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Friday, October 30, 2026Oct 30

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Sentence suspended in murder for hire plot

photo Sharon Zurconett, 54, is accused of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

A 55-year-old Soddy-Daisy woman has avoided jail time in a murder-for-hire plot, if she can stay out of trouble.

On Thursday, Sharon Zurconett pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempt to solicit the commission of first-degree murder rather than face trial on a charge of solicitation of murder.

Police say she plotted to get rid of a woman who was dating a man she believed to be her boyfriend.

Police arrested Zurconett on April 24 after Walter Hogeland, 65, reported she’d tried two weeks before to pay him $300 to kill Celestea Figueroa, 51.

After Hogeland contacted police, officers set up a meeting between Hogeland and Zurconett. During that April 13, 2012, meeting, Zurconett asked Hogeland to kill the woman.