CT inmate, brother charged in murder-for-hire plot involving two children

Two people are in custody, including one awaiting extradition from Texas, after state police say they unraveled a murder-for-hire plot by a Connecticut prisoner who was allegedly willing to pay $40,000 to have two children and two adults killed by a hitman.

Joshua Peikert, 31, of Jackson, Mississippi, was charged Monday with one count each of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit risk of injury to a minor, according to Connecticut State Police.

He remains held in custody following his arraignment Monday in New London Superior Court, where he is next scheduled to appear on May 3.

State police said they also hold a warrant charging his younger brother, Jeremiah Peikert, with the same offenses. He was taken into custody Tuesday in Azle, Texas, and is awaiting extradition to Connecticut, state police said.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case, authorities were alerted to the alleged murder-for-hire plot in October 2022, when one of the victims received a letter from an inmate at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution alerting her that she and her two children, ages 10 and 1 at the time, and her boyfriend were the intended targets. The letter alleged that Joshua Peikert was behind the plot and had hired the inmate to find a hitman, the warrant affidavit said.

When state police spoke to the inmate, he alleged that Joshua Peikert told him he wanted four people killed while the two were cellmates several months prior at the Corrigan Correctional Institution in Uncasville, according to the warrant affidavit. The man told him he knew a few people who could complete the hit but that it would cost $10,000 a person and he would want a $500 “finder’s fee,” the warrant affidavit said.

Joshua Peikert allegedly agreed to the prices, including half of the finder’s fee up front and the other half after the hits were complete, and gave the inmate the victims’ address and the layout of the home, according to the warrant affidavit. This included where the victims slept in the residence and the location of a spare key that could be used to get into the home, the warrant affidavit said.

State police said the inmate still had the paper, which investigators used to confirm the schematics were accurate.

The inmate told state police he was sent $250 in two installments shortly thereafter by Jeremiah Peikert. Soon afterward, Joshua Peikert posted bail and allegedly called the inmate, using terms like the “construction job” and the “materials” that would be needed as code for the hit, the warrant affidavit said.

The inmate told investigators he never contacted anyone about the hit plot and encountered Joshua Peikert about two weeks later when he was taken into custody again and housed in Corrigan. The man said he initially played dumb and said the brother had messed up the money transfer before he “blew smoke” to Joshua Peikert, saying there was a hit out for the intended targets, according to the warrant affidavit.

About a week later, the inmate was assaulted in the prison’s infirmary, at which point he wrote a letter to one of the victims, he told investigators. Upon being transferred to MacDougall-Walker, the man said he was allegedly told by another inmate that Joshua Peikert had put out a hit for him, the warrant affidavit said.

State police were able to confirm Jeremiah Peikert had transferred money to the inmate and that the two spoke on multiple occasions over the phone in July 2022, according to the warrant affidavit. At the time, the younger brother was with the U.S. Army and was stationed in Texas.

During one of the calls, the inmate told Jeremiah Peikert that the man who was supposed to do “the job” had been arrested in Florida and that it would likely be a few weeks before it could be done, the warrant affidavit said. He also told the younger Peikert that if his brother “goes back on the agreement before the job is done, it’s not gonna be a good thing,” according to the warrant affidavit.

During the investigation, state police detectives traveled to Texas to speak with the younger brother at an Army Criminal Investigation Division interview room, where he allegedly confessed to sending an inmate money knowing it was related to Joshua Peikert wanting to have one of the victims hurt, the warrant affidavit said. Jeremiah Peikert denied knowing that the plan involved killing the victim and said he was unaware the children were involved, the warrant affidavit said.

“I did not immediately connect this to wanting them killed, but it makes sense now,” Jeremiah Peikert wrote in his statement to police, the warrant affidavit said.

The younger brother said he was reluctant to get involved and only did so after Joshua Peikert pressured and manipulated him, according to the warrant affidavit.

In January 2023, Joshua Peikert requested to speak with investigators while he was locked up at Corrigan, the warrant affidavit said. After consulting an attorney, he declined to talk with authorities.

State police said Joshua Peikert was charged earlier this week during a scheduled appearance in New London Superior Court in connection with unrelated charges. According to court records, he has five pending cases on charges ranging from criminal violation of a protective order and interfering with a 911 call to risk of injury to a minor and illegal possession of weapons in a motor vehicle.

He is being held on bonds totaling $710,000 and has not entered a plea to the murder-for-hire charges, records show.