Melrose Park man charged in murder for hire plot

A 28-year-old Melrose Park man already in jail on a sex charge that involves an 11-year-old girl is now accused of plotting to murder the girl and her family, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday.

Brian Thurman was charged with three counts of murder for hire and three counts of solicitation of murder for hire, all of which are Class X felonies.

He was originally charged with predatory criminal sexual assault on Jan. 13 after police said he sexually assaulted the girl at a motel in unincorporated Leyden Township. His bail was set at $480,000 and he remains behind bars, unable to post bond. During the course of the investigation, police discovered Thurman had associated with girls before and girls had also been seen around his motel room, police said.

But police started investigating Thurman again on Jan. 29 after he asked a fellow inmate and known gang member to hire a hitman to kill the girl and two members of her family, police said. The following day, Thurman was given a phone number he though belonged to a hitman but was actually to an undercover Cook County Sheriff’s investigator, police said. During the phone conversation, Thurman said he needed three people killed and offered to give the hitman his car and $8,000, police said.

Last Monday, the “hitman” visited Thurman in jail and Thurman said he wanted the victim, her 16-year-old sister and their mother killed “as soon as possible,” police said.

Anyone with information about Thurman is asked to call the Cook County Sheriff’s Office at (708) 865-4896.