US Army sergeant arrested in alleged murder-for-hire plot against 4 people, including 2 minors

Jeremiah Peikert was arrested for allegedly conspiring with his brother, Joshua Peikert, to hire a hitman to kill four people, including two children.

A United States Army sergeant and his brother face charges in a failed murder-for-hire scheme that aimed at four individuals, including two juveniles, according to officials.

Jeremiah Peikert, 30, a servicemember, was arrested on Thursday by Connecticut State Police. He's accused of conspiring with his brother, Joshua Peikert, 32, who was in jail at Corrigan Correctional Center in Uncasville when the alleged scheme took place, according to court documents.

Both brothers are charged with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit risk of injury to minors, as per court documents. The plan, where Joshua supposedly asked his unnamed cellmate to hire a hitman in 2022, targeted four people: a 29-year-old female, a 23-year-old adult male, a 10-year-old girl, and a one-year-old girl, according to court documents.

Police found out that the adult woman is the mother of the two children, and the adult male is her boyfriend, as per court documents. The cellmate told Joshua he would find a hitman outside of prison to carry out the

murders for $10,000 per person and asked for a "finder's fee" of $500 to do so, according to court documents.

Joshua Peikert was jailed at the Corrigan Correctional Center when he arranged to have four people murdered.

The inmates agreed on two payments of $250 — one before and one after the crime was done, and Jeremiah made the initial payment for his brother. Joshua allegedly wrote down the targets' address, sleeping locations, and where to find a spare key on a note labeled "job" with his full name, according to documents.

The alleged murder-for-hire plot came to light when Joshua's cellmate sent a handwritten letter to the 29-year-old woman detailing the plan against her, according to documents.

The woman contacted Groton, Connecticut police, who began investigating the case in October 2022.

The unnamed cellmate told authorities he never intended to hire a hitman and was just after the money from the brothers.

"I did not have any intention of hiring a hitman or committing any violence," the cellmate testified, according to documents.

Investigators found that Jeremiah and Joshua had discussed the scheme under the guise of it being a "construction job" and that Jeremiah had transferred the $250 finder's fee to the cellmate's account.

In December 2023, Jeremiah admitted to investigators in Texas that he had made the payment and knew it was meant to harm the 29-year-old woman, although he claimed he didn't know the children were involved, according to documents.

"I did not believe the kids were planned to be involved in this scheme," Jeremiah testified, according to documents.

Jeremiah couldn't post a $500,000 bond and was charged in a New London, Connecticut court on Friday.

No one was harmed in connection with the alleged scheme, as per documents.