Tape: Man wants ex-wife dead with 'two slugs to the head'

A man was in such a hurry to have his ex-wife killed with "two slugs to the head" that he offered to double the payment to an undercover DuPage County sheriff's detective posing as the hit man, according to a recorded conversation played Thursday in court.

After listening to the six-minute recording, DuPage Circuit Judge Peter J. Dockery ordered the man held without bond on solicitation of murder charges.

The defendant, John Johnson, 41, of the 5800 block of Adams Street in Chicago, chuckled in court while listening to the recording taped during a July 1 telephone conversation in the jail.

"Two slugs to the head. That's it," Johnson is heard saying in the call. "Real quick. Fast and in a hurry, and it's over with."

He continued: "I just want the (expletive) dead. That's all I want."

Prosecutor Demetri Demopoulos said Johnson offered the undercover detective $3,000 to carry out the hit on the ex-wife, who ended their five-month marriage in May 2007. She now lives in the Lombard area.

At the time, Johnson was in the DuPage County jail after being accused of violating his ex-wife's protective court order barring him from any contact. The two do not have children together.

Demopoulos detailed a violent history between the two, most of which occurred in Cook County, including an incident in which he threatened her with a fully loaded .25-caliber semiautomatic weapon in Stone Park despite her protection order. Johnson received two years' probation for the crime.

His other arrests include three for drunken driving, two for domestic battery, both of which involved his ex-wife and two drug possession charges, Demopoulos said.

"The defendant clearly cannot move on with his life," the prosecutor said. "He is obsessed with revenge. He has shown he will overstep any bounds and reach out from anywhere to kill (his ex-wife). The defendant will not stop until she is dead."

The defense attorney, Charles B. Lauer, said Johnson led a law-abiding life up until a couple years ago when he became hooked on drugs and alcohol. Lauer said Johnson worked for more than 12 years as a mortgage broker and close to receiving his doctorate in business.

"It's just talk," Lauer said of the solicitation charges. "Mr. Johnson never intended for that to happen. Mr. Johnson does not have the (financial) means for that to happen. This is a fantasy on Mr. Johnson's part, not reality."

Police began the undercover investigation after receiving an informant's tip. On the tape, the detective is heard three times giving Johnson a chance to back out, but he continually makes his intentions clear.

"Ain't nothing bringing her back," the detective said.

Johnson responds: "That's what I want. Trust me. That's what I want. If I can just tell you all the things she's done to me, you'd understand."

Also, Johnson is heard telling the undercover detective that he once gave someone else $500 to kill his ex-wife, but the hit man took off with his money and never followed through with the crime.

Johnson is due back in court next month. If convicted of solicitation of murder, he faces up to 30 years in prison.