He Hired 2 Men to Kidnap His Wife. They Ended Up Drowning.

[Zorro]

Lawrence Handley, 53, a business executive from Lafayette, La., pleaded guilty this week to three criminal charges after a plot to kidnap his estranged wife went badly awry.

Schanda Handley was at home with her daughter and a neighbor when two men showed up at the door, dressed in what looked like blue uniforms from an appliance store.

They had a carpet steamer and asked Ms. Handley if they could demonstrate it for her. When she said no, the men forced their way into her house at gunpoint, put a hood over her head and handcuffed her and her neighbor, she said.

Then they pushed Ms. Handley into a van and drove off, leaving Ms. Handley’s 14-year-old daughter and the neighbor behind.

The kidnappers had been hired by Ms. Handley’s estranged husband, Lawrence Michael Handley, who was planning to have Ms. Handley driven to his camp near Woodville, Miss., from her home in Lafayette, La., prosecutors said. What he planned to do after that was not clear, the authorities said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/us/Louisiana-Kidnap-Plot.html

[Wingus Dingus]

1. Did someone watch "Fargo" recently?

[Tommy Carcetti]

2. Beat me to it. nt

[Bleacher Creature]

8. Me too!

[SharonClark]

13. I love that movie!

[roamer65]

18. Thank god no wood chippers involved.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. The husband even looks like William H. Macy

[Wingus Dingus]

26. LOL yeah.

[LisaL]

3. Plot went badly awry?

Wife is alive and kidnappers drowned.
I wouldn't call that ending badly.

[tavernier]

4. How did they drown?

I can’t see the link. I don’t subscribe.

[Wingus Dingus]

5. USA Today has the story as well

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/29/lafayette-man-takes-plea-plot-kidnap-estranged-wife/5399984001/

[Wingus Dingus]

6. Added link

[LisaL]

7. Jumped into a waterway while running from the police.

NT

[tavernier]

10. ...

👍🏻

[RainCaster]

9. Tried to escape the police by swimming in a canal

Not many details about that aspect of the story.

[dalton99a]

15. Surveillance photo:

[Midnight Writer]

20. The bright red matching shirts was a good touch.

When you do crimes, it is always best to wear something that will make you stand out in a crowd.

[Treefrog]

24. Idiots.

Good ending. Here are the brainiacs.

https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/crime_police/article_b658f1d2-7d1b-11e7-b4d8-7b9580c0b5bd.html

[Shrike47]

16. They drove in to a dead end pursued by police, tried to get away by diving into canals.

Possibly couldn’t swim?

[Rocknation]

11. Spoiler alert

The men...drove off the interstate, turned down a dead-end gravel road, and were penned in by the police, prosecutors said. Both men tried to escape by swimming through a canal...

A southern-fried Fargo remake...




Rocknation

[Tommy Carcetti]

12. No woodchippers this time, though. nt

[GopherGal]

22. Really need an alligator in there somewhere

to do this re-make right.

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/08/25/millionaire-kidnapping-plot/603096001/
Millionaire's bizarre kidnapping plot hatched in Mississippi
Amanda McElfresh

[zuul]

17. Apparently the kidnapping victim was found in the back of the van, alive.

[Princess Turandot]

19. More from the USAToday article...

Bracey and Haynes handcuffed the neighbor and teenager and left them inside. They then drove the van with the wife inside toward Baton Rouge.

Things took a turn when an overturned piece of equipment caused a major traffic jam. Bracey and Haynes drove on the shoulder of the road to get away from the traffic, but were seen by an off-duty sheriff's deputy. The deputy followed the van until it reached a highway. Instead of turning left, where they could have taken a number of routes, the two men turned right onto a dead-end road.

The van got stuck in a swampy area, so Bracey and Haynes, both 27, bailed and ran into the nearby woods. They jumped into the Intracoastal Canal, where their bodies were found less than a day later. A gun was found in a nearby pipe that authorities believe belonged to one of the men.

While I'm glad they didn't harm the 2 other people, I take it that they didn't do any surveillance before they acted. Or have a back-up escape route, assuming that they had one to begin with.

By the way, the husband first unsuccessfully tried for an insanity plea, probably because abject stupidity wasn't available. (He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count of attempted second-degree kidnapping, and faces up to 35 years.)

[LisaL]

21. They were not very good as criminals, that's for sure.

NT

[Tadpole Raisin]

23. Some crimes solve themselves

Except for the husband of course. Hope she keeps everything.