8983: Man accused in bizarre murder plot (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Sarah Belfort <shoesbelfort@yahoo.com>

This appeared in the Boston Metro, a free daily paper,
on Tuesday, August 28, 2001:

Man accused in bizarre murder plot
(by Matthew Taylor)

A Brockton man and his sister-in-law appeared in
Suffolk Superior Court yesterday on charges they
conspired to kill his wife in order to get insurance
money he needed to commit another murder.

Maxene Pierre, 37, needed the $400,000 insurance check
to hire a hit man to kill a witness linking him to a
brutal rape that took place in Franklin Park in Boston
on August 8, 2000, according to Assistant District
Attorney Timothy Bradl. 

Pierre, who is awaiting trial for the rape, and his
brother's wife, Yanick Merilas, 34, of Hyde Park, were
indicted by a grand jury earlier this month on three
counts of conspiracy to commit murders.

"We are not sure why [Merilas] was involved, but we
know that she was involved," Norfolk County district
attorney spokesman James Borghesani said.

Both were held on $750,000 cash bail.

Authorities say Pierre sent his 35-year-old wife, Suze
Bonhomme, to Haiti under the pretense of collecting
money and a birth certificate.

While there, she was shot three times, allegedly by
Pierre's nephew, but survived and was moved to a Miami
hospital for treatment.

Police got wind of the plot when the man Pierre tried
to hire as a hit man in the rape case became a police
informant.

Pierre and Merilas are both expected to appear in
court again Oct. 1.

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