Jacksonville woman serving 5 years for trying to hire hitman to kill her husband

JSO: Crystal Ely gives undercover officer posing as hit man jewelry as payment

Crystal Ely is serving a 5-year sentence for soliciting a capitol felony. (Florida Department of Corrections)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman arrested nearly three years ago after she attempted to hire an undercover officer posing as a hitman to kill her husband is about to turn 33 years old while serving a 5-year sentence.

Crystal Ely was 29 when she arrested in September 2018 on capital felony charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal solicitation.

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Last summer, Ely pleaded guilty to soliciting a capitol felony. Because she was held without bond since her arrest, she was given two years of credit for time served when she was turned over to the Florida Department of Corrections.

According to her arrest report, an undercover investigation began after a man contacted the Sheriff’s Office last month to report that Ely wanted him to try to help her find someone to murder her husband. Investigators said an undercover officer then met secretly with Ely three times at two different locations over a span of 10 days before making the arrest.

Detectives wrote in the arrest report that Ely offered an undisclosed amount of cash, along with jewelry.

The report shows, at one of their meetings, Ely drew a diagram of the office where she and her husband worked.

According to the arrest report, when the undercover officer and Ely met in person for the third time, Ely brought a pair of earrings and two rings as payment, as well as a photo of her husband. She was arrested that day and has been incarcerated ever since.

Ely is scheduled to be released from prison next June.