Feds: Cobb Man Plotted Ex-Wife's Murder From Jail

MARIETTA, GA — A Cobb County man has been arrested on federal charges that he tried to arrange his ex-wife's murder while he was behind bars on drug charges.

Michael McEarchern, 29, of Acworth, has been arraigned in U.S. District Court on charges he used the U.S. mail and telephone communications to hire someone to kill his ex-wife. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 3.

According to federal prosecutors, McEarchern was an inmate at Bartow County Jail after being arrested on drug charges in October. While there, they say, he reached out to several people trying to find someone who would kill his ex-wife, who lived in Cobb County.

One person he contacted told a friend about it and that friend told the FBI, prosecutors say. Investigators waited for McEarchern to reach out to the informant, which they say he did.

Believing he was setting up his ex-wife's murder, McEarchern agreed to pay $10,000 in cash and two tickets to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game as payment, according to prosecutors.

They say he had $800 in cash mailed to a man he thought would be the assassin. Jailhouse recordings captured McEarchern giving the man's address to a person he asked to mail the money for him and the FBI retrieved an envelope with the money in it, according to prosecutors.

He also provided an address where the presumed assassin could find his ex-wife, they said.

"This defendant’s alleged actions indicate that he was serious about having his ex-wife murdered," said U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak. "By providing an address and up-front money for the would-be assassin, McEarchern left little doubt that if the threat had not been discovered he may have found someone to carry out the heinous deed."

McEarchern was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Walter E. Johnson. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with help from the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim S. Dammers is prosecuting the case.

Photo courtesy Bartow County Sheriff's Office