Charges dropped for woman accused in alleged murder-for-hire case

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Charges were recently dropped for a woman who was accused of trying to hire someone to kill her ex-husband's mother.

Leigh Ann Bauman’s charges were dismissed by the Camden County Prosecuting attorney on Dec. 29. The prosecuting attorney at the time was Caleb Cunningham.

Current Camden County Prosecuting Attorney Richelle Grosvenor issued a press release Wednesday stating that she took office Jan. 1 and that Bauman’s case was dismissed by the previous prosecutor’s office.

Bauman -- a realtor in the area -- was accused of trying to hire someone to kill her ex-husband's mother through an intermediary in 2021. The person Bauman talked to for help hiring someone went to a lawyer and later recorded a conversation with Bauman about the plot, according to a probable cause statement. Bauman agreed to pay $1,500 for the killing, according to investigators.

The probable cause statement says Bauman wanted her former mother-in-law killed because she believed the woman was straining Bauman's relationship with one of her children. Bauman allegedly texted her children before plotting the murder saying that her former mother-in-law would die.

Investigators say Bauman was evasive in interviews, cutting one interview with troopers short to get a Botox injection. Bauman tried to blame the plot on the witness who recorded their conversation, calling the witness "a hustler," according to the document.

Bauman was accused of violating her parole conditions over the summer.