EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A Washington Park business owner has admitted that he offered an employee $600 to strangle his girlfriend, dismember her body and bring back a severed hand as proof of her death.
Christopher Hemminghaus of High Ridge, Missouri, pleaded guilty Thursday to destruction of evidence and use of a telephone with the intent that murder be committed.
Hemminghaus owns a Washington Park pawn shop. And federal prosecutors in East St. Louis say he told an employee to follow the woman to her home, kill her and then use a reciprocating saw from the pawn shop to dismember her body.
The employee went to the FBI, and the woman wasn't harmed.
Hemminghaus is scheduled to be sentenced April 18.
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