Court papers outline how a kindergarten teacher at the center of a suspected murder-for-hire plot appears to be cooperating fully with police.
Angie Nolen, a now suspended teacher at Franklin County's Sontag Elementary, gave investigators the computer she used to type out a note inquiring about a hitman, and the phone she used to call that hitman, who turned out to be an undercover Virginia state police detective, according to court records.
Investigators say Nolen gave the undercover investigator a $4,000 down payment to kill her ex-husband.
Nolen is charged with solicitation to commit murder, which carries a 5 to 40 year prison sentence if convicted.
Search warrants, eleven of them in all, on file in Roanoke County circuit court show investigators have seized smart phones, computers, computer storage devices, and printers belonging to Nolen, her suspected co-conspirator Cathy Bennett, and the Franklin County public school district.
Investigators believe Nolen typed a note to the man she believed was a hitman on her Franklin County public schools issued computer.
The note contained detailed descriptions of her ex-husband's home and car, according to court records.
Nolen also told investigators the phone she used to call the undercover police officer was a phone she bought for her daughter so she could communicate with her father, the man police say Nolen wanted dead.
A search warrant for Bennett's phone detailed how investigators said Bennett "also stated that Ms. Nolen had discussed the issue of hiring someone to kill [Nolen's ex-husband] over the phone."
Both women are due in court on March 21st.
Angie Nolen
