A bizarre and frightening murder-castration plot by a convicted felon and his nephew to kill Canadian superstar Justin Bieber came to light on Wednesday.
The shocking details were revealed by New Mexico police, who said Mark Aaron Staake, 41, and his nephew Tanner Ruane, 23, were planning to kidnap the star in late November after he played his sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City. According to the Toronto Star, convicted felon Dana Martin, who is serving a life sentence for raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in Vermont, originally conceived the plan.
Martin, 45, is reportedly obsessed with the 18-year-old singer and has a tattoo of Bieber on his leg. According to the affidavit released by New Mexico police, Martin reportedly recruited Mark Aaron Staake while they were in prison together to kill four people in two states, including Bieber and his bodyguard. Staake, who had been released on probation on October 22, then recruited his 23-year-old nephew for the job, the Star reported.
According to the newspaper, Martin revealed the plan to the police on November 20, about a week before the plan was suppose to take place. During his interview with police, Martin told authorities that the plan involved killing the first two victims by strangulating them with a paisley neck tie and then castrating them with Fiskars "Durasharp" brand garden clippers.
"Martin stated that a paisley tie needed to be used because that was what he [Mr. Martin] had used previously," the New Mexico police affidavit read.
Martin then told police that an additional two murders, one identified as J.B., was to occur after the two murders in Vermont. According to TIME, the first two victims were tow unnamed acquaintances of Martin who had allegedly witnessed his brutal crime in 2000.
The convicted murderer also told police that Staake had connections to Chinese gangs in New York, who had "sanctioned" the murders, the Star reported.
According to Star, the murderous plot was foiled when Staake and his nephew took a wrong turn while driving a 1983 BMW heading towards their first victims in Vermont on November 19. The duo ended up heading towards the Canadian border, where a U.S. border agent at the Highgate Springs crossing stopped them, Star reported. Staake was then arrested on an outstanding New Mexico warrant.
The affidavit then added that Ruane called Martin to tell him of Staake's arrest and to say he did not want to "move it forward" on the Vermont killings without his uncle. He then contacted Martin again in Rotterdamn, N.Y. to talk about the final two victims.
During the conversation, which was recorded by police, Ruane told Matin that his uncle was going to "handle the whole putting down of the 'dogs' and I [Mr. Ruane] was going to go 'snip, snip.'"
Star reported that Martin went to police the next day and that New York State Police arrested Ruane on November 26. According to the Toronto paper, New Mexico State Police are working to get the murder-plotting pair back to the state.
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