by Mark Bellinger
ERIN Tenn. – A Houston County woman has been arrested for allegedly trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested 70-year-old Imajean Lowery, of Erin, and charged her with one count of solicitation to commit first degree murder. Investigators said Lowery's desperation for money may have been the reason for her crime.
She allegedly met with an undercover TBI agent and offered him $5,000 to murder her husband of 12 years. She provided a picture of her husband, and told the agent that she was desperate for the money from his life insurance.
Dorothy Baggett lives next door to the Lowery's. She was shocked by the crime. She said they looked like any other loving couple, and described a conversation she had with them when they moved in several years ago.
"I told them my name. They told me theirs and I said I wasn't the visiting neighbor, but if you need anything I'm here and they said the same," said Baggett.
It turns out the husband was the one who eventually needed help. On Saturday the TBI called Baggett and asked her to call the Lowery's and make up a story to get him to come to her house.
When he came over the TBI told him about Imajean's plan to kill him. The TBI put the man in protective custody and went after Imajean.
While her husband was gone an undercover agent posing as a hitman talked to her on the front porch. The TBI said Imajean offered the undercover agent $5,000 to kill her husband.
"She told the agent she was desperate for money and that she was the beneficiary of his life insurance policy, which totaled about $64,000," said TBI Spokesperson Kristin Helm.
Baggett said Lowery is disabled and she can't walk on her own. In fact, her husband even built a ramp so she could get in and out of her house.
"Every time I saw them he was always helping her and I made the comment 'I hope if I ever get that way I my husband is that nice to me, helps me that way'," said Baggett.
Baggett believes Lowery wanted the money to take care of some family problems.
Lowery was charged with solicitation to commit murder and was taken to the Houston County jail on a $200,000 bond.
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