Murder-for-hire scheme to grand jury

Floyd

Dottie Ann Floyd, 29, of Bethel Springs, is charged with soliciting the first-degree murder of her ex-husband, Christopher Floyd, and with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell or distribute.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Nathan Bishop posed as a hit man and met Floyd on March 12 in the Dyersburg Mall parking lot.

During a preliminary hearing on Friday, April 18, Bishop said Floyd offered three reasons why her ex-husband needed to die.

First, he said, she was concerned about allegations that her ex-husband's cousin had molested one of her relatives.

Second, she said her ex-husband had verbally abused her.

Third, she would have received more Social Security death benefits for their children than she received from him in child support payments.

Bishop said Keith Gates, a former law enforcement officer, called him March 11 and told him that Dottie Floyd was looking for a hit man. Bishop said he set up a meeting the following day because he believed Christopher Floyd's life was in danger. Bishop said he was working in Dyersburg and decided to hold the meeting here to test Dottie Floyd. If she were willing to drive from McNairy County to Dyer County to meet him, it meant she was serious, he said.

Bishop said Gates "jumped the gun a little bit" and told her she'd have to pay $5,000 for the murder. Bishop said he thought that price was too low; he would have suggested $10,000.

When they met in Bishop's car, Floyd paid him $200 and gave him 120 hydrocodone pills with a street value of $840. It was the first of three such payments. The second payment was to be made before the murder and the third was to be paid after the murder.

Floyd had obtained the pills with a prescription from her employer. She was a licensed practical nurse at the Savannah Medical Center.

Floyd reportedly asked Bishop to make Christopher Floyd's death look like an accident or a suicide. Bishop told her that, for the amount she was paying, it would definitely look like a murder. He said he'd slip into Christopher Floyd's house some night and shoot him in the head while he was sleeping. Bishop said he described the situation in gory details -- a tactic that he believed would have encouraged Floyd to back out if she weren't serious.

After making the deal and the first payment, Floyd and Gates got out of Bishop's car. She was arrested as she walked back to her vehicle.

Floyd's attorney, Cynthia Chandler-Snell of Humboldt, suggested the arrest may have been premature. Floyd still had time to back out of the deal; if she didn't make the second payment, her ex-husband wouldn't be killed, the attorney said.

Chandler-Snell also questioned Gates' role. Bishop said he'd met Gates when he was working at the Hardeman County Sheriff's Department. Gates was fired, but Bishop said he didn't know why. Gates also had worked with Dottie Floyd when she was a McNairy County Sheriff's Department dispatcher.

Gates acted as the intermediary, contacting Bishop, suggesting the price, driving Floyd to Dyersburg and sitting in on the transaction. Chandler-Snell asked Bishop if he was sure that the murder-for-hire was truly Floyd's idea - and not Gates'. Bishop said he gave Floyd several opportunities to stop the deal, and she didn't.

Chandler-Snell suggested Gates hoped his participation would win him another law enforcement job. Bishop said he doesn't have the authority to hire anyone.

After listening to Bishop's testimony, Judge Dean Dedmon decided that there was enough probable cause to believe the alleged crimes had been committed. He bound the case over to a Dyer County grand jury, which is scheduled to meet on June 9.

Dedmon granted Chandler-Snell's request for an evaluation to determine Floyd's competency. However, the judge declined to reconsider Floyd's bond, which is set at $200,000.

Chandler-Snell also asked the judge for assistance. She said Floyd was involved in an accident last year and must take prescription medicine to help prevent memory loss. The attorney said Floyd had turned her medicine over to jail officials, but they have refused to give the medicine to Floyd.

Dedmon said he doesn't have the authority to enforce issues at the jail. He said that issue is in the purview of the jailers and the sheriff.