US Army sergeant arrested for suspected contract killing of four people, including two minors: police

A U.S. Army sergeant and his brother have been charged in a botched murder-for-hire that targeted four people, including two juveniles, officials said.

Service member Jeremiah Peikert, 30, was arrested Thursday by Connecticut State Police and accused of conspiring with his brother Joshua Peikert, 32, who was incarcerated at the Corrigan Correctional Center in Uncasville at the time of the alleged plot, according to court documents .

The two brothers were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit injury to minors, according to court documents.

The conspiracy, in which Joshua allegedly asked his unnamed cellmate to hire a hitman in 2022, targeted four people: a 29-year-old woman, a 23-year-old adult man, a 10-year-old girl and a According to court documents, the victim is a one-year-old girl.

According to court documents, police determined that the adult female is the mother of the two children and the adult male is her boyfriend.

According to court documents, the cellmate told Joshua that he would find a hitman outside of prison to commit the murders for a fee of $10,000 per person and demanded a $500 “finder’s fee.”

According to court documents, the inmates agreed to two payments of $250 – one before and one after the crime was committed, and Jeremiah made the first payment on behalf of his brother.

According to the documents, Joshua wrote the targets’ address, information about where they slept and where to find a spare key on a piece of paper with the word “Job” and his first and last name.

The alleged murder plot came to light when Joshua’s cellmate sent a handwritten letter to the 29-year-old woman detailing the alleged plot against her, documents show.

The woman contacted police in Groton, Connecticut, who reported that they began investigating the case in October 2022.

The unnamed cellmate told authorities that he never intended to hire a hit man for the job, but was only interested in collecting money from the brothers.

“At no time did I intend to hire a hit man or commit violence,” the cellmate testified, according to documents.

Investigators said they discovered that Jeremiah and Joshua discussed the alleged plan under the guise of a “construction job” and that Jeremiah transferred the $250 finder’s fee to the cellmate’s account.

In December 2023, Jeremiah allegedly admitted to investigators in Texas that he made the payment knowing it was intended to hurt the 29-year-old woman. However, according to the documents, he claimed he didn’t know the children were involved.

“I didn’t believe the children should be included in this plan,” Jeremiah testified, according to the documents.

Jeremiah did not post $500,000 bail and was arraigned Friday in a New London, Connecticut, court.

According to the documents, no one was injured in connection with the alleged plan.

ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.