A second airman at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, has been charged in an alleged plot to murder a woman that included lighting fire to the house she was in, according to court documents.
Staff Sgt. Steven Bailey, with the 72nd Security Forces Squadron, allegedly hired Staff Sgt. Elijah Langhorne, from the same squadron, to carry out the alleged crimes.
Bailey is charged with attempting and conspiring to commit premeditated murder and faces court-martial Jan. 4. Langhorne was previously charged with arson and conspiring to and attempting to commit murder and with arson. His court-martial is scheduled in November.
According to documents filed with the Judge Advocate General's office, between October 2013 and January 2014, Bailey allegedly paid Langhorne to set the Jan. 17, 2014, fire at a Jones, Oklahoma, home with the woman inside.
The woman, noted only by her initials in the court papers, and two other individuals inside the home at the time escaped alive, but records do not indicate their condition or any injuries they might have sustained.
The following year in March, Bailey is charged with again hiring Langhorne to attempt to murder the woman, and supplying Langhorne with a firearm, clothing and information on the woman's whereabouts for that purpose.
But, according to court documents, a second individual Bailey attempted to hire to carry out the murder was an undercover Air Force special agent.
The JAG office has not released details on Bailey's relation to the woman or how he knew her.
Air Force Times could not reach either of the staff sergeants or their legal representatives for comment.
In July, Col. Stephanie Wilson, the 72nd Air Base Wing commander, said, "We have great confidence in our military justice system which holds military members accountable for their actions and provides a fair and efficient process for just resolutions in all cases."
"It is important to point out that a charge is merely an accusation and that the sergeants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.
