Enlisting the help of killers has become a family affair in Baltimore County, according to the Baltimore County Police Department.
Authorities have described a twisted family plot that led to the death of popular bar owner Lee Martin and ended with his wife, her brother and two others in jail on murder charges. Court documents describe a violent relationship between Martin and his wife Jaclyn (far left) that included allegations that she was cheating with a drug dealer who supplied her ways to get high. She alleged that he had threatened to kill her. Jaclyn Martin's brother, Robert M. Garner, who police say pulled the trigger, is at right).
The Baltimore Sun's Nick Madigan outlines the plot that took out the owner of Hop's Inn over the weekend and has uncovered a sordid family affair. When Jaclyn Martin sought a protective order against her husband on Dec. 11, she wrote:
"He's telling me he's going to kill me and anyone who tries to help me, and that he's keeping my daughter. He's been coming to property where I'm staying and taking pictures and setting off my car alarm all hours of the nite." He wrote that her husband had a half million dollars in his bank account and property worth $330,000, along with six handguns and at least sive hunting rifles or shotguns.
Martin fought back by seeking an emergeny evaluation of his wife, alleging in court documents that a friend of her (who he was arrested and charged with beating in a courthouse lobby) "is having an affair with his wife and supplying her illegal narcotics."