Dalia Dippolito, a Florida woman, was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to 16 years in prison for trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband, Michael Dippolito, just six months after their wedding. The supposed hitman was an undercover police officer, and the plot was exposed in a dramatic sting operation captured on camera.
The Plot to Kill a Husband
The case unfolded in Boynton Beach, Florida, in 2009. According to prosecutors, Dalia wanted her husband out of the picture so she could gain access to his money and property and pursue a relationship with another man. The plot began to unravel after Mohamed Shihadeh, a man who knew Dalia and had previously been romantically involved with her, approached police with information about the alleged plan.
Investigators launched an undercover operation, recording conversations in which Dalia allegedly discussed having her husband killed. Shihadeh helped arrange a meeting with a man she believed was a professional hitman. But the supposed killer was actually Widy Jean, an undercover officer with the Boynton Beach Police Department.
The Undercover Sting Operation
During their recorded meeting, Jean reportedly made sure Dalia understood the seriousness of what she was requesting and gave her an opportunity to change her mind. She allegedly insisted that she was certain she wanted her husband dead, telling the undercover officer she was “5,000 percent sure.” Police continued gathering evidence before carrying out a dramatic sting operation designed to make Dalia believe her plan had succeeded.
Officers staged a fake crime scene at the couple’s home, complete with police tape and forensic investigators, to make it appear that Michael had been murdered. When Dalia returned home, officers told her that her husband was dead. Her reaction was recorded by police cameras and television crews from the reality crime show COPS, which was filming with the department at the time. She appeared visibly distressed as officers delivered the news.
Legal Proceedings and Conviction
Investigators subsequently took her to an interrogation room and revealed the truth: Michael was alive, the supposed hitman was an undercover police officer, and investigators had recorded conversations surrounding the alleged murder plot. Dalia was arrested and charged with solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
At her first trial in 2011, a jury found her guilty, and a judge sentenced her to 20 years in prison. However, an appeals court overturned that conviction in 2014 because of an error involving jury selection, paving the way for another trial. A second trial in 2016 ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Dalia was tried again in 2017 and convicted, receiving a 16-year prison sentence. A Florida appeals court upheld the conviction in 2019, and the US Supreme Court later declined to hear her appeal.
Defense and Aftermath
Dalia’s defense disputed the prosecution’s account, arguing at various stages that the recordings and staged scene were part of an attempt to create a reality television opportunity, and later challenging the police investigation. Michael and Shihadeh denied that they had participated in a fabricated murder plot. The case remains one of the most widely recognized murder-for-hire stings in American crime television history — not because a husband was killed, but because the supposed hitman was never a hitman at all.
