Investigators: Inmate Plotted to Kill Wife

A Palm Harbor man who is an inmate at the Pinellas County Jail is accused of trying to hire another inmate to kill his wife. On Feb. 23, Pinellas County Deputies charged Howard Michael Dilkes, 50, with Solicitation to Commit Murder.

Investigators say that on Jan. 27, an inmate at the jail told them that Dilkes asked him to murder Dilke's wife, 44 year-old Arlita Harwood. Dilkes allegedly offered to pay the inmate money and a 1992 Ford pickup truck to murder her. Dilkes told the other inmate that he wanted his wife killed, so she would not testify against him in an aggravated assault trial scheduled for Jan. 31, according to detectives.

Investigators say Dilke suggested ways his wife could be killed, which included a kidnapping scenario. Dilke also provided the inmate with the location of her workplace, the hours she worked, her daily routine, along with maps and diagrams of her home which included the location of her bedroom.

The investigation is ongoing.