CARROLLTON (KYTX) - An East Texas man was in jail in Smith County, accused in an alleged murder for hire plot in North Texas.
Carrollton police say Dustin Taylor Hiroms, of Ben Wheeler, was arrested for aggravated assault, after Nancy Howard was robbed and shot in the face last Friday at her Carrollton home.
Carrollton police believe John Franklin Howard may have tried to hire a hit man to kill his wife.
John Howard is in jail on a charge of criminal solicitation of capital murder.
Nancy Howard is still hospitalized. Hiroms was arrested Aug. 25 in Smith County and was transported to Denton County.
According to a CBS 11 News report, for days after the shooting, neighbors like Dianne Cole worried about their safety, but now they say they are simply stunned.
"I feel very sad for Nancy because it would just be so hard to handle, but I also feel a little safer now. I've been pulling in my garage and getting in the garage and closing the garage door before I got out of the car. So, I don't have to do that anymore," Cole said.
An arrest affidavit obtained by CBS11 says John Howard first began plotting to hire a hit man in March 2009. Over the course of the next several years, the affidavit says he spent tens of thousands of dollars on would-be "assassins."
Police say he provided pictures of his wife and said he wanted her murder to "look like an accident" — even specifying he wanted the killer to use a knife or bat rather than a gun.
The affidavit says Dustin Hiroms identified himself as a hit man to Carrollton Police. He was arrested on August 24 in Van, Texas for the aggravated robbery of Nancy Howard.
Howard is charged with plotting to kill his wife and in a North Texas jail on a $1 million bond.
Dustin Taylor Hiroms
