A man from upstate New York attempted to hire someone to murder his girlfriend, suggesting that the victim be fed to pigs, along with a bribe of $1,000 and a bottle of wild turkey bourbon.
However, this was all a setup; the supposed hitmen and farmers were actually working with the federal government. Criminal charges followed.
Jeal Sutherland, 57, pleaded guilty last week for using interstate commercial facilities. He discovered that the hitman he hired was, in fact, an informant for the Department of Justice, who also happened to be an FBI agent.
Sutherland wanted his girlfriend’s ex—who has a child—and planned to dispose of the body after the man was released from state prison in late January.
Shortly after returning home, Sutherland sent a note placed in the mouth of a dead goose to the victim’s mother, as federal officials later revealed.
He admitted in late January 2025 that someone had left that Canadian goose at her doorstep.
Interestingly, Sutherland also enlisted a man already serving time for burning the intended target’s mother’s car. He wasn’t aware that the person he was dealing with was working with the feds.
The informant remains unnamed but is a convicted murderer on lifetime parole, who agreed to cooperate for some leniency.
Sutherland and the informants met for several months to discuss their plans, often at bowling alleys or over breakfast, planning out the details.
The arrangement involved borrowing a van from a nun, securing an EZPass, and luring the victim to a parole office with a job offer before heading to a farm in Pennsylvania.
The total cost for the job was set at $1,450, including a bourbon bottle.
“We take him to the farm and let the pigs eat him,” the informant stated in a recorded exchange.
At one point, Sutherland asked for a photo of his target’s dead body, to which the informant responded, “Want to see, do you want to see evidence that he is dead?”
Sutherland eagerly replied, “Of course.”
Later, during a discussion, he voiced some doubts about lifting a 200-pound corpse. The informant reassured him, saying, “Hey, when he has a bullet in his head, it’s not difficult for anyone to pick up.”
The FBI intercepted the plot, and Sutherland now faces seven to nine years in prison, though US District Judge May da Agostino may impose a shorter sentence when sentencing takes place in September.
FBI Special Agent Craig L. Tremaroli remarked, “Mr. Sutherland’s demonic plot was intended to end the man’s life violently and threaten his family. Thanks to the swift actions of FBI Albany and our law enforcement partners, that plan never came to fruition.”
