Police: Michigan man tried to hire inmates to kill ex-girlfriend – Detroit Free Press
MASON, Mich. — A Haslett man offered to pay two fellow inmates and an undercover police officer to kill his ex-girlfriend, and possibly others, while he was lodged in the Ingham County Jail last year, authorities allege.
One of the inmates told police that Tunc Uraz offered to pay him $2,500 and wanted him to bludgeon the victim, a detective testified last fall. Uraz agreed to pay the officer $2,000 for killing the woman and $500 “for every additional person killed,” the detective said.
Uraz, 49, was ordered to stand trial on three counts of soliciting murder after a preliminary hearing in December. The case is pending in Ingham County Circuit Court.
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The investigation began in late August after an inmate in the Ingham County Jail told police that Tunc asked him to kill or assist in killing the woman, Mason Detective Matthew Krumbach told a 55th District Court magistrate during a hearing that led to charges being issued against Uraz. Uraz was being held in the jail in connection with stalking charges.
The inmate agreed to put Uraz in touch with someone who would carry out the murder, according to court records. Uraz arranged for money to be deposited into the inmate’s account as partial payment, the detective said.
An undercover Lansing police officer contacted Uraz at the jail in late October, and the two of them agreed on a $2,000 fee to kill the woman, Krumbach said.
The day after that meeting, police learned that another inmate had come forward to say Uraz asked him to kill the woman. according to court records. Uraz also asked the inmate to buy a handgun so Uraz’s roommate could kill the woman’s boyfriend, Krumbach said.
Uraz offered to pay the inmate $2,500 and gave him details about the victim, including where she lived and worked and a description of her vehicle, the detective testified.
“… The accused wanted him to take pictures of the identification, bludgeon the victim to the point of unrecognition, dispose of the body (and) take a picture of the victim after being bludgeoned,” Krumbach told the magistrate.
The informants’ motives and credibility will be issues as the case moves forward, said Mike Nichols, Uraz’s attorney.
“I think the phrase they use in jail is ‘earjacking,'” Nichols said. “Whether somebody had the motive and intent to do something specific, or people were looking for ways to better their own situation, is going to be a big part of the case.”
Another issue is Uraz’s mental state, Nichols said. Was Uraz an “emotionally out-of-tune individual waxing his frustrations while in solitary confinement” or someone who actually intended to follow through with the alleged scheme?, he said.
One of the inmates who claimed to have been solicited by Uraz was in jail for a probation violation, Krumbach told the magistrate. It’s unclear why the other man was incarcerated. He added that police did not agree to help either inmate with their cases before they gave their statements.
Uraz was charged with stalking in two separate cases involving the same woman last year, court records indicate. He pleaded guilty to aggravated stalking in one of those cases and was sentenced to 5 years’ probation with 6 months in jail. The other case is still pending.
From August 2015 to August 2016, there were 10 police reports involving personal protection order violations, stalking, home invasion or property damage involving Uraz and the same woman, Krumbach testified.
Contact Ken Palmer at 517-377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj
