Man paid couple of hundreds of dollars to have his best friend killed, hid the dead body and helped his family search for the victim, sentenced

Many people say that the biggest threat usually comes from our closest environment including our closest family relatives and our friends. This was once again confirmed in today’s case when a man ordered and paid to have his best friend killed, hid the body behind a tree and then helped his best friend’s family searching for the victim while he was still considered missing.

The fatal shooting incident took place earlier this year in July when the 24-year-old K. Gardner ordered and paid $500 to the 24-year-old C. Beasley to kill Garner’s best friend R. Farrell for still unknown reason. Both of them were later arrested and charged.

According to the court documents, the fatal incident took place on July 6 when Gardner and Beasley picked up Farrell at his home in Ohio. They were driving around and smoking marijuana for some time when out of a sudden, Beasley took his gun and shot the victim twice in the head. He died immediately.

Right after the shooting, Gardner stopped the vehicle and dragged the victim’s dead body out of the car. Then he put it behind a tree in a non-residential area believing that he hid the body well enough and no one can actually find it at least for some time.

Gardner and Beasley then left the scene and headed back to the Cincinnati area, where they tried to clean the vehicle to rid it of evidence. The victim was reported missing and two days later, his family started searching for him. Since Gardner was Farrell’s best friend, he decided to help the family in the search of Farrell like nothing really happened.

However, the initial investigation showed that Gardner was connected with Farrell disappearance since investigators realized that Gardner attempted to mislead investigators by giving false statements. He was arrested for tampering with evidence and later charged with aggravated murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Victim’s family relatives were devastated when they heard that their son’s best friend is actually responsible for Farrell’s death. “If my son brings somebody home and he loves them, we love them. There’s no if, ands, or buts about it. We trusted our son so why wouldn’t we trust him. He’s never shown any remorse through this whole process at all. He played us like a fool. He was at our house swinging my granddaughter on the swing, while he knew where my son was the whole time,” said the victim’s father, according to Local 12.

Prosecutors provided more than sufficient evidence in court. The investigation showed that Gardner paid Beasley $500 to kill the victim. Investigators additionally provided bank report showing Gardner made $500 withdrawal days before the incident. Cops discovered cell phone data to identify all three men’s locations on the day of the incident. Surveillance video footage also placed both Gardner and Beasley together before and after the slaying.

Gardner never said to the officers what was the motive behind the incident.

Earlier this month, Gardner was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after previously pleading guilty in the killing of his best friend Farrell. Additionally, he was sentenced to 11 to 16 years for the conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. In addition, he was sentenced to a mandatory five years for a firearm specification charge. Ferenc ordered the defendant to serve the sentences concurrently with the life sentence.

Beasley is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 28. He is currently in custody at the Clermont County Jail on $5 million bond.