COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — A Collierville attorney arrested for trying to hire a hitman to kill his wife has been indicted for trying to poison her as well.
WREG also uncovered documents Friday showing police said he tried to have his wife killed on his young daughter’s birthday and didn’t care if their three kids watched it happen.
Police said Fred Auston Wortman III poisoned his wife with toothpaste before trying to hire an undercover agent, posing as a hitman, to kill her.
WREG was told one of the couple’s children was also poisoned by the tainted toothpaste.
Police said Wortman was willing to go to any lengths to get rid of his estranged wife.
Friday, WREG uncovered hundreds of court pages documenting the couple’s ongoing divorce proceedings and a protective order detailing why Staci feared for her own life and those of their three young children.
Staci filed for divorce last April, claiming Wortman was having an affair.
One document WREG found said Collierville police told Staci the defendant used his work computer at his law office to research hitmen, Bitcoin accounts and poisons.
Wortman was charged in the murder-for-hire plot and the poisoning.
Staci and one of their children both got sick after using the poisoned toothpaste, but WREG was told they both are physically okay now.
Wortman’s bond was set at $15 million.
