Woman Laughed as She Gave Hitman Orders: Prosecutors

An 83-year-old New Hampshire woman accused in a murder-for-hire plot involving her son's ex-wife is heard on recordings laughing and saying she wants her former daughter-in-law dead, reports the AP. During a hearing Monday, prosecutors played phone calls between Pauline Chase and a hitman. Chase and her son, 63-year-old Maurice Temple, both of Plainfield, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, and attempt to commit murder.

Prosecutors say the hitman went to police. In one call, the man asks Chase if she's sure she wants the woman dead. Chase responds, laughing, "Yes, that's right." At one point she allegedly said, "She made all those years miserable," per the New Hampshire Union Leader. When asking about disposing of the body, she allegedly added, "Got a meat grinder?" Temple's lawyer says Temple wasn't part of the plan until the hitman persuaded him to be. The hearing was continued to Thursday. No arguments have been heard yet for Chase. (More murder plot stories.)