Trial Date Set For Developer Indicted In Murder-For-Hire Scheme
DENVER (STMW) - A trial date in Denver has been set for a north suburban businessman indicted Wednesday in an alleged murder-for-hire plot unraveled by his mistress.
A federal grand jury earlier returned a two-count indictment charging Brooks L. Kellogg, 72, of the 100 block of East Chestnut Street in Chicago, with crimes related to his attempt to hire a hitman to kill a business associate, a release from the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Colorado said.
U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello set a tentative trial date for Jan. 3, 2011, with three days scheduled for the trial, according to a Tuesday release from the U.S. Attorney's office.
Kellogg, president of a Libertyville real estate agency, is being held without bond in federal custody, the release said.
The first count of the indictment alleges Kellogg traveled from Minneapolis to Denver with the intent to murder a Florida man in exchange for money, the release said. The second count states Kellogg traveled across state lines with the intent that a murder be committed.
Kellogg met with an undercover FBI agent at Denver International Airport on Oct. 19 and paid him $2,000 in cash to murder a Florida man, a criminal complaint charges. The murder target had sued Kellogg and obtained a multi-million judgment.
The scheme was unraveled by Kellogg's mistress, who convinced him that her husband, whom Kellogg did not know, would be the hitman. Instead, the woman told her husband about the solicitation and he convinced her to contact authorities.
The woman, Barbara Jean Blackmore, 47, of Clifton, Colo., turned over numerous e-mails between herself and Kellogg, as well as records of instant messages in which she was speaking to him as the hitman, the complaint alleges.
Since July 19, she had received more than $13,000 from him in wire transfers from Kellogg's business, Chadwick Real Estate Group, the complaint states. She told authorities the money was for the contract killing, but also said some of it was for car purchases, car repairs and travel. She declined to specify the nature of services being provided.
She told authorities Kellogg approached her to "take action" against Stephen Bunyard, who'd won a $2.5 million judgment against him in one of two suits filed over a real estate deal.
Within an instant message, Blackmore, as the hitman, asked, "so you want him dead?" Kellogg replied, "if that is necessary, yes." He later said "bullet is the only way to safely get the job done...if that is the only option."
Kellogg has residences in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Hays, Kan. He has no criminal history but faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, along with a $500,000 fine.
Anyone with information about the case or the activities of Brooks Kellogg is asked to call Special Agent Ken Jackson at (970) 945-8157.
