A woman former Marine who grew up in Eureka has been arrested in Tennessee following accusations she was  attempting to orchestrate a murder-for-hire scheme to kill her ex-boyfriend and father of their 3-year-old child. 

29-year-old Laura Buckingham, who currently resides in Roane County, Tennessee, and also goes by “Lara Lodus,” was arrested on Wednesday, Feb. 24, and is charged with criminal attempt to commit first degree murder, according to numerous local reports. She had been involved in a custody battle with her son’s father, Bradley Sutherland, who lives in Indiana. The two had been meeting weekly in Louisville, Kentucky so that Sutherland could visit with the child.   

Buckingham gave money to an undercover agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation hoping to have her ex killed, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. She is currently being held in the Roane County jail under $150,000 bond.

One interesting aspect of the case, as reported by the News Sentinel, is how Buckingham’s current boyfriend, former Marine sniper Joseph Chamblin, played a role in exposing his girlfriend’s alleged plot. From the News Sentinel report: 

Chamblin had grown concerned because Buckingham persisted in asking questions about how her ex-husband could be killed, authorities said.

“She stated to him that since he was in the military maybe he had some friends that might could do this for him,” according to the incident report. At first Chamblin thought his girlfriend was joking, but “she has continued to talk about it and ask questions about how it could be done,” the report continues. The former Marine said he became concerned for his safety and that of his children.

“He had decided to ‘act’ like he was interested in taking care of this for her and recorded some of her conversations with him,” according to the report.

Chamblin turned the recordings over to law enforcement spurring an investigation.

The News Sentinel report also alludes to Chamblin’s past noting he is “infamous for a wartime video in which he and other Marines urinated on dead Taliban fighters.” More here.