Officer reported claim of hit man plan

CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- A man walked into the Stanly County sheriff's office with a wild tale: A woman had just offered him money to kill her husband. The officer on duty took down the information and passed it on to his superiors.

"They never did anything with it," that officer, Donnie Mullis, told The Associated Press on Friday.

A few weeks later, Harold Gentry was dead.

Authorities charged Betty Neumar last month with one count of solicitation of murder in the July 1986 death of Harold Gentry, the fourth of five husbands she has buried in her 76 years. The case has drawn national attention because investigators want authorities elsewhere to look into the deaths of the other four, including one who was shot in the head and another who died of an infection that could indicate he was poisoned.

Mr. Mullis, who left law enforcement in 1994 and operates a helicopter company in Charleston, S.C., said an informant talked to him a few weeks before Mr. Gentry was killed, saying the then-Betty Gentry offered him money to do the job. Mr. Mullis also said the informant told him Ms. Neumar wanted the names of other potential hit men in case he turned her down.

"I thought the information was very credible and that's why I passed it along," he said.