The defendant allegedly offered a nun $250 to borrow a van, while $1,000 and “a good bottle of bourbon” seemed a fair offer for a farmer to allow him to use his land — and pigs — to make the body disappear.
A man in Colonie, New York has pleaded guilty to using an interstate commerce facility in an elaborate murder-for-hire plot against a man who lives in the Albany area — a man who is the father of his then-partner’s child.
Jeal Sutherland, 57, allegedly began developed his plan from November 2024 to January 2025, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Norther District of New York.
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Using his cell phone, which enabled authorities to easily track his communications, Sutherland admitted in his plea agreement to arranging to forgive a debt owed him by an individual if that person would kill the intended victim.
He also arranged to pay a hog farmer so that he could take the body to a farm in Pennsylvania and have it disposed of by having the hogs consume it. What he didn’t know was that the “hog farmer” was actually an undercover FBI agent.
The government had been tipped off to the plan by a confidential informant, with whom Sutherland discussed extensively and in detail how he planned to kill and dispose of this other man’s body, according to the Times Union.
The criminal complaint included transcripts of Sutherland’s conversations with the FBI’s informant. In them, he detailed how he planned to pick up the intended victim from state prison and offer him a job. Once this offer was accepted, Sutherland said he would then kill him and drive his body to the farm in Pennsylvania.
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The van he intended to use to carry out his plot was allegedly going to be provided by a nun (named Sister-1 in the plea agreement) for $250. The “hog farmer” was purportedly offered $1,000 and a “good bottle of bourbon” for the use of his farms and hogs to dispose of the body, per the agreement.
Sutherland’s then-partner reportedly wanted her child’s father “f–king strapped to a chair so she can hit him with a baseball bat,” in quotes attributed to him in the criminal complaint, but she was not included in the plot because “she would fold like an accordion.”
While the FBI did not reveal the identity of the informant who helped break the case, the Times Union reports that he was described as an enforcer of sorts for Sutherland. The defendant offered him employment and loans over the years, per the newspaper, and in exchange the informant would intimidate other people who owed Sutherland money.
It was further stated that the informant was a convicted murderer on lifetime parole who has an admitted drug problem. He was cooperating with federal agents in exchange for leniency in connection with state criminal charges from allegedly blowing up the the car belonging to the mother of Sutherland’s intended victim.
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Speaking of the intended victim’s mother, in late January 2025, Sutherland made his final move. He hired another man to put the dead body of a Canada goose on her doorstep with a threatening note in its beak written at Sutherland’s direct, per both his plea and the criminal complaint. According to the Times Union, the intended victim was planning to live with his mother after his prison release.
Shortly thereafter, Sutherland was arrested on January 27, 2025 — after driving to the farm and giving $1,4500 in cash and a bottle of Wild Turkey to the “farmer,” who was actually an FBI agent.
He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus three years supervised released when he is sentenced on September 22. His intended victim was not harmed.
“Jeal Sutherland hatched a vicious plot to kill a romantic rival and intimidate his victim’s family,” said U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III. “When members of the FBI and my office learned of Sutherland’s plans, they acted quickly and did not rest until Sutherland was brought to justice.”
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“Mr. Sutherland’s diabolical plot intended to violently end a man’s life and intimidate his family,” added FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli. “Thanks to the swift actions taken by FBI Albany and our law enforcement partners, that plan never came to fruition and Mr. Sutherland was quickly arrested and remains in custody.”
According to Sutherland’s attorney Andrew Sarafanko, who spoke after the hearing, his client’s actions came from “legitimate fears and concerns” about what his intended victim might do once he was released from prison.
Sarafanko said the man had been serving time for a sex offense against a child and had also been violent with Sutherland’s then-partner.
“This was a person trying to be a hero, to protect,” he argued, per NBC News. “This is a case with good intentions that had bad planning and obviously bad results.”
At the same time, he made it clear that the criminal act to which Sutherland pleaded guilty was ‘horrible,” and that his client regrets his actions.
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