By Raul Castillo
Feb 29, 2024, 2:54 PM EST
The former principal of a St. Louis, Missouri, high school has pleaded guilty to hiring his friend to kill his pregnant girlfriend in 2016, who was a teacher at the institution.
Cornelius Green, former principal of Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts High School, admitted paying $2,500 to Phillip Cutler to murder 30-year-old teacher Jocelyn Peters. Cutler is about to face trial for his alleged role in the crime, according to Fox News Digital.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the money used to pay Cutler was stolen from a school field trip fund and mailed via UPS, using the school’s address as the return address.
Green pleaded guilty to federal charges of murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire, avoiding the possibility of facing state charges that could lead to the death penalty.
I was married
Peters, a third-grade teacher at a nearby elementary school, was more than 27 weeks pregnant with Green’s son. The crime occurred on March 24, 2016, when Cutler, arriving in St. Louis a few days earlier, shot and killed Peters while she was sleeping in her Central West End apartment, using a .380-caliber pistol and a potato as muffler.
Green, who had several romantic relationships in addition to being legally married at the time, attempted to establish an alibi by traveling to Chicago, KSDK reported.
He later pretended to discover Peters’ body and called the police. Green’s sentencing is scheduled for June 5.
Cutler’s trial, scheduled to begin March 11, will shed light on the specific details of the planning and execution of the murder. Meanwhile, the community remains shocked by the news and hopes that justice will be served in this tragic and heartbreaking case.
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