.

Joshua Peikert, 31, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit risk of injury to minors.

Police said Peikert, while in prison at the Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville in 2022, told his cellmate he wanted a 29-year-old woman, her 23-year-old boyfriend, a 10-year-old girl, and a 1-year-old girl killed.

The cellmate said it would cost $10,000 for each person killed, which Peikert said "was doable" and that he would pay half up front and half when the job was done, according to the arrest warrant.

Peikert wrote a letter to the cellmate which the cellmate provided to state police. The letter detailed the location of the victim's home, the layout of the home, where the victim sleeps, and the location of a spare key to the home, according to the arrest warrant.

The cellmate then sent a handwritten letter to one of the victims because he was concerned for her safety and the safety of her children.

She immediately contacted City of Groton police, who in turn contacted state police to investigate.

Peikert had his brother, who was stationed at a U.S. Army base in Texas, pay the cellmate a $500 "finder's fee."

State police traveled to Texas to speak with Peikert's brother, Jeremiah, and "obtained a full confession."

Jeremiah Peikert and his brother had discussed paying for "construction materials" for a "job." He later told investigators that he knew the money paid was related to having one of the victims "hurt" but that he "did not believe the kids were planned to be involved in this scheme," the arrest warrant reads.

"I had thoughts of notifying the police," Jeremiah Peikert told investigators, "but I never did, but know I should have."

He added that Joshua Peikert "has displayed violent tendencies" and is "manipulative, especially with me, which played a role in me cooperating," the warrant states.

He was taken into custody and will face charges.

The cellmate said "at no time did I have any intention of hiring a hitman or committing any violence" against the victims, according to the warrant. The cellmate was later transferred to MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield after he found out that Joshua Peikert "had put out a hit for me," according to the warrant.

Joshua Peikert did not speak with investigators based on the advice of his attorney.

He was held on $500,000 bond and remanded back to the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction.

Joshua Peikert has several pending cases related to alleged crimes committed in Groton in 2022, The Day of New London reported. These include disorderly conduct, interfering with a 911 call, violation of a criminal protective order, risk of injury to a minor, and illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle.