Who owns RentAHitman.com? Woman sentenced for trying to kill ex-husband via fake site
A fake website pretending to offer hitman services successfully ensnared a Michigan woman who tried to kill her ex-husband through the site. Now, she has been sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison.
52-year-old Wendy Lynn Wein, of South Rockford, pleaded guilty on November 12 to using the RentAHitman.com website to hire someone to murder her ex-husband and for using a computer to commit a crime in July 2020. She was given a seven to 20-year prison sentence on Thursday, January 13, and will be credited with the 545 days she's already spent behind bars. Wein's ex-husband, who was not identified, survived the attempt on his life after being saved by the website, which was set up by an IT professional in 2005 as a class project to trick people looking to obtain the services of a contract killer. State police were immediately alerted before they sent an undercover detective posing as a hitman to meet with Wein.
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Wein, who was remorseful in court, admitted she was struggling with the death of eight of her family members when she made the ploy. "I take full responsibility for my actions, and I hope a lesson is learned by my example," she said on Thursday. "I had no right to lash out at anyone, and in a manner [sic] of minutes, I changed everyone's lives. I've humiliated my family doing this. I am not making excuses for myself. I simply wanted to let you know where my head was," she added.
According to ABC7 News, Wein used a fake name to complete a service request on RentAHitman.com in July 2020. She wrote to service provider Guido Fanelli that she wanted to have her ex-husband whacked because he stole $20,000 from her. However, after requesting a consultation to help her with an "issue," Wein conceded saying, "I prefer not going to jail. Thank you for your time."
It would later emerge that Fanelli was the alias used by site owner Bob Innes, who proceeded to alert the authorities. Wein eventually met with the undercover detective and provided him information about her ex before paying $200 as a down payment for the murder. She reportedly agreed on a $5,000 total once the task was completed and used her real name while filling out the request. She was arrested shortly after.
Wendy Lynn Wein Was Shocked When the Website She Used to Hire a Hitman to Kill Her Ex-Husband Was Fake; The Website in Question? Rent-A-Hitman Dot Com; Here is How Much She Paid For the Hit; Name That State (Video) https://t.co/GjEAdsEZJq via @samuelenoku pic.twitter.com/SrPVZf6tCC
— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) November 15, 2021
Who owns RentAHitman.com?
Bob Innes is the owner and webmaster of RentAHitman.com, a satirical website that some people have taken too seriously for their own good. Innes says he has received hundreds of messages from people across the globe since he launched the website in 2005. If a request seems legitimate, he forwards it to law enforcement. "The website has prevented, essentially, 150 murders at this point," Innes told ABC7 News.
Innes said he and some of his friends were taking an IT course in 2005 when they decided to start a business. "And it was a play on words," Innes said. "Rent, as in hire us. Hit, as in web hit -- visitor traffic, analytics, that sort of thing." While the business never took off, the website took on a life of its own. Innes found hundreds of unread messages and malicious requests when he checked the email attached to the site a few years later. The website eventually grabbed headlines in 2010, when a woman in Canada named Helen said she wanted three family members killed. The messages were forwarded to the authorities and Helen was arrested. "That was really the first case that kind of opened my eyes," Innes recalled. "A $9.20 website had just prevented three murders... So, that was the case that really started it all."
Innes continues to receive messages more than a decade later, despite several reports about the fake website over the years. "There's a banner ad... It opens up a new browser window," Innes said. "The Internet Crime Complaint Center that's run by the FBI." Meanwhile, the website also has its own "HIPPA" privacy statement. "Not like medical," Innes explained. "This is known as the 'Hitman Information Privacy and Protection Act of 1964.'" He said most of the messages he receives are hoaxes, but about 10% have resulted in legitimate investigations.