TRENTON, NJ – A Pennsylvania woman thought she was talking to a hired hitman to kill her ex-husband’s new wife and her teenage daughter. She found out she was talking to an undercover investigator with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
A recent investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit culminated this week with the arrest of a Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, woman for trying to hire an undercover officer to murder her ex-husband’s current wife, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri.
The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain Marilyn Zhou, 56, pending her trial on two counts of first-degree attempted murder and one count of third-degree money laundering.
The SIU received information earlier this month that Zhou was seeking assistance with a murder for hire. She met with an undercover officer in Trenton, New Jersey on Sunday morning, December 18, 2022, and advised the officer that she wanted them to kill her ex-husband’s new wife. During the execution of the murder, Zhou provided the officer with two color photographs of the victim, $21,000 in cash, rubber nitrile gloves, and a towel.
Furthermore, Zhou stated that if the victim’s 13-year-old daughter was present at the time of the murder, she should also be murdered. Zhou promised to pay the undercover officer an additional $20,000 when the murder was completed.
A short time after the meeting, the Special Investigations Unit took Zhou into custody. Later that evening, the SIU assisted the Pennsylvania State Police in executing a search warrant at Zhou’s Chadds Ford residence. In addition to seizing $18,000, detectives also found items she advised the undercover officer to use during the murder.