A former St. Louis, Missouri, principal pleaded guilty in federal court on Feb. 28 to hiring a hitman to kill a woman he impregnated while he was married.
Cornelius Green was charged with murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire in connection to the fatal shooting of his girlfriend about eight years ago, Jocelyn Peters.
Green worked up the ranks in the city’s public school district, ultimately landing the position as principal at Carr Lane Visual & Performing Arts Middle School, KTVI reported. Prosecutors alleged he contacted a friend, Phillip Cutler, to execute the plan in 2016 after getting Peters pregnant the year before.
Green was cheating on his wife at the time and had an “ongoing romantic relationship” with the elementary school teacher. Officials found evidence that Green texted Cutler to come to travel from Oklahoma to St. Louis in March.
Cutler responded to the request by asking if he would be “sending the pacge (sic),” per Law & Crime. A few days later, on March 7, 2016, Green shipped a UPS package that had $2,500 inside.
“It was further part of the conspiracy that on or about March 8, 2016, in Oklahoma, Cutler received the package sent by Green, accepting the cash in exchange for his planned killing of Peters and her unborn child,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri stated in Green’s criminal indictment.
Prosecutors say Cutler arrived in the city later that month and stayed at Green’s home. Green decided to go to Chicago the next day as an alibi and avoid blame for the murder, according to the reports. Before his trip, he left his friend with the keys to Peters’ residence as well as his car keys.
Cutler is accused of shooting Peters while she was on her bed inside her apartment, striking her with a .380 caliber gun. He shot her in the head and used “a potato as a silencer,” officials said. The victim was in the seventh month of pregnancy.
Green returned to St. Louis after Cutler confirmed that the job was completed, KTVI reports. He went to Peters’ home and called 911 when he found her body.
During the investigation, detectives discovered Cutler’s ties to Green, and the Oklahoma resident was also taken into custody. He was hit with the same charges as Green. However, he pleaded not guilty and decided not to take a deal.
According to the reports, federal prosecutors are pushing for Green to be given life behind bars. His sentencing hearing is slated for early June in front of U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie White.
