More details released in local murder-for-hire case
By Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Jacob Wayne Spencer of Breckenridge was transferred to the Taylor County Jail by the Texas Department of Public Safety – Criminal Investigation Division on Monday, May 5, to face federal charges of “possession of a firearm with obliterated serial number.” Spencer was arrested Friday, May 2, in Stephens County on charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder and solicitation of capital murder.
In the “affidavit in support of criminal complaint,” filed with the criminal complaint in the U.S. District Court in Abilene, Special Agent Matthew R. McCormick with the Texas Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reported that Spencer knowingly possessed a firearm that the serial number had been removed from and that the firearm had been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
In the “Probable Cause” portion of the document, McCormick reported that Department of Public Safety agents began investigating Spencer in late April after they received a tip that he had hired another person to commit capital murder. According to the document, Spencer allegedly provided the other person with “a firearm equipped with a silencer, a burner phone, and an initial $10,000 in exchange for murdering Spencer’s step-father.”
The DPS located the person Spencer reportedly solicited to commit the murder and that person, a convicted felon, became a “cooperating defendant.” The document states that the cooperating defendant said that Spencer placed a tracking device on a truck belonging to the step-father, identified in other documents as Jay Marcom of Breckenridge.
According to the court documents, the cooperating defendant stated that Spencer wanted Marcom killed because Marcom owned the property that Spencer’s deceased mother had owned and that Marcom was withholding the property from Spencer.
The cooperating defendant reportedly told the investigators that Spencer had provided him with $8,000 in cash and a $2,000 business check and said that he would pay him an additional $10,000 when Marcom was murdered. The cooperating defendant stated that he had seen a stack of cash in a safe in Spencer’s home and that Spencer identified it as the additional money he was going to pay for the murder.
The document states that the cooperating defendant said Spencer wanted him to go to Marcom’s home, kill him, steal his truck and deliver the truck, with the tracking device on it, to Spencer. Then, Spencer was allegedly going to melt down the firearm used in the murder. In the process of planning the murder, according to the document, the cooperating defendant performed surveillance on Marcom’s home and described it to the investigators.
According to McCormick’s statement, the DPS agents corroborated the cooperating defendant’s statements, confirming that there was a legal battle between Spencer and Marcom involving the ownership of the land where Spencer lived and that Marcom was in the process of evicting Spencer from the property.
Additionally, the DPS agents visited Marcom’s home, which matched the description provided by the cooperating defendant and found the tracking device on the truck, as described.
On May 2, after obtaining a warrant, DPS agents reportedly searched Spencer’s residence, where he lived alone, and found a packing slip for three vehicle tracking devices and two unused tracking devices.
Additionally, according to the court documents, the agents found evidence that Spencer had manufactured homemade silencers. They allegedly found multiple silencers, both commercial and homemade, as well as a Smith & Wesson SD9 VE semi-automatic pistol with the serial number obliterated. They also reportedly found a safe with cash inside, as described by the cooperating defendant.
According to the Taylor County jail records, Spencer remains in custody there on the original $1,275,000 bond, set in Breckenridge on Sunday for the three original charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder, solicitation to commit capital murder and unlawful installation of a tracking device. No additional charges have been added to his jail record at this time.
“I’m very grateful for the work that the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, the ATF and the Texas Rangers did on this case,” Marcom told the Breckenridge Texan on Tuesday afternoon, adding that he was very surprised by the situation.
Related Story:
Local man arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder for hire, federal gun violation
