A Pike County man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly solicited an undercover lawman to kill his wife and stepdaughter.
The Pike County Sheriff’s Department charged 55-year-old Paul Jerry Dion, 1102 Pleasant Drive in the Pleasant Grove community, with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies took Dion into custody on Thursday on U.S. Highway 98 East, a few miles east of Columbia.
Pike County Sheriff Mark Shepherd said lawmen used vehicles and a state agency’s helicopter to follow Dion after learning he was leaving Pike County. They then alerted deputies in Marion County to stop and arrest Dion.
Pike County chief sheriff’s investigator Bruce Fairburn said officials were concerned that Dion was possibly trying to flee the area.
Dion reportedly solicited an undercover operative posing as a hitman to kill Dion’s wife and his 22-year-old stepdaughter and dispose of their bodies, Fairburn said.
Officials did not release the names of Dion’s wife and stepdaughter.
Fairburn said the undercover lawman recorded phone calls and face-to-face meetings with Dion regarding the murder-for-hire plot.
Fairburn would not reveal how much money was offered, but he said authorities seized a briefcase with cash in it during the arrest.
Dion, an unemployed tugboat captain, was reportedly going through a divorce with his wife, but authorities did not elaborate further on a motive. They also didn’t say whether or not a life insurance policy was involved.
It’s unclear if Dion was still living with his wife who suffers from a medical condition.
“I did hear she was ill, but I couldn’t say with what,” Shepherd said. “That’s all I know.”
Fairburn said Dion, a Louisiana native, had only a few misdemeanor arrests on his record.
Pike County sheriff’s investigators Todd Dillon and Lance Falvey spearheaded the operation and received assistance from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, sheriff’s deputies in Marion and Walthall counties and the 14th Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
Dion is being held in the Pike County jail with bond set at $100,000. He is expected to make an initial court appearance t his week.
