Man in U.S. Army extradited to CT to face charges in murder-for-hire plot initiated by brother
A man has been extradited from Texas to face charges in connection with a murder-for-hire plot allegedly planned by a Connecticut prisoner, marking the second arrest state police have made in the investigation.
State police detectives flew to Fort Worth, Texas on Wednesday to take custody of 30-year-old Jeremiah Peikert and escort him back to Connecticut to face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit risk of injury to a child, according to Connecticut State Police.
Peikert was being held in custody as a fugitive. Following his extradition, he was held on $500,000 bond and was expected to be arraigned on Friday in New London Superior Court.
Peikert’s brother, Joshua, was arrested last month on the same charges, according to state police.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case, authorities unraveled the murder-for-hire plot in October 2022 when one of the intended victims received a letter from an inmate at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. The letter alerted her that she and her two children, ages 10 and 1 at the time, as well as her boyfriend were the intended targets.
According to the warrant affidavit, the letter stated that Joshua Peikert was behind the plot and had hired the inmate to find a hitman.
During the investigation, the inmate told state police 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, the warrant affidavit said. 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.
The inmate said Joshua Peikert allegedly agreed to the prices and gave him 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.
After posting bail, Joshua Peikert allegedly called the inmate and spoke to him 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.
About a week later, the inmate was assaulted in the prison, 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 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.
According to the Connecticut Department of Correction, Joshua Peikert remains held on bonds totaling more than $700,000 in connection with several cases. He was scheduled to appear Friday in court in New London in connection with the murder-for-hire charges.