A Lakeland woman who hired an undercover detective and offered to pay him $10,000 to murder her husband, has been arrested, police say.
Tanya Senay Demirhan, 47, of Lakeland, was taken into custody and charged with solicitation to commit first degree murder and unlawful use of a 2-way communication device by Polk County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday. Investigators say, she had contacted an undercover detective to have her husband, Atilla Demirhan.
According to deputies, last Thursday, someone contacted investigators to report that he was solicited to participate in a conspiracy to murder Atilla Demirhan. The source said, Ms. Demirhan wanted her husband to go away and she wanted to hire someone to make it happen.
Detectives gave the source a telephone number that Ms. Dermirhan used to contact a “hitman.” That “hitman” turned out to be an undercover sheriff’s detective.
Ms. Demirhan discussed with undercover detective details of her husband’s murder over the phone. On Saturday, the undercover met with Ms. Demirhan in person and again she confirmed that she would like her husband killed, offering to pay the “hitman” $10,000 for the job.
According to deputies, Ms. Demirhan also told the undercover detective she didn’t have cash, but had four vehicles she could transfer titles to him as payment
The undercover detective had a final meeting with Ms. Demirhan at her home on Montserrat Drive in Lakeland. At that time, she turned over the title to a Ford Van and also signed a hand written note promising to pay the undercover detective $10,000 in cash or transfer of vehicle titles for his “service.”
Ms. Demirhan was arrested on a traffic stop just outside her residence. Investigators told her that her husband had been murdered to which she responded with a dramatic and emotional display. She denied that she had hired a hitman to kill her husband, when confronted.
Ms. Demirhan was subsequently arrested and transported to the Polk County Jail.
Mr. Demirhan is alive and well.
