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Attorney indicted on charges of murder-for-hire of wife

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say a Collierville attorney has been indicted on charges he twice tried to hire a hitman to kill his wife.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says 39-year-old Fred Auston Wortman III was indicted by a grand jury in Fayette County on two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. He is being held in Fayette County Jail on $15 million bond.

TBI says it began investigating Wortman on June 4, after someone contacted law enforcement and reported Wortman asked him to find someone to kill his wife. TBI says Wortman spoke with an agent posing as a potential hitman and gave him a down payment for the killing.

TBI says Wortman also solicited a jail inmate to kill his wife.