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SALT LAKE CITY — A woman stood in Salt Lake City's federal courthouse on Monday to describe how learning that her boyfriend's ex-girfriend had planned her murder has changed her.
She found herself "in disbelief," overwhelmed, and with a "broken" sense of safety.
"I'm unable to enjoy or look forward to anything because I'm always in a state of panic of it being taken away from me," she said.
The woman said she wakes up happy to be alive but has also missed out on things due to her anxiety. She said the woman convicted of paying a hit man to kill her — Krista Renae Stone — continues to downplay her actions and continues to send messages to the victim's friends and her boyfriend, who is also Stone's ex-boyfriend.
She said Stone feels no remorse and recently Stone called her "an obstacle in the way to my happiness" in a text to a friend.
"This has changed how I see the world, and I will never be the same person," the woman said.
Stone, 23, of Salt Lake City, was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to "use of interstate commerce facilities in commission of murder-for hire." She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following her prison sentence.
Stone said she hadn't been given an opportunity before her sentencing to apologize to the woman and her family, but said she wasn't in her right mind at the time.
"I recently realized that I have been oblivious to the depths of the pain I have caused," Stone said.
She said she was unstable when she was introduced to a website on the dark web offering hit men for hire and knew her actions were wrong but "couldn't see a way out." She said she made up lies about her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend to justify what she was doing. She said she should have asked for help sooner than she did.
"I thank God every single day that the site was fake, and she's still standing here," Stone said.
Deputy U.S. district attorney Carol Dain said Stone made multiple posts with descriptions and photos of the woman whom she wanted killed on on two different dark web accounts. She said Stone wrote out "detailed instructions" about how she wanted the killing to happen and gave information about the woman's location. She said Stone paid $5,000 in the cryptocurrency bitcoin for the hit man.
Dain also said it was not just a one-time request, but Stone inquired about her request over "several months." The prosecutor read from posts in both July and August 2023 where Stone asked whether the hit was complete and claimed the woman had beaten someone, providing urgency for the job.
On Aug. 6, 2023, Stone said on the form that she needed the victim "gone ASAP" and that if it would not be completed soon, she would need to figure something else out.
Dain said Stone demonstrated disregard for human life by her actions, as well as sophisticated computer use. She said, however, that she thinks the crime is "a bump in the road" for Stone and expressed a hope that she moves forward in her life after her sentence.
Because Stone was cooperative and accepted responsibility, Dain said prosecutors recommended a 10% reduction in the lower end of the sentencing guidelines, meaning 78 months instead of 87 months in prison. The judge followed the recommendation.
Senior U.S. District Judge David Sam said he was "very troubled" by this case before handing down the sentence. He told the victim after her comments that he hopes she is able to heal, and he thanked the officers involved in the case for saving her life.
He encouraged Stone to not give up hope and acknowledged the supportive family she has, including many who were in the courtroom sitting behind her. He encouraged her to be positive and do all she can to put this behind her.
Sam listed multiple probation conditions geared specifically for Stone, including receiving mental health treatment; submitting her home, person, devices and vehicle for searches on "reasonable suspicion" that she is not meeting the conditions; turning over passwords to all of her accounts and consistent monitoring of any devices she has that are able to access the internet.
U.S. Attorney for Utah Trina Higgins expressed gratitude to the agents who worked on the case.
"Ms. Stone's murder-for-hire plot was a brazen attempt against another person's life that caused extreme emotional harm. Without law enforcement discovering the website Ms. Stone was using and the extensive investigation by law enforcement, the outcome would be far more devastating," she said.
Christopher Miller, special agent in charge with Homeland Security Investigations, said the agency prevented the plot from being carried out.
He said agents are "committed to preventing crimes that would commodify human life."
