To Kill a Strippe--The Path of Love Doesn't Alway Run True

From today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The High Ridge man charged this week with trying to hire a hitman to kill his mistress suggested strangling the woman, then using a saw to cut up her body, federal court documents say. Christopher Hemminghaus, 35, was upset that the woman had called his wife six months ago, according to the criminal complaint filed in East St. Louis. The woman made the call from Dollie's, a strip club in Washington Park where she worked. She hung up when Hemminghaus' wife answered, but he found out about the call and threatened to kill the woman if she messed with his family, the complaint says. Hemminghaus, who owns Washington Park Pawn Shop in the 5700 block of Forest Boulevard in Washington Park, first asked a man to kill the woman in December, the complaint says, but the man didn't contact the FBI about the alleged plot until March 1. The woman was not hurt, and documents don't specify the relationship between Hemminghaus and the man he is accused of trying to hire. Authorities gave the following account in the complaint: Advertisement Hemminghaus agreed to pay the man $600 to kill the woman and said to make sure the woman's tattoos were cut up. One of her tattoos says "Dr. Loan," which is Hemminghaus' nickname. Hemminghaus gave the man an envelope with the keys to the woman's car and the address of her apartment in south St. Louis County. Hemminghaus told the man to hide in her car, strangle the woman, then cut up her body and bring the parts to his High Ridge home to burn. On Monday, the woman went to the pawnshop and had sex with Hemminghaus, after which he gave her several DVDs. Outside the pawnshop, she gave federal agents those DVDs, her purse, cell phone, car keys and the jewelry she was wearing. The next day, the FBI informer gave these items to Hemminghaus as proof he had killed her. Hemminghaus was irritated the man hadn't used a reciprocating saw from his shop to cut off her ear but gave him $200. That conversation, as well as several others, was recorded by law enforcement, documents say. According to the complaint, Hemminghaus said he would pay the rest of the money when the man brought him the woman's severed hand. Hemminghaus was arrested that day, and federal agents found the woman's purse and keys burning in a 55-gallon drum behind the pawnshop. Federal prosecutors filed a murder-for-hire charge against him Wednesday. He was ordered held until a hearing Tuesday in East St. Louis.