Over 120 NYers have tried to hire a hitman form parody site
New Yorkers are trying to make a killing.
Since 2018, at least 120 people from across the Empire State have turned to the parody site “RentAHitman.com” to try to hire a real-life killer to rub out family members, off an ex, and even torch a school, website owner Bob Innes told The Post.
“It is kind of scary because they do walk among us. They’re out there. People are dangerous, but they’re also blinded by rage,” said Innes, who turns over disturbing requests — from Brooklyn to Boise — to cops.
In February, he tipped off the NYPD to a Kensington teen who said she was tired of being bullied at the Urban Assembly School for Leadership and Empowerment on 16th Avenue in Brooklyn — and wanted to have the school burned down.
In another chilling request, “Rebecca” from Brooklyn wrote in the subject line: “Anything to kill her.”
“Robin” in Far Rockaway who sent a message titled, “I want him so f–king dead.”
The NYPD did not provide information about any of the cases Innes forwarded.
A person in Dutchess County’s Hyde Park wanted a father and son in Texas murdered, for allegedly abusing a woman, a submission Innes said he reported to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Another Dutchess County resident — supposedly a young boy — wanted to kill his own mom.
Innes, who lives in California, launched RentAHitman.com in 2005 when he and three college classmates started a computer security business.
The “hit” in “hitman” referred to website “hits” — user traffic — not murder.
Years later he checked the dormant site’s inbox and was in for a shock — hundreds of messages from people looking for a hired gun.
“I certainly didn’t expect this,” Innes said. “I didn’t expect this at all.”
Still, he decided to run with it — and made it clear he wasn’t a straight shooter, filling the site with obvious — and funny — signs it was only a fake contract killer rental agency.
One dead giveaway was the assertion that the site was 100% compliant with HIPPA laws — “Hitman Information Privacy and Protection Act of 1964.”
“There’s Easter eggs scattered all over the [website], but that doesn’t stop these people that are serious, that are bent on causing harm to others, from filling out a service request form,” Innes said.
The site has led to a pair of recent, high-profile arrests.
Deann Parkin, 30, was charged this month in federal court with using interstate commerce to facilitate a murder-for-hire plot in Idaho after allegedly reaching out to Innes’ site to off her ex-husband’s new girlfriend.
Innes said he turned Parkin’s request over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Tennessee Air National Guardsman Josiah Garcia was arrested in April after he tried to get a job as a contract killer through Innes’ site — a request he also turned over to authorities.
Innes, who said he’s cultivated a keen eye for serious murder inquiries and hoaxes, said he has no qualms about turning requests he deems credible over to police.
“If they’re capable of causing harm to somebody else, I have no problem putting them in contact with a ‘field operative,” he said.
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