Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
OGDEN — A Utah woman is recounting how she lived in fear for more than a year after learning someone wanted her dead.
She and her boyfriend couldn't decipher who was behind a dark web murder-for-hire plot after law enforcement uncovered the shocking crime.
Sitting at a table with Lego blocks spread across a tray, Zoey Budge and Ben Slaughter worked on a long-term project of building flower bouquets. They poked fun at each other as they deciphered the directions.
"That's our favorite hobby," Slaughter joked as the couple chuckled.
They have spent the better part of two years creating and forming a loving relationship. Budge described Slaughter as her best friend who makes her laugh, and Slaughter said Budge is really sweet and caring.
As the two have built each other up, the happy couple has also been piecing together a baffling mystery that began in April 2023.
"Law enforcement showed up at my door and just asked if there's anybody that wanted to hurt me. And I told them no," Budge explained.
She said they told her that someone had put her name, picture and information on a hit man website on the dark web.
Budge remembers the officers, who she said were from the Department of Homeland Security, asking her about anyone from past relationships. But she and Slaughter were stumped.
"I had no idea who it could possibly be," she said.
'It was terrifying'
At the time of the officers' visit, Budge said she didn't get to see the post or all the details.
However, later she described receiving a chilling message in her social media inbox. A stranger appeared to have seemingly stumbled upon that supposed March 2023 dark web post and tracked Budge down to warn her.
The person sent a screenshot that showed Budge's photo, address and other personal information, plus details about her living situation and daily life. Pulling the post up on her phone, Budge looked down and read it aloud.
"'Need help to kill her quick and discreet. Important that target is alone when doing the job,'" Budge said, reciting the post. "'If she's not alone wait for another chance."
The words "ALONE" and "WAIT" were in all caps on the screenshot she was looking at. All of Budge's social media accounts were listed, as well as a description of what she looks like, even a description of her dog.
"Just endless information that, you know, the average person wouldn't really have," Slaughter said.
It listed the total amount of the order as $5,500 in Bitcoin to do the job.
"It was just indescribable," Slaughter said. "It was terrifying."
Every day following that visit from DHS, the couple lived in fear, wondering who might be tracking Budge — and if anyone planned to attack.
"I made sure the door was locked the second I went inside, didn't want to go anywhere," Budge expressed. "I just could feel like somebody was just watching me wherever I go."
The 'Wild West' of crime
As the couple waited for answers, investigators delved deeper into the case. But dealing with the dark web is not easy.
Thaddeus May, assistant U.S. attorney for Utah, explained that those crimes can be hard to trace.
"It's like an Amazon for illegal activity, and what you find there," he said. "And the crimes that are most commonly prosecuted are narcotics offenses … and then exploitation, sexual exploitation type crimes."
May couldn't comment on Budge's case specifically but explained how encrypted names generally offer anonymity and protection to people buying or selling on dark net marketplaces.
It makes it hard to prosecute, he indicated, especially since they're dealing with a global marketplace.
But these crimes aren't impossible to crack.
"There's a thought that they're somehow a crime-free zone, that they're in this Wild West," May said. "We just exist to remind people that's not true, that your conduct in these dark web marketplaces, they have consequences. And when the evidence is sufficient, they'll have criminal consequences."
In Budge's case, the Department of Justice's Project Safe Neighborhoods helped investigate.
Project Safe Neighborhoods coordinator Victoria McFarland also couldn't comment on Budge's case specifically or reveal how they monitor dark web crimes. But she said as crime trends change over the years, the initiative adapts to tackle violent crime from every angle.
"It's definitely going to be a combination of approaches and strategies and tactics because it's never a one-size-fits-all response," she said.
McFarland talked about how they partner with different levels of law enforcement, from federal to local.
"The goal in many instances is prevention," she said.
Those prevention efforts ultimately led to foiling the plot against Budge.
'Hard to wrap our heads around'
Nearly four months after learning about the threat to her life, Budge got a call from investigators.
"My heart just sank," Budge said.
The name they gave her? Krista Stone—Slaughter's ex-girlfriend.
"It was hard to wrap our heads around," Slaughter said.
He explained that he and Stone dated for about a year and a half in college before breaking up in August 2021.
Slaughter said he and Budge reconnected more than a year later, in December 2022, after dating in high school.
"The end of Krista and I's relationship was not connected to Zoey in any way, shape or form," Slaughter said.
It left them totally bewildered.
"No words could describe that feeling I had," Budge said. "Could I have done something wrong, you know? Why would she want to do this?"
Slaughter said he hadn't had any contact with Stone and had not received any indication from her that she was still following his life.
But the uncertainty — and uneasiness — weren't over.
The couple waited another 10 months, on edge, for investigators to nail down all the evidence against Stone.
"It was, you know, hard to live life as usual," Slaughter said.
In May 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office charged Stone with the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.
'Coming to an end'
Stone was arrested and then pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement. The agreement outlined a possible sentence of 78 months, which is less than the guideline of 87 to 108 months.
At Stone's sentencing on Aug. 19, prosecutors said Stone was consumed by jealousy when her ex-boyfriend began dating a new person.
They said she was introduced to the dark web and ended up posting Budge's murder-for-hire listing twice over two days. She then messaged the website over the course of several months, prosecutors explained, asking for updates and saying she "needed the job done ASAP."
Prosecutors talked about Stone messaging with someone she thought was a hit man, who kept promising to act soon.
Judge David Sam said a foreign government intercepted the post and sent it to Homeland Security for review. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the dark net website Stone used was not a law-enforcement-run site and is under investigation.
Budge spoke during the sentencing, outlining the terror and stress she endured and the emotional toll the entire ordeal took on her.
Stone addressed the court as well, taking ownership of her mistakes. She said she wasn't in the right state of mind and was "so sincerely deeply sorry."
The judge sentenced Stone to the recommended six and a half years in federal prison, with three years of supervised release following that.
For Budge and Slaughter, this week finally brought closure.
"We are really happy that it's kind of coming to an end," Slaughter said.
The couple is now focused on healing.
"Just trying to feel a little bit safer about going outside and going to work," he expressed.
Budge said she's still traumatized, and both are working to find normalcy in their lives again.
"It's still something I'm trying to work through," she said.
The two said they are not on social media much anymore, and they are more aware of their surroundings.
"The dark web is a real thing. It can be a really scary place," Slaughter said, adding, "You never know what information about you is out there until something like this happens."
