Plot to castrate, kill Justin Bieber allegedly hatched in prison near Las Cruces
A spokeswoman for the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility didn’t say much about the crazy plot, but radio DJs all over the country can’t stop talking about it.
“And if Justin Bieber didn’t know about NewMexico, he knows now. Two people have been arrested. They allegedly had a plan to castrate and kill the Biebs,” Magic 105 DJ Angie Krol said on her radio show on Thursday.
It’s the buzz all across the country, from radio to entertainment blogs to social media.
Investigators said two inmates at the prison hatched a plan to kill four people, including Bieber and his bodyguard.
Cristina Rodda, a spokeswoman for the prison, wouldn’t say anything about the foiled plot.
According to a police affidavit, Dana Martin, 45, is already in prison for murder, is a huge Bieber fan, and even has a tattoo of Bieber’s face on his leg.
Martin allegedly plotted to kill Bieber after the pop star didn’t answer any of his fan mail.
A representative for the teen sent out this brief statement:”We takeevery precaution to protect and ensure the safety of Justin and hisfans.”
ABC-7 spoke with a few Bieber fans in Las Cruces who are shocked.
“I don’t know why anybody would do that.That’s crazy. I would honestly cry,” said Bieber fan Noemi Melendrez.
“That’s pretty crazy. I wouldn’t expect that comingfrom a prisoner. I know there’s teenage girls out there who areobsessed about him, but a grown man in prison?” Las Cruces teen Celeste Ferrera said.
An affidavit filed in Las Cruces said Martin told investigators he persuaded a man he met in prison and the man’s nephew to kill Bieber, along with Bieber’s personal bodyguard and two others not connected to the pop star.
The plot contained several gruesome details. Investigators say the plotters wanted to castrate two of the victims with hedge clippers before traveling to New York City to find Bieber. The targets of the castration plot were not connected to Bieber, authorities say, and it doesn’t appear that the pop singer was ever in immediate danger of falling victim to the plot.
Martin, a Vermont man who is serving two life sentences for the 2000 killing of a 15-year-old girl, said he was angry at Bieber because he didn’t respond to any of his letters. “This perceived slight made Mr. Martin upset and that, coupled with Mr. Martin’s perception of being a ‘nobody’ in prison, led him to begin plotting the kidnap and murder of Victim 3,” court documents said.
The documents identified Victim 3 as “J.B.,” which New Mexico State Police spokesman Lt. Robert McDonald later confirmed was Justin Bieber.
Martin told investigators that Mark Staake and Tanner D. Ruane headed from New Mexico to the East Coast, planning to be near a Bieber concert scheduled in New York City after killing and castrating two others. But authorities say they missed a turn and crossed into Canada from Vermont. Staake was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Ruane was arrested later.
Court documents say Martin told investigators that Bieber was the “ultimate target.” No one was killed in the alleged elaborate plot.
New York State Police said Thursday that troopers recovered tools and documents associated with the conspiracy while during a search warrant on Ruane’s vehicle. Among the items found by troopers were a “hand-written drawing of a depiction of Justin Bieber” and documents about the intended victims in Vermont.
Staake, 41, of Albuquerque, has been charged with two counts each of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection to the plan.
Ruane, 23, Staake’s nephew, also is facing multiple charges related to the plot.
Clinton Norris, of the New Mexico State Police investigations bureau in Las Cruces, said in an affidavit that Martin instructed the suspects to strangle the two first intended targets with paisley neckties, the same kind used in his 2000 murder case. The documents do not give details on how they were to kill Bieber.
McDonald declined to say if any of the murder charges are linked to Bieber. “That is part of the ongoing investigation,” he said.
Bieber’s management issued a statement that said, “we take every precaution to protect and insure the safety of Justin and his fans.”
It was not immediately known if the suspects had lawyers.
The spokeswoman for the prison told ABC-7 Staake is being extradited back to the prison after violating his probation. She also said Martin is being kept in isolation.
Read about other plots to kidnap celebritieshere.
