A Mesa man who thought he hired a hitman to kill his grandfather made Facebook posts taking credit for the murder -- which never happened, police say.
In fact, according to Mesa police, 20-year-old Devin Almejo unknowingly hired an undercover police officer to kill his grandfather, in exchange for a year's worth of free haircuts.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, Almejo made a Craigslist posting on Wednesday saying that he was looking for a gun to kill his grandfather.
A Mesa police officer called the number listed, but Almejo said he had no idea what he was talking about. Almejo sent the officer a text message a few minutes later saying he did make the post, and they eventually arranged to meet at a Fry's grocery store in Mesa.
Almejo told the undercover officer he needed a gun that was "simple and easy to use," according to the documents.
Since Almejo's Craigslist ad indicated "the messier the better," the officer offered to sell him a MAC-10, which he said would "throw out a bunch of bullets quickly and would make a mess," court documents state.
Almejo said he wanted that gun.
However, since Almejo said he wasn't experienced in using firearms, the undercover officer offered to kill Almejo's grandfather for him.
"The defendant set up the time for Friday at 10 a.m. to be a good time to kill his grandfather," court documents state.
The officer asked if he still wanted the murder to be messy, even though Almejo said he didn't want to be there. Almejo said that wouldn't be necessary, according to the documents.
The officer told Almejo that it was fine if he just wanted to walk away and forget that whole conversation ever happened. According to the officer's probable-cause statement, he gave Almejo three opportunities to walk away from the situation.
Each time, Almejo said he "was good with the murder," according to the probable-cause statement.
Almejo offered an iPad, iPod, and a year's worth of free haircuts from himself as payment for the murder, according to court documents.
Police arrested Almejo after checking out his Facebook page, on which Almejo indicated that he had already killed his grandfather, and had plans to "shred his body."
Almejo didn't actually kill his grandfather, and it's unclear where that photo of the bloody hand came from, or if it's actually him.
You can see all of those Facebook postings below:
Almejo was booked into jail on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and attempted first-degree murder.
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