DA: Garden City mom wanted hit man to kill husband

March 4, 2010
By ANN GIVENS

A Garden City mother of four was arrested last night on charges she tried to hire a hit man for $20,000 to kill her husband, the owner of a Lynbrook fence company who is divorcing her, the Nassau County district attorney's office said.

Susan Williams, 43, met twice with the supposed hit man - really an undercover Nassau police officer - to arrange the killing of Peter Williams, 46, and authorities have surveillance video showing her negotiating the hit, prosecutors said.

Susan Williams was arrested at her Nassau Boulevard home and taken to the Third Precinct, said Carole Trottere, a spokeswoman for Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice. She is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in First District Court in Hempstead on charges of second-degree conspiracy and second-degree criminal solicitation, the district attorney's office said. She faces up to 25 years in prison.

The alleged murder-for-hire plot began Feb. 19, when Williams asked an acquaintance to connect her with a hit man to kill her husband, prosecutors said. The acquaintance, whose identity was not released, reported the plan to Nassau prosecutors, who in turn sent the undercover officer to meet with Williams and arrange the hit, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 28, Williams negotiated with the undercover in his vehicle, and the meeting was captured on surveillance video, prosecutors said.

During that meeting, she told the undercover that she and her husband, who owns Williams Fence Co. in Lynbrook, were getting a divorce and she wanted him dead, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors would not say what method Susan Williams allegedly asked him to use to kill her husband.

The undercover told Williams the hit would cost her $20,000, prosecutors said.

The two met again on March 3, and that meeting too was videotaped, prosecutors said.

At that time, Williams handed the undercover a photo of her husband, his home and work addresses and license plate number, and provided a $500 down payment, prosecutors said. The undercover officer gave her numerous opportunities to back out, but she did not, they said.

"That this defendant so casually decided to organize the murder of her husband shocks the conscience," Rice said in a statement.

"That's unbelievable," a next-door neighbor who asked not to be named said lastThursday night. "She seems to be a very pleasant, a family-oriented woman."

Recently, the neighbor said, Susan Williams baked a cake for him and his wife, thanking them for clearing the snow off her sidewalk.

The couple moved into the home with their four children about two to three years ago, a neighbor, who asked not to be named, said. Lately, the neighbor said he has not seen Peter Williams.

By By ANN GIVENS
Posted Friday, March 5, 2010

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