Washington Park Business Owner plots to kill Dollie's Stripper
I got the following from the St. Louis Post. A similar story can be found in the Belleville News Democrat at [url]www.bnd.com[/url]
Man plotted to carve up mistress
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Jan. 04 2008
St. Louis — A man accused of trying to recruit a killer to cut up his mistress,
and to deliver her severed hand, admitted the crime Thursday in federal court
at St. Louis. The woman was unharmed.
Christopher A. Hemminghaus, 36, of High Ridge, pleaded guilty of destruction of
evidence and use of a telephone with the intent that murder be committed.
Prosecutors agreed to recommend a 15-year prison term at sentencing in April,
in exchange for the plea.
He acknowledged that he tried to enlist a part-time employee of his Washington
Park Pawn Shop, in Metro East, in December 2006. He became more insistent in
January, offering $600 and a reciprocating saw to cut up the body, officials
said.
What Hemminghaus asked in return was her purse, keys, cell phone, jewelry — and
her hand as proof that the job was done.
Hemminghaus, who used the nickname "Dr. Loan," was angry because the mistress
had called his wife from her job at a Washington Park strip club called
"Dollie's," according to the original criminal complaint.
The employee went to the FBI, whose agents got Hemminghaus on tape discussing
the murder. They also obtained the girlfriend's cooperation last March 5, the
day she was supposed to be killed.
She turned over personal items, and some DVDs she'd gotten that day from his
pawn shop. The employee then gave the items to Hemminghaus. Officials said
Hemminghaus paid $200 and promised the rest when he got the hand.
Hemminghaus was arrested as he burned his girlfriend's purse behind his shop.