You do some dumb stuff when you’re 16 years old. For me, it involved things like drinking Boone’s Farm, throwing apples at cars, shooting bottle rockets at neighbors’ houses, streaking … You know, pretty normal dumb teenager stuff.
For Melissa Zitterman, it involved killing a friend’s dad. For all of $180. Yup, count ‘em – 180 big ones.
On the other end of that $180 was her friend’s mom, Connie Tomich. Seems Connie was having an affair, confiding to her lover (Roger Zurcher) that her marriage was troubled and that she would be happier without her much older husband, Ron (he was 51, she was 35).
Connie's mug shot
Instead of going the divorce route, though (custody might have played a role here), Connie had an idea. Why not get somebody else to help out?
She first went to Roger, who declined. She then tried Alyssa’s boyfriend (Aaron Bixler), who Ron, an overly strict stepparent, disapproved of. After he turned her down, she then asked one of her daughter’s friends, Melissa Zitterman.
Melissa said yes, ending up putting two .38 slugs into Ron's head in the kitchen of the family’s Indiana home - on Valentine’s Day, no less. To cover things up, Melissa, Alyssa & Connie said they found the bloody mess when they got back from shopping, calling the cops right away.
Not too surprisingly, there was no forced entry, nothing taken, and no signs of a struggle. So, the cops put two and two together and decided that it must have been a hit. Aaron was the first to crack, leading the cops to Melissa, and then to Connie.
Alyssa was granted complete immunity, Aaron got 6 months probation (for failing to report the conspiracy), Connie got 85 years (for being the mastermind), and Melissa got 20 (for pulling the trigger).
Melissa got out after 10, and is now happily married with her own family (hubby above).
You can catch Melissa’s story on Snapped, Killer Kids & Blood Relatives. You can also connect with her on Facebook.
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