Skip to main content

Justin Bieber Murder-Castration Plot: Alleged Hitmen Arrested

By Deanne Katz, Esq. on December 14, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Never say never Beliebers, but for now it seems that the Justin Bieber murder-castration plot has been foiled and the pop icon is safe.

Police announced Thursday that they'd uncovered a plot to kidnap Bieber, castrate him, and murder him. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your personal view of Bieber and his music, the bizarre plot ended almost before it started.

Mark Aaron Staake and his nephew Tanner Ruane were arrested for plotting to kill Bieber. But it turns out the real mastermind was someone else.

The pair was convinced by a convicted felon named Dana Martin to go after Bieber in exchange for money and a fancy hideout, Time magazine reports. Martin is currently behind bars, serving two life sentences for raping and killing a 15-year-old girl in Vermont.

Staake met Martin in prison and was recruited to join the plot. When Staake was released in October, he brought his nephew into the alleged conspiracy.

The plan called for Staake and Ruane to capture two of Martin's past acquaintances who were witnesses to his previous crime. Then they were supposed to head to New York City to somehow capture Justin Bieber and his bodyguard. All four victims would have been strangled with a paisley tie and then castrated using gardening shears.

But the plan hit a snag when the pair took a wrong turn on their way to the Big Apple, and ended up at the U.S.-Canadian border. There, Staake was arrested based on an outstanding warrant in New Mexico.

Ruane was let go, but he made the mistake of calling Martin in prison to talk about the crime. The next day Martin spilled the beans about the plot, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Even though no one was hurt, the men can still be charged with conspiracy in relation to the plot. A conspiracy only requires that at least two people make a plan to commit a crime and take at least one step toward committing it.

That step allegedly occurred when the men drove off to allegedly kidnap their first victims. The fact that they barely got anywhere before they were caught doesn't necessarily exonerate them.

As for a motive? It appears that Martin is quite a Justin Bieber fan -- he even sports a Bieber tattoo on his leg -- and was angry that the singer had "snubbed" him: Martin had apparently sent fan mail to Bieber from behind bars, but the pop star never replied.

Related Resources:

Copied to clipboard