Information given to authorities by the mistress of a Chicago man led to his arrest Tuesday in Denver for allegedly trying to have a man killed after losing millions of dollars to him in a lawsuit.
Brooks Kellogg, 73, a "managing member" of Chadwick Real Estate, is being held without bond pending a detention hearing. He is charged with one count of use of interstate commerce facilities and mail in the commission of murder-for hire, said a release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver.
Kellogg met with an undercover FBI agent at Denver International Airport on Tuesday and paid him $2,000 in cash to murder Stephen Bunyard, of Florida, a criminal complaint said.
The murder target had sued Kellogg and obtained a multi-million judgment.
The scheme was unraveled by Kellogg's mistress, who convinced him that her husband, whom Kellogg did not know, would be the hitman. Instead, the woman told her husband about the solicitation and he convinced her to contact authorities.
The woman, Barbara Jean Blackmore, 47, of Clifton, Colo., turned over numerous emails between herself and Kellogg, as well as records of instant messages in which she was speaking to him as the hitman, the complaint alleges.
Blackmore claimed to be Kellogg's mistress, the complaint said. But since July 19, 2010, she had received more than $13,000 from him in wire transfers from Chadwick Real Estate Group.
She told authorities the money was for the contracted killing but also said some of the funds were for car purchases, car repairs and travel. She declined to specify the nature of services being provided to Kellogg, the complaint said.
She told authorities Kellogg approached her to "take action" against Bunyard, who'd won a $2.5 million judgment against Kellogg in one of two suits filed regarding a real estate deal.
Within an instant message, Blackmore , as the hitman, asked, "so you want him dead?" Kellogg replied, "if that is necessary yes." He later said "bullet is the only way to safely get the job done...if that is the only option."
Kellogg, of the 100 block of East Chestnut Street in Chicago, has residences in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Hays, Kan. He has no criminal history but faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, along with a $250,000 fine.
