Facebook Murder-for-Hire Case: Photo Faked to Convince Plotters that Intended Victim Was Dead

Georgia law enforcement officials told jurors in Eastlake, OH, today that they doctored a photo of David Metter to convince his ex-wife and her father that a hit man had carried out their plot to kill him.

after prosecutors say she and her father, Al Zombory, tried to hire a hit man to kill David Metter, her ex-husband. Zombory is to be tried later.

Gwinnett County police supervisor Steve Shaw testified that Eastlake police asked him to help with the investigation by running “loose surveillance” on David Metter’s Georgia home and, later, to help convince Christine Metter and Zombory that the deed had been done.

On June 3, Shaw went to David Metter’s home to tell him that his ex-wife planned to kill him. He said he also planned, at Eastlake's request, to take pictures of Metter showing "injuries" faked with the help of an Atlanta-area movie makeup artist.

But Metter was on a visit to Florida, so he was asked to take photos of himself, lying in his hotel room with his eyes open and neck twisted, and send them to Shaw. A Gwinnett County police criminalist testified that she added images of a bullet wound and spattered blood to one photo, then passed it on to Eastlake police to show Christine Metter and her father.

Prosecutors have said the murder plot originated in a Facebook chat between Christine Metter and a high school friend, Patrick Sabo.

When she complained about being abused by her ex-husband, Sabo jokingly suggested she hire someone to kill him, prosecutors claim. To Sabo's surprise, Metter took him up on the offer, thinking that as a former Army Ranger he might know how to do the job.

When Metter proposed a meeting to discuss the idea, Sabo called Eastlake police, who arranged to have a detective pose as a hit man. When the detective later showed her the doctored photo of a "dead" David Metter, she reportedly said, "Good."

Jurors also heard testimony that Christine Metter was the sole beneficiary of David Metter’s $1.5 million dollar life insurance policy.

During open statements before testimony began, defense attorney Michael Lear argued that Metter was coerced into the plot by her father, 76, and Sabo. 

The trial will continue Wednesday morning. Patrick Sabo and David Metter are expected to testify.

 His trial is scheduled for Jan. 31.