True Crime Conversations · Mamamia Podcasts

What Happens When Your Ex Hires A Hitman To Have You Killed

·55 min·3 clips

The FBI asked Riley to pose for a fake-death photo in a Boise riverbank mud patch.

1. True Crime Conversations covers Riley Elder’s murder-for-hire case and the online trail that led to Scott Quinn Burkett. 2. Gemma Bath speaks with Jamie Elder, Riley’s mother and advocate, because Riley chose not to be interviewed herself. 3. The episode asks how a relationship that began in a Ruby fandom chat group turned into a dark-web hit request. 4. Jamie describes Riley as a homeschooler from Arizona who loved anime, art, stuffed animals, fantasy, dragons, and fairies. 5. She says Riley spent much of her later teen years online and met Scott in Facebook and Discord admin groups for Ruby. 6. Jamie explains Discord as a chat-room app built around fandoms, gaming, and group servers. 7. She says Riley and Scott moved into one-on-one messaging, phone calls, and an online relationship before meeting in person. 8. Jamie says Scott lived about 500 miles away in Los Angeles and worked in IT, which made him seem like a goofy, unassuming kid. 9. She says she objected when Riley planned to fly alone to Beverly Hills in October 2020 and refused to take her to the airport. 10. Jamie says Riley returned quieter after the visit and later told her sister that Scott had kept trying after she said no. 11. She says Riley’s sister Jordan called Scott, then called his father, and Scott replied, “consider the matter closed.” 12. Jamie says Scott then went to a Hitman for Hire website and paid $19,000 Australian dollars, while the family later learned the site had taken payment without arranging a real killing. 13. She says a sheriff came to her rural Idaho home in May 2021 and told her the FBI had intercepted a credible threat against Riley. 14. Jamie says the sheriff and later the FBI told Riley that someone had paid $10,000 in Bitcoin on the dark web to have her killed. 15. She says investigators asked whether Riley knew anyone who wanted her dead, and Riley immediately asked, “you don’t think it’s Scott, do you?” 16. Jamie says federal agents asked Riley to help stage a fake-death photo in Boise, near the zoo and river, using mud, leaves, and Riley’s visible tattoo. 17. She says the FBI then moved the case to Los Angeles, where agents used screenshots of Riley’s Discord and Facebook messages to build the case. 18. Jamie says Scott was charged with using interstate facilities to commit murder, then later accepted a five-year deal after a maximum-ten-year exposure. 19. The episode’s tone is conversational and detail-heavy, with Jamie giving long answers and Gemma asking direct, contextual follow-ups. 20. People interested in internet safety, true crime procedure, and survivor advocacy would get the most from this episode.

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