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Update: Danton
pleads guilty
Bizarre Murder-for-Hire Plot
Player Charged With Trying
to Have His Alleged Male Lover Killed
Outsports.com
St. Louis Blues center
Michael Danton, 23, was arrested by FBI agents Friday in California
on charges of trying to hire someone to kill a male acquaintance who lived
with him.
That acquaintance, according to Reuters, CNN and other sources, was a male lover who shared
an apartment with Danton in Brentwood, Mo., about five miles west of
St. Louis.
 According to the FBI complaint, the two men had a heated argument on
Tuesday about Danton’s “promiscuity and use of alcohol. Danton
begged the acquaintance not to go to the general manager of the St.
Louis Blues hockey organization and ruin his career. The
acquaintance threatened to leave Danton."
Danton reportedly had concocted a story about a Canadian who had
wanted to kill him over a debt. He asked a friend, Katie Wolfmeyer,
19, on Wednesday if she knew of anyone who would kill the man for $10,000. Wolfmeyer inquired to someone about the plan and that person,
realizing Danton was serious, told
the FBI and became a cooperating witness.
The allegation claims that Danton wanted the victim murdered in
their home in a way that it looked like a burglar had broken into the
apartment. Danton's cover story was to have been that two burglars
broke in, and one killed the other and fled with $3,000 in cash from
the apartment. The complaint said an agitated Danton wanted the job
done Thursday night. "The only way that I'm going to be able to
sleep tonight is knowing that the guy trying to kill me is done
himself. ... I'm pretty much begging [and] I wouldn't resort to this
if it wasn't a matter of life or death," the complaint quotes him as
saying in a phone call to the prospective hit man just after
midnight Thursday.
Once the plot was
foiled, the FBI recorded a conversation
Thursday between the acquaintance and Danton in which Danton was
asked why he plotted the murder, Reuters reported.
"Danton explained that he felt backed into a corner and felt that
the acquaintance was going to leave him,” the FBI complaint said.
“Danton did not want to allow the acquaintance to leave him, and
therefore decided to have him murdered."
Danton was arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area just hours after
his team was eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the San Jose
Sharks on Thursday night. For her part in the plot, Wolfmeyer was arrested
Friday in Missouri.
This is as bizarre a story as we’ve seen in the sports world, made
more unusual by what appears to be a gay relationship gone sour. Danton’s fear about having his career
ruined strongly suggests that their relationship was sexual.
No active male athlete in the NHL, NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball
has ever come out as gay, and many speculate that such an admission
would end a player’s career. The extent to which Danton seemed
willing to go to keep his secret and his lover quiet measures the
depth of homophobia in professional sports.
What jumps out about the complaint is
that Danton wanted to kill a man because he was going to leave him.
While the complaint does not say they were lovers, a roommate
leaving doesn't seem to inspire a murderous sentiment.
Danton has had a checkered NHL career. He played in 68 games for the
Blues this season, scoring seven goals and recording five assists. He was
released by the New Jersey Devils after the 2002-2003 season, having played
in only 17 games, and picked up by the Blues. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Danton was known
by the Devils as a malcontent, and the Blues management told his
agent that the player would help himself most by “keeping his mouth
shut.”
In another oddity, Danton is not his original last name. As the
Post-Dispatch reported: In July 2002, Danton, born in Brampton,
Ontario, legally changed his name from Mike Jefferson to Mike Danton.
He said during an interview this season that he did not want to be
associated with his family. A "buildup of incidents" - none of which
he would specify - led him to dissociate himself from the Jeffersons.
He chose "Danton" because it was the first name of a youth he met
while helping at a hockey camp. He stopped answering to Jefferson or
any nickname derived from the last name. He preferred "Dants."
Dave Frost, Danton's agent, told the Post-Dispatch: "We don't as of
yet have all the facts. I spoke with Mike. We're fully supportive of
him, and we fully intend to be behind him, and with him.
Unequivocally, I can tell you it had nothing to do with drugs and
alcohol, period. Once we get all the facts, we'll be able to realize
what really happened. He's a good kid. He really is."
If convicted, Danton could be imprisoned up to 10 years and fined up
to $250,000 on each of two counts--that he conspired and that he used a
telephone across state lines to set up a murder.
Related:
Read the FBI complaint
(Adobe Acrobat reader needed)
April 17, 2004 |
