CAPE GIRARDEAU – A Dexter, Missouri man on Monday admitted trying to arrange for the murder of his estranged wife.
Matthew R. Alsup, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to a murder-for-hire charge. He admitted traveling to Mississippi on two occasions in early August of 2025 to try to recruit a former tenant of the RV park that he owned to kill his wife. The FBI learned of the plot, and an undercover police officer met with Alsup on August 14. Alsup told the undercover officer that he wanted his wife killed because she planned to file for divorce. He showed the officer a map of the property where his wife was living in Ohio, recommended the best way to approach the house to avoid detection, and provided a .22 Magnum rifle to use and a $1,720 advance. Alsup agreed to pay a total of $5,000 for the murder of his wife and “a couple extra grand” to kill his mother-in-law if she was also there.
Alsup is scheduled to be sentenced on October 19. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine.
The FBI and the Poplar Bluff Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Shelton prosecuted the case.