The Associated Press
EVERETT, Wash. – A Scottsdale woman accused of hiring her boyfriend to kill her ex-husband has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Washington state.
The plea by Marty J. Malone, 43, came on the same day a company dedication ceremony was held in Steve Ver Woert’s memory.
Malone, shackled and looking haggard, stood close to her attorney Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court as she accepted the reduced charge. She was originally charged with aggravated first-degree murder.
As part of a plea agreement, Malone promised to testify against her boyfriend, Jonathan Craig Curtis, 45, of Phoenix in Ver Woert’s slaying.
Ver Woert, 44, a telecommunications supervisor, was found dead in his Bothell trailer home on Feb. 5. He had been stabbed several times, apparently the night before.
Snohomish County prosecutors allege Malone paid Curtis $25,000 to kill Ver Woert so she could collect $150,000 in life insurance and property owned by her ex-husband. After the killing, the pair drove to Ellensburg in eastern Washington, where they discarded Curtis’ bloody clothing in a trash bin, prosecutors allege.
Later, Malone offered to pay a Bothell detective investigating the case to kill Curtis, charging papers say.
Malone and Curtis were extradited from Arizona in March.
Prosecutors have until Aug. 15 to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Curtis.