Three people were arrested in a murder-for-hire plot, the Starke Police Department said Friday. '
The arrests come after an investigation by Starke police, with assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Eighth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office.
Police said the investigation began when they received information that a Bradford County jail inmate, Demetrius Wilson, was planning to kill a witness who was scheduled to testify. At the time, Wilson was in jail for his alleged involvement in the July 2020 murder of Blake Williams, according to police.
Investigators said Wilson was attempting to have two family members, Valerie McCutchen and N’Crisha McCutchen, hire a possible hitman living in Orlando.
That took the investigation outside of Starke, so that’s when the Police Department asked for help from FDLE and the State Attorney’s Office.
Valerie McCutchen and N’Crisha McCutchen were then stopped as they attempted to travel to Orlando to make the payment, according to investigators.
Investigators said warrants were obtained for the arrests of Demetrius Wilson, Valerie McCutchen and N’Crisha McCutchen, each on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
“I think the real tragedy is that we’re in the situation we’re in, because there’s already been a senseless taking of a life,” said Lt Michael Rooney, with the Starke Police Department. “And now these three individuals were OK with the senseless taking of another life to prevent Demetrius from having to answer from his role in the first homicide.”
Demetrius Wilson and N’Crisha McCutchen were arrested Thursday at the Bradford County jail, where they were already being held on unrelated charges, according to police.
The Police Department said Valerie McCutchen turned herself in to law enforcement on Friday and was booked into the Bradford County jail.
As of Friday, according to police, Wilson, 27, was being held on $1 million bond, while N’Crisha McCutchen, 33, and Valerie McCutchen, 59, were each being held on $500,000 bond.