Disclaimer: The article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Dateline NBC plans to re-examine the murder-for-hire plot by former NYPD cop Valerie Cincinelli. The episode, titled “Hit List,” will come forward with startling details about the case where a police officer tried to kill her estranged husband by hiring a hitman. However, things didn’t go as planned and she was soon arrested. The episode will air on the network on Friday, March 29, at 9 p.m. ET.
In February 2019, former NYPD cop Valerie Cincinelli withdrew $7,000 in cash from a bank and gave it to her boyfriend. NBC 4 New York reported that she wanted her boyfriend to hire a hitman. Three months later, in May 2019, the former police officer contacted her boyfriend and asked him to kill her estranged husband. Citing the complaint, the publication noted that Cincinelli also asked him to kill another person named “John Doe” in the documents. Later, the court documents revealed that the person named “John Doe” in the complaint was her boyfriend’s daughter.
However, her boyfriend didn’t proceed with the plan and contacted the authorities to become a “confidential source,” per The New York Times. In the following months, he recorded his conversations with Valerie Cincinelli. The media outlet noted that Cincinelli would tell her boyfriend how to execute the entire plan. Subsequently, authorities devised a plan and made Cincinelli believe that her estranged husband was dead.
She then contacted her boyfriend to delete all their conversation and get their alibis in order. However, authorities apprehended Valerie Cincinelli and charged her with “use of interstate commerce for murder for hire.” The court dismissed the murder-for-hire counts after a plea deal.
Is Valerie Cincinelli’s husband still alive?
Valerie Cincinelli was led to believe by the authorities that her estranged husband had died. However, in reality, he was still alive.
Speaking with Inside Edition in 2022, Isaiah Carvalho Jr., Cincinelli’s estranged husband, noted that he still feared for his life. He said, “I look over my shoulder constantly. There’s not a day that I don’t go by that I’m not afraid for my life.” Moreover, he also labeled her estranged wife as a “crazed lunatic.”
Court sentenced Cincinelli to 48 months in prison
As mentioned above, authorities arrested Valerie Cincinelli and charged her with the murder-for-hire plot. During the initial hearing, Cincinelli apologized for her wrongdoings. Citing her statement, the New York Post noted, “I know that what I did was wrong and I’m sorry, Your Honor.” Meanwhile, prosecutors claimed that the evidence in this case was “overwhelming.” ABC News reported that the prosecution team relied on the audio and video recording in which Cincinelli planned the murders.
The prosecution said, “The defendant was captured on audio and video recording planning the murders, and, once she was advised that the murder of John Doe was effected, she was captured on audio and video planning her alibi and destroying evidence of her involvement in the crime.”
The court records showed that Valerie Cincinelli grew anxious when she realized that her boyfriend’s daughter was still alive. ABC News reported that Cincinelli told her boyfriend that she wanted the hit man to “run her the [expletive] over.” After her arrest, Cincinelli’s father noted that his daughter was being set up and blamed her boyfriend as the culprit. However, the accused took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to one charge. As a result, the court sentenced her to prison for 48 months, reported CBS News.
