AG: Pa. woman nabbed in foiled murder-for-hire plot

An Easton, Pa. woman has been arrested for allegedly attempting to hire a hit man to kill her daughter's ex-boyfriend and two others in New Jersey.

Denise Marie Nagrodski, 52, hatched the murder-for-hire plot as an act of revenge against the ex, who she claimed abused her daughter and caused her to miscarry when she was pregnant with twins, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office.

Prosecutors said the New Jersey State Police received information in October that Nagrodski was seeking the services of a hit man to kill the ex, as well as his sister and her boyfriend.

An undercover state police detective posed as a contract killer and met with Nagrodski Nov. 21 at the Phillipsburg Mall, investigators said.

There, she allegedly outlined her plot, asking that the ex's sister and her boyfriend each be shot twice in the forehead, "one for each twin," prosecutors said.

When Nagrodski was unable to provide the "hit man" with a gun, she agreed he would instead "bash in" the heads of those two victims and set their house on fire, according to authorities.

Prosecutors said she instructed the detective to burn her daughter's ex-boyfriend alive, and to make sure the victim knew Nagrodski was responsible for his death.

During a second meeting at the mall Tuesday night, Nagrodski allegedly gave the undercover detective photos of the intended victims and drew a map to the Bound Brook, N.J. home where all three lived.

Prosecutors said she paid the detective $500, having already given him $500 at the first meeting. Both encounters were secretly recorded, investigators said.

Nagrodski was arrested around 7:30 p.m. on Route 22, as she drove away from the mall, according to authorities.

"Nagrodski didn't have a lot of money, but she certainly had a lot of determination to take revenge on the man she believed had taken her grandchildren from her," Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig said in a statement crediting state police with disarming "an explosive situation."

Nagrodski is charged with three counts each of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, along with one count of second-degree conspiracy to commit aggravated arson and fourth-degree attempt to tamper with or fabricate physical evidence.

If convicted, she faces state prison terms of 10 to 20 years for each of the first-degree charges, up to 10 years for the second-degree charge, and up to 18 months for the fourth-degree charge. Prosecutors said she would be subject to consecutive sentences because there are multiple alleged victims.

The charges will also be presented to a state grand jury for possible indictment.

Nagrodski remained imprisoned Wednesday in the Warren County Jail, where she was being held on $2 million cash bail. It wasn't immediately clear if she had retained an attorney.