Authorities have arrested a 32-year-old Zion man for allegedly trying to hire a hit man to kill his former wife because of a child-custody dispute, authorities said Wednesday.
Daniel Malkiewicz was arrested Monday at Illinois Beach State Park near Zion after authorities alleged he paid an undercover agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms an undisclosed sum of money as a down payment for the slaying.
Authorities alleged Malkiewicz specifically requested that the woman, who was identified only as a Lake County resident, be killed by some means other than shooting. The slaying was to be staged as a robbery gone wrong, they added.
The two-week investigation conducted by agents of the Repeat Offender Strike Force of Lake County began in mid-July after authorities received a tip from a man whom they alleged Malkiewicz had asked to carry out the slaying. The man, who was not identified, agreed to cooperate with authorities and introduced Malkiewicz to the ATF agent, who posed as a hit man from Michigan, authorities said.
The agent told Malkiewicz that he was willing to carry out the slaying for expenses only as a “favor” to the man who introduced them. In return, the agent was told he was welcome to anything of value the woman may have had in her possession when she was killed, such as money and jewelry.
“He paid our agent less than $1,000,” said Waukegan Police Lt. Terry House, commander of the strike force. “We’re talking chump change.”
Malkiewicz admitted his role in the scheme to authorities, they said. He said he wanted sole custody of his 3-year-old daughter because he was worried that his former wife, who is engaged to be married, was planning to move out of the state and take their daughter with her, House said.
