30-Year Firefighter Caught In Murder Scheme

[TheeBadOne]

Undercover Agent Arrests Man Allegedly Planning To Kill Wife With Poison

HOUSTON -- For two weeks, detectives have investigated a 33-year veteran of the Houston fire Department for allegedly plotting to kill his wife.

Detectives told New2Houston's Investigator Robert Arnold that Richard Frank Thomas, 51, had been negotiating to buy a specific type of powdered poison.

Court records show that the intended victim of the poison was Frank's wife of more than 30 years.

According to the detective, Thomas wanted to buy a type of poison the he could mix with his wife's medication. But detectives said the man Thomas was negotiating with to buy the powder from was an undercover investigator with the Harris County district Attorney's Office.

Thomas was arrested from a Heights-area Subway restaurant off of the Katy Freeway late Thursday night.

Detectives said Thomas was taken into police custody after he purchased what believed to be the powdery poison. Investigators also said that some of Thomas' negotiations were conducted at while he was on duty at his own fire house.

Firefighters from Station #6 said they were shocked and shook their heads in disbelief. And, at Thomas' home, there was a note placed on the front door saying they had no comment and wanted privacy.

Thomas was charged with solicitation of capital murder and is being held on a $100,000 bond.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/2561280/detail.html
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There's always so much focus on guns used for murders. Poison is used much more than people know. Ask an honest ME someday, they'll tell you homicide victims are buried more than you'd like to believe. Hard to miss an entry wound, but a toxin metabolized by the body....

 

[Jim March]

The other thing is, this sort of murder by somebody who's not otherwise a criminal is so incredibly rare, it makes the national media practically every time it happens.

Murder is primarily a crook-on-crook problem, with the second biggest category being "crook murders during a robbery or similar". "Psycho murders", such a murderous sexual predators are even more rare yet.

The type of murderer shown here is so incredibly rare it's not even funny. But because they're rare and shocking, they make the aforementioned media AND they're the fodder of various fictional murder mysteries, everything from Agatha Christie to Columbo.

So the general public thinks these are common. And if you think they're common, you'll think that *anybody* can turn murderous, therefore gun control is a good idea.

The reality is, gun control *might* have an effect on 1% or less of all murders because criminals (the ones that commit most murders) don't obey gun control to start with.

To reduce that 1% or less of all murders, gun-grabbers facilitate the 2nd and 3rd most common murder types.

 

[TheeBadOne]

So the general public thinks these are common. And if you think they're common, you'll think that *anybody* can turn murderous, therefore gun control is a good idea.

Jim, that wasn't my point/intent. Guns get all the attention while other things slip right on by, because they aren't as "shocking" as gun violence. This story is from a local paper (as in a paper that covers where it occured), I haven't seen the story anywhere else yet.

All the best

 

[444]

Pretty obvious motive. He has 30 years on and wants to retire, but he can't stand his wife. If he just divorces her, she gets half his pension and he can't afford to retire.

What kind of "poison" would require this kind of negotiation and hassle to buy ? If it is this rare and hard to get how did this guy know about it ? And how did he make it known that he was looking for it.

 

[Mike Irwin]

444,

Probably something organic that a tox screen wouldn't normally pick up.

Ricin, thallium, something like that.

 

[4v50 Gary]

All or nothing and he got nothing. Killing in self defense is acceptable but the circumstances here indicates unnoble motives.

 

[Standing Wolf]

...detectives said the man Thomas was negotiating with to buy the powder from was an undercover investigator with the Harris County district Attorney's Office.

Never buy poison from cops.